Alabama’s storied football program officially turned the page Saturday, as the Tide introduced Kalen DeBoer as Nick Saban’s successor at head coach. DeBoer comes to Tuscaloosa after two years at Washington, where he amassed a 25-3 record and led the Huskies to the 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship.
Even with DeBoer’s track record of success, stepping in for Saban is an unenviable task. The legendary coach, who sits right at the top of the “greatest of all time” conversation, spent 17 years winning myriad titles and re-establishing the Crimson Tide as a premier program in the SEC.
But it wasn’t a hard sell for DeBoer, who turned his eyes toward the future while discussing his motivations in taking the Alabama job.
“This was one of the few places, maybe the only place, that I would have ever left to come coach at,” DeBoer said. “Because I understand what Alabama football is all about. Those guys that I sat in front of a room yesterday, I know what they’re going through cause I saw the same thing less than 24 hours ago… I’m looking forward to the new journey that lies ahead. I’m looking forward to those new challenges here.”
Here’s what we learned from DeBoer’s introductory press conference and subsequent appearance in front of local media.
Leaning on the GOAT
Aside from Alabama’s facilities, recruiting war chest and prominent stature among college football’s elite, DeBoer has one special resource that really stands apart — his access to Saban. Saban already said that he plans to retain an office inside Alabama’s athletic complex, so DeBoer should never have much trouble for finding him.
That’s great news for DeBoer, who emphasized that Saban would have “100% access” to everything Alabama is doing under this new regime.
“I would be a fool if that wasn’t the case. I would be a fool,” DeBoer said. “And I’m going to ask him that he shows up and makes sure he gives me at least one thing everyday. I’m sure he’s going to have 10. I’m going to be good with that. But at least one thing that he sees that we can get better at.”
Scheme fluidity
DeBoer is known for an exciting, up-tempo brand of offensive football, predicated upon taking deep shots and keeping a defense honest honest at every level of the field. He now inherits a roster they didn’t have a hand in building, which poses an immediate challenge for any new coach.
Obviously, coaches prioritize scheme fit when recruiting new players. Try as some might, it’s a near-impossible task to rebuild a team from the ground up when taking a new job. Given Alabama’s high level of recruiting in recent years, it isn’t like DeBoer wants to tear things down.
DeBoer appears to be willing to adapt and mold his scheme around the pieces already in place, using the transfer portal and high school recruiting to supplement any areas that might still need work.
“It’s always going to be around our personnel,” DeBoer said. “Yes, we’re going to recruit the best, the highest character guys, but we’re going to be able to have concepts and systems that are able to be adjusted to what we have and what our strengths are. As much as we have great players at every position, there are some positions that are stronger than others from year to year.”
Emphasis on physicality
Any time a coach comes from outside the SEC, especially to take over at a program like Alabama, questions about physicality crop up. That’s especially true for DeBoer, who just got done coaching in a Pac-12 Conference that’s often (wrongly) stereotyped for its lack of hard-nosed football.
But DeBoer’s emphasis on winning in the trenches is apparent. Washington’s offensive line just earned the 2023 Joe Moore Award, given to the nation’s top unit. The Huskies didn’t allow a sack in their Sugar Bowl win against Texas — a future SEC opponent — despite playing against a Longhorns defensive front anchored by a pair of potential first-round NFL Draft picks in T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy II.
DeBoer made sure to place an emphasis on physicality when previewing his vision for the Crimson Tide.
“We will be explosive; I can promise you that. We will be aggressive. We will attack,” DeBoer said. “You know, we understand that the game was meant to be played one way still and that’s to be physical. Dominating the line of scrimmage and controlling it from both sides of the ball will always be a staple of our program.”
Retention a top priority
Before he can even think about making any additions, DeBoer is going to have to worry about keeping Alabama’s roster together. When Saban retired, a 30-day window opened where Alabama players could enter the NCAA transfer portal and take their talents elsewhere without needing a waiver for immediate eligibility.
The Crimson Tide have a very, very enticing roster. Alabama took the No. 1 spot in 247Sports’ 2023 Team Talent Composite rankings, with 18 former five stars — more than any other program in the entire nation — and 56 former four stars on its roster.
DeBoer noted that Courtney Morgan, who was general manager on DeBoer’s support staff at Washington, has phone numbers for every Alabama player and their parents.
“First and foremost the recruiting needs to happen within this team and getting them to buy in,” DeBoer said. “In the world today and how easy it is to jump from one place to another — I’m just going to be frank with you — this is a time when people try to take advantage of that. That’s the competitive world we live in and I understand that. Recruiting our own roster is first and foremost.”
The Tide have already seen breakout wide receiver Isaiah Bond and five-star freshman cornerback Dezz Ricks enter the portal. Stopping the bleeding from there is imperative.
Confidence in recruiting
DeBoer isn’t from the south. He was born in South Dakota, got his coaching career started at high schools in South Dakota and broke into the collegiate ranks at Sioux Falls University in South Dakota. From there, his career took him to Michigan, Indiana and to the West Coast at Fresno State.
Coaching at Washington made him about as far removed from the south as someone can be in the contiguous United States. So concerns about his ability to recruit at Alabama, a program that anchors its player acquisition efforts in the southeast, are valid.
DeBoer acknowledged that while expressing confidence in his ability to maintain Alabama’s elite recruiting efforts.
“I wasn’t a West Coast guy either,” DeBoer told reporters. “I’d never been to the West Coast until a few years ago. Coached at two universities out there. I think there’s an ability to adapt that I feel confident in to where we’re at. I understand what the SEC is all about. Kind of how strong and how much it means here.”
