Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer faces big questions, expectations in post-Nick Saban era
While we get distracted by the chum rumors of Nick Saban returning to college football, let's not forget that the Vanderbilt quarterback called out the Alabama football team earlier this summer.
So let's begin with that cold slap in the face, and the undeniable question that follows: has Alabama lost its mojo?
'We fell short at making the playoffs,' said Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer. 'It's as simple as that.'
But is it?
Is it as cut and dry as Alabama, if it had one more regular season win in DeBoer's first season in Tuscaloosa, would've made the College Football Playoff and all would've been well in the land of The Standard is The Standard?
Alabama had a loaded team in 2024, a roster full of four- and five-star recruits and a fourth-year quarterback (Jalen Milroe) who was one of the nation's most exciting players in 2023. A team that won the SEC championship, and advanced (again) to the CFP before losing in overtime on the last play of the game to the team that won it all.
So it should come as no surprise that the first question DeBoer heard on the big stage at SEC Media Days, his followup performance to the unthinkable task of replacing Saban, was living up to the standard set by the greatest coach in college football history.
With the backdrop of that rumor that the Nicktator was returning to college football.
'We've got to be better in the big moments,' DeBoer said. 'Whether it was the belief or whether it was the confidence.'
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This was never going to be easy for DeBoer, or anyone who decided to jump into the meatgrinder that is Alabama football and replacing Saban. There's a always transition, a buy-in from players recruited by one staff and playing for another.
But not like this. Not losing to Vanderbilt, the SEC's annual tomato can. Not losing by 21 to the worst Oklahoma team in nearly four decades — with a spot in the CFP on the line.
Not falling to five-loss, one-dimensional Michigan in a bowl game that could've salvaged the season. Ten wins would've looked a whole lot better than nine.
Then came the final, inglorious kick to the groin: Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt's dynamic quarterback, went on a national podcast last month and called out Alabama.
'I have no doubt we have the guys to do it,' Pavia said of beating Alabama again.
To be fair, Pavia was responding to Tide star receiver Ryan Williams, who told Jon Gruden, 'We don't call them revenge games. We're going to kill an ant with a sledgehammer.'
I ask you, who exactly is whistling through the graveyard here?
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Pavia and his group of overlooked overachievers, or Williams and an Alabama team that had the talent to win it all last year and didn't? An Alabama team that maybe, just maybe, took its foot off the pedal when Saban finally retired.
When the coach who demanded perfection and abhorred mediocrity – the foundation of The Standard, the secret sauce of Alabama's mojo – decided he'd had enough and strolled to a comfortable seat in, of all places, the media.
Saban talked endlessly about the human condition, and how many opted for doing the easy thing instead of the hard thing. The commitment it took to not only win a national title, but do it again. And again.
When the guy pushing and prodding and emotionally and mentally motivating finally walked away, it's only natural to think there would be a letdown.
Like a Saban team losing by three touchdowns with the CFP on the line. Like a Saban team getting physically dominated by a five-loss Michigan team with the salve of a 10th win there for the taking.
The Alabama season last year, as much as anything, revolves around a 30-minute joy ride against Georgia last September, and 30 more white-knuckle minutes of holding on to beat the Bulldogs in a game that showed what could be.
The good, and the bad.
What Alabama can be under DeBoer when everything is clicking, and what the Tide will be when the taskmaster is away — and The Standard isn't met.
'The first year is kind of frantic with a new coach, and everybody's unsure,' said Alabama tackle Kayden Proctor. 'I would say (DeBoer) is more comfortable.'
How could he not be? He has the most talented team in the SEC, and has his right hand man (offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb) back in the fold to settle an inexperienced and uneasy quarterback room.
He has huge contract with a $60 million buyout, and more important, he has a track record of winning big. Why wouldn't it happen at Alabama, even with the shadow of Saban hanging over his every move?
'All disrespect will be addressed,' Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson said.
That's not a DeBoer thing. That's a mojo thing.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
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