TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — In about 30 seconds of walking from the entrance to Alabama football headquarters to coach Karen DeBoer's office, you'll see at least a dozen poster-board-sized photos of the coach's predecessors. In most of them, Nick Saban holds up the national championship trophy.
During lunchtime on a casual afternoon in early April, “The Paul Finebaum Show'' was being broadcast on the television in a restaurant. The host is interviewing Alabama draft prospect Chris Braswell. A bright red graphic below him reads, “Nick Saban has retired after 28 seasons as an FBS head coach.”
Saban wasn't actually at Alabama's spring practice that afternoon, but the man is still remembered.
“I miss him,” one practice observer says to another.
DeBoer arrived in January, just days after leading Washington in the national championship game against Michigan. Saban and his wife, Terri, sat in the front row at his inaugural press conference on January 13th. The seven-time U.S. champion hasn't been out much since then, spending most of his time at his home in Jupiter, Florida. But he's also been spending some time in his new office at Bryant-Denny Stadium, just a few blocks from DeBoers.
DeBoer may be following a legend, but the legend is also unknowingly following his coach. And that may continue to be the case in the near future.
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Please play 👊#rolltide pic.twitter.com/JEYPirN1C1— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) March 29, 2024
But the 49-year-old, sitting in the same cavernous office the 72-year-old has occupied for 17 years, says replacing Mr. Saban is not the daunting burden many think. claims.
“I feel like I'm a beneficiary of the tradition and pride that has been established here, and it's an honor that I don't take lightly,” DeBoer said. “And while it's a great challenge, it's not like I'm trying to meet it. What I really want to do is develop it and make it even better.”
Is it better than Saban's six national titles and eight SEC championships? Is it even better than 14 consecutive seasons of 11 or more wins? Who could have imagined such a possibility?
But the truth is, this isn't his first time taking over the reins of a huge company — though the experience has been witnessed by many more. At age 30, DeBoer became the head coach at his alma mater, Sioux Falls, which was competing in the NAIA at the time. The Cougars had a 47-5 record in four seasons before DeBoer was promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach in 2005. He would go 67-3 over the next five years, win three national championships and play in one more.
“It was a national championship or failure mentality,” he said. “It's a different scale because you're talking about the entire country that follows the (Alabama) program, compared to a smaller fan base like that at that level. But competing for a championship. If you intend to, the pressure you put on yourself will be greater than the pressure someone else puts on you.
“What drives me, and I've said it to other teams that I've coached, is that our players come to work every day ready to go and treat me and this staff the same way they do. They’re opening their arms to me.’ Well, I don’t want to disappoint them. ”
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It may sound cliché to say that DeBoer is not Saban, but the truth is, they couldn't be more different. That's clear from spending a day in the building, where several people are saying some version of the same thing. That means their anxiety levels have gone down considerably since the more gentle DeBoer replaced Saban, who was notoriously injured, and they're not worried anymore. They live in fear of one of their former coach's famous rants and the fear of panicking when their name pops up on their cell phone.
One employee said Mr. DeBoer was a “normal guy.”
So commonplace, in fact, that it's easy to miss him completely when looking around the Tide's practice field. Saban, wearing the ubiquitous straw hat, was almost always on the move, almost always glaring at someone, and there was one challenge he always failed when he got up and got in the face of some poor defensive back.
Wearing a gray Alabama hoodie and a red “A'' baseball cap, DeBoer moves between position groups with a practice script in hand, quietly observing his assistants practice. On this day, while watching, he struck up a conversation with one of several visiting new employees. Sometimes he even bumps his fist into one of the players.
“It shows there are different ways to do things,” said Jeff Allen, Alabama's head athletic trainer since 2007, Saban's first year.
“Players respond to what's real. They know what's real and what's fake, and there was nothing fake about Nick Saban. And there was nothing fake about Coach DeBoer. No. I see it very clearly.”
DeBoer's relaxed demeanor doesn't indicate the Tide is losing momentum. First of all, their players won't have it. Allen said that when team leaders first met with the new coach in January, he insisted on maintaining Saban's infamous fourth-quarter winter conditioning program.
“His team still has a lot of guys from Saban,” junior offensive lineman Tyler Booker said. “We still have standards to live up to, and that starts with us coming to practice every day. The coaching style may be a little different, but we’re still working hard on the field every day. . That's the only way we can get better.”
And the tide was already quite good.
Alabama felt like it was headed for disaster early last season, but it once again won 12 games, ending Georgia's winning streak at 29 and clinching the SEC championship before finally making it to the College Football Playoff semifinals. They lost in overtime to the defending national champion, the University of Michigan. The Tide will always lose its annual share of NFL draft picks, but shortly after the coaching change, several key players entered the transfer portal, most notably freshman All-America safety Caleb Downs (now at Ohio State). Upon entering, fans were concerned.
But a visit to the practice range earlier this month was a reminder of just how much talent remains on hand. Most notably, quarterback Jalen Milroe, who finished fifth in Heisman voting last season, returns and has room to grow in DeBoer's multifaceted attack. The offensive line, which struggled at times last season (especially in the Rose Bowl), is now considered a strength. And the receiver corps, led by veterans Kendrick Law and Kobe Prentiss, has gotten significantly deeper with the additions of Washington transfer Jermie Bernard and big 6-foot-5, 215-pound freshman Caleb Odom.
DeBoer has some scholarships available in the spring portal window, but he clearly said, “Most of our offensive production is going to be led by the players we have here.”
He also praises the talent and depth of the defensive line and linebackers, led by interior linemen Tim Keenan and Jaheim Ortiz and star middle linebacker Deonte Lawson, but the standouts He admits that the secondary has declined after losing Downs, Terrion Arnold and Kool-Aid McKinstry. . Malachi Moore is a veteran mainstay, and Michigan transfer safety Keon Sabu is a nice addition, but “we have a lot of depth in the secondary, so we're going to get one or two guys.'' We have to consider it,” he said.
College football fans will get their first glimpse of the DeBoer era at Alabama when ESPN airs the Tide's annual A-day game on Saturday. When asked what viewers should expect, Booker bluntly answered, “Alabama football.”
“The standards haven't changed,” he says. “The play calling might be a little different. The scheme might be a little different. But we still have that Script A in our hearts. That Script A is still on the 50-yard line. So Alabama's Football will be played on April 13th.”
(Photo: Gary Cosby Jr./Tuscaloosa News/USA Today)
