Alabama football hates losing. It seems like Kalen DeBoer never loses. That is the foundation of a successful partnership.
Sources told USA TODAY that Alabama is getting close to appointing DeBoer as Nick Saban’s successor. You already know how I feel about this hire if you read my column from Wednesday night, in which I made a strong case for DeBoer. It appeals to me. I really like it.
Although there was no ideal choice, DeBoer meets several requirements following his amazing two-year tenure at Washington and his unwavering winning streak at Fresno State and NAIA Sioux Falls.
He is still young enough (49 years old) to continue winning for a very long time, yet he has gained enough experience to be poised, confident, and self-assured in accepting the responsibility of succeeding the all-time great. Although Saban will still have an office in the building, DeBoer shouldn’t be concerned about what comes next. He’s shown that he can win large.
He hasn’t shown that he can succeed in the SEC. He was born in South Dakota and has never had a job in the South. As previously said, there was no ideal candidate.
It should be clear what DeBoer’s first assignment is: relationships. In his new environment, he needs to establish solid contacts that will support him in NIL fundraising and on the recruiting trail, both of which are crucial at a time when hiring talent is more transactional than ever. Yes, he needs to cultivate Saban’s steadfast backing, as he will undoubtedly throw the biggest shadow on the planet.
I see SEC experience as an asset to this conference, not a prerequisite. The two greatest SEC coaches over the previous 25 years are Nick Saban and Urban Meyer. Until LSU hired him, Saban had never been a head coach in the SEC. Before moving to Florida from Utah, Meyer had no experience working in the SEC. Oh, and Nate Oats, the well-liked basketball coach in Alabama, wasn’t from around here either.
However, DeBoer will have challenges because he is an outsider. People on the Plains will loudly proclaim that DeBoer is Bryan Harsin’s second coming. Auburn supporters have already called DeBoer “Husky Harsin.”
These kinds of parallels are both cliched and misinformed. Prior to being hired by Auburn to take over for Gus Malzahn, Harsin had never led a Power Five programme. By contrast, DeBoer led Washington into the fourth quarter of Monday’s national championship game against Michigan, the undefeated team, and he also won the Pac-12 and a College Football Playoff semifinal. Against Steve Sarkisian and Dan Lanning, he is 5-0 all-time.
He has a great deal more experience than Harsin. Furthermore, I think my left boot has more personality than Harsin’s, whose quick removal was partly caused by a lack of interpersonal skills. On the recruiting trail, instate coaches referred to Harsin as a “ghost,” and he broke Auburn’s locker room. He never had a chance with the boosters at Auburn.
DeBoer can avoid those pitfalls.
Kalen DeBoer’s first task at Alabama? Relationships
DeBoer has to overcome Saban’s leftovers first. Players who look into his background should be curious about their new coach, but for every player going through a coaching change, the transfer portal is like a lifeline.
Additionally, DeBoer needs to energise those in charge of Alabama’s finances. More than ever, recruiting is influenced by money.
DeBoer is not as well-known for recruiting as some of his contemporaries, such as Sarkisian and Lanning, whom he defeats on the pitch. Although recruiting for Alabama’s brand is a powerful tool, he must tread carefully in shark-infested waters.
In the country, Kirby Smart is the most active recruiter. Mike Norvell and Hugh Freeze are also incredibly skilled at it. DeBoer will need to gain ground. It would be wise for him to appoint a few recruiting dynamos to his debut Alabama staff who have extensive ties to the SEC.
It wouldn’t hurt to get a little cosy with the media, either. The Alabama press corps devoured Saban’s hand near the end of his career, but those same sycophants can turn into vultures at the first hint of problems from the heir. Once more, Harsin serves as a handy manual for doing the opposite. He barely made an impression on the media. He exuded a sense of conceit that was undeserved.
Kalen DeBoer can coach. Nick Saban’s wit went beyond X’s and O’s
Saban’s brilliance was only partially revealed by his coaching intellect. His secret sauce was his relentless ability to draw in talented people. He brought Alabama’s whole student body behind him. A unifying desire of greatness among five-star players with individual aspirations was encouraged by him.
It is clear that DeBoer has X’s and O’s expertise. A polydactyly person might count the number of losses in his career on two hands. The season before his arrival, the Huskies had won four games. In the second year under DeBoer, they won 14 games. For the first time since the inaugural playoff season, he led a Pac-12 club to the national title.
DeBoer is a ball expert. Fostering the relationships, recruiting, and alignment necessary to succeed in the difficult task of replacing the irreplaceable will be his struggle.
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