New Alabama Crimson Tide football head coach Kalen DeBoer has plenty of pressure weighing down on him, but he hasn’t shown any signs of cracking as he prepares his team for the upcoming 2024 season.
Not only is DeBoer subject to the usual expectations of a first-year head coach, but he’s now at the helm of arguably the most dynastic program in college football history and is the immediate successor to one of the greatest head coaches of all time, Nick Saban.
Recently, Will Backus of CBS Sports ranked all 16 football head coaches in the SEC for the upcoming season. DeBoer ranks No. 4, which is behind the top-ranked Kirby Smart of the Georgia Bulldogs, No. 2 Brian Kelly of the LSU Tigers and No. 3 Steve Sarkisian of the Texas Longhorns.
“Another newcomer to the SEC, though he’s filling a position quite familiar to the conference, DeBoer is stepping into some massive shoes. Following Saban isn’t an easy task. Following Saban as the SEC adds two blue bloods in Texas and Oklahoma magnifies the challenge,” writes Backus. “DeBoer seems more than up to it, at least. He’s only won fewer than 10 games in a full season as a head coach once in his career (Fresno State went 9-3 in 2021). In just two seasons at Washington, he won 25 games and led the Huskies to their first College Football Playoff National Championship appearance. Now, he has the keys to a premier college football team.”
Though new head coaches typically inherit a poor situation, DeBoer takes over a team with a talented roster that made the College Football Playoff in 2023. Expectations are high, but mitigated for the former Washington Huskies head coach.
Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama football news as the 2024 offseason progresses.
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