Link: Greg McElroy Defends Kalen DeBoer

[sanjosecrimson]

Former Alabama QB Fires Back At Growing Kalen DeBoer Doubts | Fanrecap.com

Kalen DeBoer’s first year-plus at Alabama has been judged through a brutal lens, and former Crimson Tide quarterback Greg McElroy thinks that has gone too far. ESPN’s 2026 ranking of the best head coaches in college football placed DeBoer tied for 10...

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I usually don't pay attention to Gmac quips on Bama because he really attempts to stay unbiased as much as possible to the point of almost disliking the Tide, but he made some very points in the article and hopefully some fans can back off the ledge.

 

[Tidewater]

I still believe in Kalen DeBoer as Bama's head coach.
Sports are brutal, however, at exposing weakness. Perform or get shown the door.
Every team in NCAA football is now undefeated in the 2026 season, but that is going to start changing in 6-7 weeks. A team has to perform or explain why it is not.

 

[DrollTide]

I don't think much separates the top-5 or 10 head coaches, other than NIL, assistants, and being a blue blood heritage program. I view DeBoer in this category, and noone is enough better to be worth the disruption of replacing him. Obviously, the prestige of the HC affects the quality of assistants you can get, but his seem good. Alabama is obviously a blue blood. The NIL will never be able to compete with the upper reaches (it is sickening to see our best players like Downs bought each year).

But while DeBoer can field competitive teams, and so far he has, he should be kept. The Saban days of winning every year are gone, but more importantly, Saban's game is gone. This is a new sport with which we are not familiar.

 

[CoolBreeze]

I don't think much separates the top-5 or 10 head coaches, other than NIL, assistants, and being a blue blood heritage program. I view DeBoer in this category, and noone is enough better to be worth the disruption of replacing him. Obviously, the prestige of the HC affects the quality of assistants you can get, but his seem good. Alabama is obviously a blue blood. The NIL will never be able to compete with the upper reaches (it is sickening to see our best players like Downs bought each year).

But while DeBoer can field competitive teams, and so far he has, he should be kept. The Saban days of winning every year are gone, but more importantly, Saban's game is gone. This is a new sport with which we are not familiar.

We are familiar with it alright. The costs of roster + coaches + facilities / strength of league = everyone outside of the SEC with a billionaire alumnus has a better shot at a championship. I still love Alabama Football but powers that be made sure that the previous model for success is destroyed forever. Now, it is all about the Benjamins to make the notion of Bama Fatigue a relic of the past.

 

[dtgreg]

DeBoer can coach. You don't beat Kirby and Lanning and Sark and all the others without that ability. I'm hoping he can adapt to the physicality of the SEC and be able to run when he has to. So far, the Defense has been fine to excellent, which was my biggest concern of the hire.

I remember the transition from Coach Bryant to Perkins. CPB thought we needed to revamp the Offense and Perk was an innovator. Great recruiter, as well. Not sure if he managed to turn off the Alumni to the point Hugh Culverhouse was persuaded to get him gone no matter the cost.

DeBoer has not had the experience at this level that Stallings and Saban had. I think he can figure it out. I don't believe he's been "Peter Principled". I could be wrong. We shall see.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I think the reason DeBoer has fallen down some coaching lists is because when he was at Washington, he was on the west coast. Most people only saw the final score, the record and the highlights of UW's games. The majority of the country didn't actually watch the games. However, when he came to Alabama and the SEC, his games were being watched by the snap, not by the highlight. So the in game "hiccups" we've seen while he's been here never were seen by the country when he was at UW. The only time he was really watched was when he got into the playoffs and he beat Texas then got physically dismantled by Michigan.

 

[Con]

I think the reason DeBoer has fallen down some coaching lists is because when he was at Washington, he was on the west coast. Most people only saw the final score, the record and the highlights of UW's games. The majority of the country didn't actually watch the games. However, when he came to Alabama and the SEC, his games were being watched by the snap, not by the highlight. So the in game "hiccups" we've seen while he's been here never were seen by the country when he was at UW. The only time he was really watched was when he got into the playoffs and he beat Texas then got physically dismantled by Michigan.

This is a solid point. Didn’t really look at it that way. Outside the game with Oregon and the playoffs I can’t remember any of their games.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

This is a solid point. Didn’t really look at it that way. Outside the game with Oregon and the playoffs I can’t remember any of their games.

We have a few on the board who actually watched some of his games while he was UW, and they've said he had some of the same game issues at UW.

 

[graydogg85]

Through two seasons, the DeBoer era reminds me a lot of the Stallings era, in terms of net cumulative results. Very different coaches with very different styles obviously, but the parallels are also there. Lots of close wins, some occasional head-scratching losses, some games where we look like world-beaters against good teams, and the occasional thumping by a really good team.

The 1996 season in particular comes to mind. 10 wins and an SEC Championship game appearance, but an inexplicable loss to Mississippi State and a general whipping from Florida in Atlanta. We had a heroic come-from-behind last minute win in the Iron Bowl and beat LSU’s brains out on the road, but barely survived NC State.

Stallings put teams on the field that were generally very solid and were a safe bet to win 9-10 games and challenge for a conference title in any given season (and occasionally put it all together as in 1992) , but they would also occasionally throw up all over themselves.

If CKD sticks around, I expect the net results to be similar to this. Honestly, in the current landscape, that’s better than 90% of the rest of CFB and I’m good with it. I always felt that what Saban had going was not going to be sustainable when he left, no matter who we hired, and I’m just glad we haven’t fallen off a cliff - which has frequently happened in CFB when other generational coaches have left or retired. CKD can coach - Greg is right that his career resume doesn’t happen by accident - but he’s not on the cusp of perfection like Saban at his peak. We still could have done far worse, and I still think he was the best reasonably available coach we could have hired in January 2024. I don’t know if he works out long-term, but I’d argue that working out long-term realistically would look more like Stallings 2.0, especially in the current climate.

 

[dtgreg]

Through two seasons, the DeBoer era reminds me a lot of the Stallings era, in terms of net cumulative results. Very different coaches with very different styles obviously, but the parallels are also there. Lots of close wins, some occasional head-scratching losses, some games where we look like world-beaters against good teams, and the occasional thumping by a really good team.

The 1996 season in particular comes to mind. 10 wins and an SEC Championship game appearance, but an inexplicable loss to Mississippi State and a general whipping from Florida in Atlanta. We had a heroic come-from-behind last minute win in the Iron Bowl and beat LSU’s brains out on the road, but barely survived NC State.

Stallings put teams on the field that were generally very solid and were a safe bet to win 9-10 games and challenge for a conference title in any given season (and occasionally put it all together as in 1992) , but they would also occasionally throw up all over themselves.

If CKD sticks around, I expect the net results to be similar to this. Honestly, in the current landscape, that’s better than 90% of the rest of CFB and I’m good with it. I always felt that what Saban had going was not going to be sustainable when he left, no matter who we hired, and I’m just glad we haven’t fallen off a cliff - which has frequently happened in CFB when other generational coaches have left or retired. CKD can coach - Greg is right that his career resume doesn’t happen by accident - but he’s not on the cusp of perfection like Saban at his peak. We still could have done far worse, and I still think he was the best reasonably available coach we could have hired in January 2024. I don’t know if he works out long-term, but I’d argue that working out long-term realistically would look more like Stallings 2.0, especially in the current climate.

My thoughts are that he has won, and won big, everywhere he has been. He started from the very bottom and is now the unlikely head coach at the University of Alabama, the greatest college program of all time. He doesn't know his ceiling, and nobody else does, either.

My fear is that he has absolutely no background in major college ball save for two years at Washington where he was, admittedly, very successful. Still, he's up against the best of the best now. He has always been able to win against better talent with superior Xs and Os but it remains to be seen if he and his staff are as truly light-years ahead of the game as Steve Spurrier was at Florida in 1990.

If he can have Championship success here at Alabama during this new legalized "Pay-For Play" era where the billionaires can out-bid you for talent, well, the NFL will come calling. That would be the only hill left to climb, if he's interested.

Or, we're about to find out if he's the definition of the Peter Principle, live and in living color, instead of perhaps one of the all-time greats. I'm fascinated.

 

[Power Eye]

I think the reason DeBoer has fallen down some coaching lists is because when he was at Washington, he was on the west coast. Most people only saw the final score, the record and the highlights of UW's games. The majority of the country didn't actually watch the games. However, when he came to Alabama and the SEC, his games were being watched by the snap, not by the highlight. So the in game "hiccups" we've seen while he's been here never were seen by the country when he was at UW. The only time he was really watched was when he got into the playoffs and he beat Texas then got physically dismantled by Michigan.

Regarding the "hiccups", I think that's true with just about every highly regarded coach. Maybe Smart, Day and Cignetti have been able to avoid those for the most part, but certainly coaches like Sark, Freeman, Kiffin, etc. have not. If DeBoer had taken over a program like Notre Dame where there was talent, but not the recent results of elite success, and he had the same results as he's had at Alabama, then I don't think anyone would be questioning him. He literally went to the one place that it would appear on the surface to be setup perfectly for him to be immediately successful, yet impossible to replicate the level of success. The only coach that could have replaced Saban and had an even remote chance of replicating his success would have been Smart, and that's only because he probably would have been able to limit the exodus of players better and had stronger recruiting ties to the southeast.

Not to go off on a tangent too much, but what drives me crazy are all the articles that discuss how DeBoer has "struggled" over the last two years and how we had an early exit from the CFP. Never mind we won a CFP game on the road and lost to the eventual national champs who equally embarrassed Oregon in the semis. As a result of those articles, the articles about how Alabama fans are restless for success and how DeBoer is on the hot seat start coming out. None of this is driven by anything internal at Alabama or by frustrations of the fan base, it's just the vicious cycle of sports journalism trying to create stories all manufactured by themselves. It will be interesting to see the story lines this week from media days. I'm sure it will mentioned how long it's been since Alabama didn't get a first place vote in the preseason SEC rankings, or how we haven't started outside the top 10 in the AP in 20 years or whatever. None of that matters, but the media will try and get us to believe it does.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Regarding the "hiccups", I think that's true with just about every highly regarded coach. Maybe Smart, Day and Cignetti have been able to avoid those for the most part, but certainly coaches like Sark, Freeman, Kiffin, etc. have not. If DeBoer had taken over a program like Notre Dame where there was talent, but not the recent results of elite success, and he had the same results as he's had at Alabama, then I don't think anyone would be questioning him. He literally went to the one place that it would appear on the surface to be setup perfectly for him to be immediately successful, yet impossible to replicate the level of success. The only coach that could have replaced Saban and had an even remote chance of replicating his success would have been Smart, and that's only because he probably would have been able to limit the exodus of players better and had stronger recruiting ties to the southeast.

Not to go off on a tangent too much, but what drives me crazy are all the articles that discuss how DeBoer has "struggled" over the last two years and how we had an early exit from the CFP. Never mind we won a CFP game on the road and lost to the eventual national champs who equally embarrassed Oregon in the semis. As a result of those articles, the articles about how Alabama fans are restless for success and how DeBoer is on the hot seat start coming out. None of this is driven by anything internal at Alabama or by frustrations of the fan base, it's just the vicious cycle of sports journalism trying to create stories all manufactured by themselves. It will be interesting to see the story lines this week from media days. I'm sure it will mentioned how long it's been since Alabama didn't get a first place vote in the preseason SEC rankings, or how we haven't started outside the top 10 in the AP in 20 years or whatever. None of that matters, but the media will try and get us to believe it does.

As expected when he was hired, his results were going to be compared to the standard Alabama created for itself under Saban. When that happened, anything he did was going to be considered as " he struggled". Now, we can discuss how unfair that is and anyone who can fog a mirror would agree that is highly unfair. But, it doesn't change reality and the reality is, whether it is DeBoer or anyone else hired after Saban. They were going to be compared to the results Saban had in his prime at Alabama. Fair? Nope. Surprised? Nope.

 

[Joefus]

As expected when he was hired, his results were going to be compared to the standard Alabama created for itself under Saban. When that happened, anything he did was going to be considered as " he struggled". Now, we can discuss how unfair that is and anyone who can fog a mirror would agree that is highly unfair. But, it doesn't change reality and the reality is, whether it is DeBoer or anyone else hired after Saban. They were going to be compared to the results Saban had in his prime at Alabama. Fair? Nope. Surprised? Nope.

Anyone who can fog a mirror

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Anyone who can fog a mirror

You'd be surprised... LOL!

 

[Power Eye]

As expected when he was hired, his results were going to be compared to the standard Alabama created for itself under Saban. When that happened, anything he did was going to be considered as " he struggled". Now, we can discuss how unfair that is and anyone who can fog a mirror would agree that is highly unfair. But, it doesn't change reality and the reality is, whether it is DeBoer or anyone else hired after Saban. They were going to be compared to the results Saban had in his prime at Alabama. Fair? Nope. Surprised? Nope.

Everything you said is completely true. It was inevitable that he would be compared to Saban and the results that he generated. However, I don't believe that Saban's or Alabama's standard was or is to win a national championship at least once every three years. In other words, the results that Saban generated were not his planned standard, nor is it, or should be, the standard of any other school or athletic organization of any other kind.

Now, of course the media will continue to compare DeBoer's Alabama to Saban's Alabama because that's just what they do, and honestly, anyone who would rank Mario Cristobal as a top 10 coach I can't take particularly serious. He doesn't have hiccups, he has throw-ups.

My only thing is that I don't want the fanbase or administration to be influenced by whatever nonsense the media is saying, which I fear happens. This isn't an Alabama specific concern, I think it happens with every major program. The media starts the fire, the fanbase fans the flames, and then the administration feels the heat and ends up making a change as a result. Sometimes it can work for the better, but most times it doesn't. I'm not saying that there is no one who we could possibly get that would do a better job than DeBoer, there very well could be and probably is, we just don't know who they are. I just know that, personally, I can say definitively there are only three better coaches in college and that's Smart, Cignetti and Day. Anyone beyond that I feel very comfortable making the argument as to why DeBoer is better.

With all that said, I recognize that is well beyond the scope of what you were saying. I just wanted to vent after reading and hearing some recent comments about DeBoer's perceived struggles from the outside media. It's just been aggravating.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

With all that said, I recognize that is well beyond the scope of what you were saying. I just wanted to vent after reading and hearing some recent comments about DeBoer's perceived struggles from the outside media. It's just been aggravating.

It's why I wouldn't have taken the job if I were him, regardless of the money. Following Nick Saban was a disaster waiting to happen, even if the coach had success. Outside of winning a national championship in the first two years, no amount of success was going to be deemed a "success". It was only going to be viewed as a "step back" or regression. But I got to give it to DeBoer, he's smart enough to have known all of that, and took the job anyway.

 

[Slowpoke Catracho]

I think we need to temper our expectiations. College football is not the same animal it was 4 years ago. It never will be again. Heck, making it the semi-finals is actually a win for a season in my book now. I hear the stalwart "National Champions or Bust" folks starting up the band, but those days are long gone and those championships are going to be far and few in between. I just don't see anyone better to get for a head coach, we need to start looking at how the program is being managed and the $$$ that are being paid for talent.

In the NFL you have a bigger talent pool to pull from that will be worth what they are paid because NCAA football is on a whole different level of competition than High School competition and talent.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I think we need to temper our expectiations. College football is not the same animal it was 4 years ago. It never will be again. Heck, making it the semi-finals is actually a win for a season in my book now. I hear the stalwart "National Champions or Bust" folks starting up the band, but those days are long gone and those championships are going to be far and few in between. I just don't see anyone better to get for a head coach, we need to start looking at how the program is being managed and the $$$ that are being paid for talent.

In the NFL you have a bigger talent pool to pull from that will be worth what they are paid because NCAA football is on a whole different level of competition than High School competition and talent.

Yeah, the problem is, when one or two of the same teams begin ending up in the final four or the national title game every other year. That's when Alabama fans will lose their minds. LOL!

 

[Power Eye]

I think we need to temper our expectiations. College football is not the same animal it was 4 years ago. It never will be again. Heck, making it the semi-finals is actually a win for a season in my book now. I hear the stalwart "National Champions or Bust" folks starting up the band, but those days are long gone and those championships are going to be far and few in between. I just don't see anyone better to get for a head coach, we need to start looking at how the program is being managed and the $$$ that are being paid for talent.

In the NFL you have a bigger talent pool to pull from that will be worth what they are paid because NCAA football is on a whole different level of competition than High School competition and talent.

It's not the same, and there will never again be a program that will win six national titles over a twelve year period. There might be some that win back-to-back titles or win two over a four or five year period, but never again will there be a true long term sustained dynasty.

I've said before that Power 4 college football, and more so the SEC, is like the NFL now in terms of parity, but even in the NFL you can get a dynasty going like Mahomes and the Chiefs or Brady and the Patriots, but not in college when a starting roster is completely turned over every three years, and you can no longer stockpile talent.

 

[PA Tide Fan]

I think we need to temper our expectiations. College football is not the same animal it was 4 years ago. It never will be again. Heck, making it the semi-finals is actually a win for a season in my book now. I hear the stalwart "National Champions or Bust" folks starting up the band, but those days are long gone and those championships are going to be far and few in between. I just don't see anyone better to get for a head coach, we need to start looking at how the program is being managed and the $$$ that are being paid for talent.

In the NFL you have a bigger talent pool to pull from that will be worth what they are paid because NCAA football is on a whole different level of competition than High School competition and talent.

When Saban retired I lowered my expectations from winning championships to just making the playoff. I think if DeBoer is a good coach he should be able to get us to the playoff consistently since he is still able to recruit at a high level and the playoff field has now expanded.. That's why this upcoming season is pivotal. Another playoff appearance and his first season would be forgivable as simply an adjustment year that was needed. But a playoff miss, meaning 2 of his first 3 seasons are misses might indicate a coaching problem.