JessN: DeBoer is building something: What it is, is the question

cdub55

All-SEC
Aug 13, 2024
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4Q, your observation of Dr. Witt & CNS partnership is spot on. Dr. Witt stated his goal early on to increase out of state enrollment and elevate the FB / Athletic program as something that attracts elite academic OOS students. Some are turned off by that, UA has shown how to do it right, IMHO.
Go and party with the young folks sometime during a game day weekend and ask them where they are from. It will astonish most at how many will say New Jersey, California, etc. Alabama has definitely done an amazing job of attracting students nationally over the last ten years or so.
 

Ole Man Dan

Hall of Fame
Apr 21, 2008
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It is obvious that CKD will change Alabama but I think it is just as interesting to see how Alabama will change CKD. I hope he doesn't lose himself during this journey but I do hope to see this job bring out the best in him from a competitor standpoint. Like it or not, our fans have an expectation of passion and fire that we like to see from our head coach. In the past I think CKD was able to get away with being more of a CEO and being more pragmatic. Saban left a huge void in that area and I don't expect CKD to completely fill it, but it would be nice to see him start coloring within the lines in that area some in the coming years.
I like to see FIRE in a coach, didn't happen last year.
It's time for DeBoer to step up and show some emotion when the situation deems it appropriate.
 
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CaliforniaTide

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Go and party with the young folks sometime during a game day weekend and ask them where they are from. It will astonish most at how many will say New Jersey, California, etc. Alabama has definitely done an amazing job of attracting students nationally over the last ten years or so.
I knew of at least 30 Californians, including myself, when I was at school at Alabama from 2006-2010. Most of us chose Alabama due to total costs for out-of-state students being significantly lower than staying in-state in California. At one point then, California was in the top 5 of students at Alabama who were not from Alabama.
 

cdub55

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Aug 13, 2024
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I knew of at least 30 Californians, including myself, when I was at school at Alabama from 2006-2010. Most of us chose Alabama due to total costs for out-of-state students being significantly lower than staying in-state in California. At one point then, California was in the top 5 of students at Alabama who were not from Alabama.
Curios to know, did most of you move back to California after graduation?
 

gman4tide

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Nov 21, 2005
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I knew of at least 30 Californians, including myself, when I was at school at Alabama from 2006-2010. Most of us chose Alabama due to total costs for out-of-state students being significantly lower than staying in-state in California. At one point then, California was in the top 5 of students at Alabama who were not from Alabama.
Crazy to think you came to bama due to costs and my son went to ut martin due to costs. His out of state was 12k cheaper than attending UA (in state).
 

bamajas

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Oct 5, 2005
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In a season of football, plenty of opportunities will arise. Lets not act like we didn't see a few chances last year. JM's soccer slide on the pick six in Norman would have personally caused me to be arrested in 49 of the 50 states if I was on that sideline...
So that's a no? He doesn't get to decide for himself, but you do?
 

cdub55

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So that's a no? He doesn't get to decide for himself, but you do?
I gave one example of an opportunity that I would have found unacceptable to my personal standard of football to corroborate the statement that he had plenty of opportunities to show emotion. He may have deemed the effort and execution of that play to be acceptable. If so I find that interesting but I won't waste my time listing 978 other instances where he could have shown more emotion. If you would like to intelligently rebuttal what I have said I'll continue the dialogue but I won't play "20 Questions" troll format with you. Simply my opinion, that most Alabama fans actually agree with me on, and if you disagree then that is fine.
 
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bamajas

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I gave one example of an opportunity that I would have found unacceptable to my personal standard of football to corroborate the statement that he had plenty of opportunities to show emotion. He may have deemed the effort and execution of that play to be acceptable. If so I find that interesting but I won't waste my time listing 978 other instances where he could have shown more emotion. If you would like to intelligently rebuttal what I have said I'll continue the dialogue but I won't play "20 Questions" troll format with you. Simply my opinion, that most Alabama fans actually agree with me on, and if you disagree then that is fine.
He's handled the sideline (and what he wears, etc.) much differently than I would have if I were the coach. But I'm the overweight guy watching at home griping that the game lasts too late into the night, I'm not the one coaching.

In any other industry he'd be praised for self-control and restraint. But because "it's football," being toxic and codependent on the actions of kids half his age is *expected?*

My main point is that when it gets brought up, everyone has to include that it's only at certain times, not all the time. That automatically invokes a subjective standard. He's been entrusted with one of the most significant jobs in sports, yet he doesn't have the ability to decide when/what he gets upset about externally? The idea that he should care what someone else is doing or thinking while they watch the game in a living room or luxury box is just wild to me...especially aspects of his personality and character.

I would lose respect for any coach who does something, especially something as vital to a flourishing life as emotional regulation, simply because "most Alabama fans" want him to.
 

mlh

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I had tough coaches growing up and they were plenty hard on us. But they also demanded discipline and control. I think it's contradictory for a coach to yank a kid out of the game for an undisciplined personal foul, then have a tantrum on the sideline and throw his headset and have to be restrained by other coaches.

I liked the way Coach Stallings handled things. He was tough on his players and his assistant coaches, and he gave the refs a hard time, but he never lost control. Of course, he was a disciple of Coach Bryant, who I never saw "lose it."

Personally, I find some of the antics by some of the coaches (CNS included) to be childish. You can be passionate and demanding and tough without having a "come apart."

All that to say, I don't have any issues with how Coach DeBoer handles himself and his team on the sideline.
 
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cdub55

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He's handled the sideline (and what he wears, etc.) much differently than I would have if I were the coach. But I'm the overweight guy watching at home griping that the game lasts too late into the night, I'm not the one coaching.

In any other industry he'd be praised for self-control and restraint. But because "it's football," being toxic and codependent on the actions of kids half his age is *expected?*

My main point is that when it gets brought up, everyone has to include that it's only at certain times, not all the time. That automatically invokes a subjective standard. He's been entrusted with one of the most significant jobs in sports, yet he doesn't have the ability to decide when/what he gets upset about externally? The idea that he should care what someone else is doing or thinking while they watch the game in a living room or luxury box is just wild to me...especially aspects of his personality and character.

I would lose respect for any coach who does something, especially something as vital to a flourishing life as emotional regulation, simply because "most Alabama fans" want him to.
I 100% don't want him showing emotion because he thinks that is what he should do. I 100% would like to see him show more emotion because he has the fire, passion, and desire to win and hold people to high standards through various strategic ways. Some players will shut down if you scream at them. Some players will run through a brick wall and win you the game. I'd like to see the head coach tap into all of those guys when the opportunity arises. Make no mistake about it, I don't want to see passion and fire because it is fake and might get some idiot to get excited, I want to see it because I know it works in the game of football!
 

CoolBreeze

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I like to see FIRE in a coach, didn't happen last year.
It's time for DeBoer to step up and show some emotion when the situation deems it appropriate.
Still have to give Coach the benefit of the doubt in a transition year. Dude's biggest coaching gig was at Washington where he was in place for only 2 years. Went from zero pressure on the left coast to all the pressure in the world in Tuscaloosa in just a few months...talk about culture shock. But he has won at every level so he has the genetics we need. Honeymoon is over though and he seems to get that so let's see what happens this year.
 
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cdub55

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I had tough coaches growing up and they were plenty hard on us. But they also demanded discipline and control. I think it's contradictory for a coach to yank a kid out of the game for an undisciplined personal foul, then have a tantrum on the sideline and throw his headset and have to be restrained by other coaches.

I liked the way Coach Stallings handled things. He was tough on his players and his assistant coaches, and he gave the refs a hard time, but he never lost control. Of course, he was a disciple of Coach Bryant, who I never saw "lose it."

Personally, I find some of the antics by some of the coaches (CNS included) to be childish. You can be passionate and demanding and tough without having a "come apart.".

All that to say, I don't have any issues with how Coach DeBoer handles himself and his team on the sideline.
Acting like a kid and throwing your headset isn't what I am referring to when I say these things. Ripping into a player for not having effort, benching a player for not doing what the coaches have asked him to do are just a few examples of what I would like to see more of. If he chooses to not do any of these things and the results are exemplary then fine. If something is missing and our coaches are standing on the sideline with their hands in their pockets, I don't applaud it.
 

mlh

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Acting like a kid and throwing your headset isn't what I am referring to when I say these things. Ripping into a player for not having effort, benching a player for not doing what the coaches have asked him to do are just a few examples of what I would like to see more of. If he chooses to not do any of these things and the results are exemplary then fine. If something is missing and our coaches are standing on the sideline with their hands in their pockets, I don't applaud it.
I agree, cdub55. But I'm not sure that's CKD's personality. I think he takes more of a CEO role and leaves the ass-chewings to his assistants. I've heard it mentioned that CRG is kind of "old school" and more prone to rip into a player for not giving appropriate effort or doing what is expected. It will be interesting to see how it all works out.
 
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bamajas

All-SEC
Oct 5, 2005
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Jasper, AL
I 100% don't want him showing emotion because he thinks that is what he should do. I 100% would like to see him show more emotion because he has the fire, passion, and desire to win and hold people to high standards through various strategic ways. Some players will shut down if you scream at them. Some players will run through a brick wall and win you the game. I'd like to see the head coach tap into all of those guys when the opportunity arises. Make no mistake about it, I don't want to see passion and fire because it is fake and might get some idiot to get excited, I want to see it because I know it works in the game of football!
Heard that. All that sounds good, we just don't know as much as he knows. If getting upset at JM was the way to coach him, I'm guessing we would've seen it long before the OU game, and I'm guessing we would've seen it from Saban the year before. It just seems he deserves the respect to decide which ones to coach which ways within the confines of who he is as a person. It sounds noble to say he needs to be authentic, but it also sounds like fans have in mind what it needs to look like. I struggle to see how both of those can be true.

I think we as fans have more room to question his actual coaching decisions (like who plays, scheme, gameplan) than whether or not he has enough fire/passion to our liking or whether he wears a collar or a crimson shirt instead of a black one. The biggest factor in that OU game was how thoroughly OU's staff on both sides out-gameplanned us during the week leading up to it and how little we adjusted to what they were doing. That's what he gets paid to do, and he and our staff didn't do it. Him screaming at JM for sliding wouldn't change that (and we don't have any clue what was said the week following in their QB meetings and film sessions). I would respect him even more had he remained calm and collected and then benched him for it without blinking.
 

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