Leading OFF
How does DeBoer follow Saban? Four keys to his success
Success against ranked teams. Wins against your rival. Conference championships. Proven ability to reach the College Football Playoff, beat some of the best teams in the Bowl Subdivision and compete for national championships. Check, check, check, check. A winning track record across multiple stops as a head coach. A reputation for inventiveness and innovation in your area of expertise – in this case, on the offensive side of the ball. The ability to identify and develop skill talent.
Check, check and check again.
In many ways, Kalen DeBoer hits the mark for Alabama. Within days of Nick Saban’s retirement last week, the university landed one of the hottest names in the profession and a coach fresh off one of the most incredibly quick and jaw-dropping turnarounds in recent Power Five history.
But there are few home-run hires in college football. While the positives seemingly outweigh the possible negatives, the DeBoer hire comes with question marks, concerns and the possibility of being engulfed by the miles-wide shadow Saban will continue to cast over the program for years to come.
In the short and long term, DeBoer’s tenure in Tuscaloosa will be defined by these four unanswered questions:
Can DeBoer keep Alabama’s recruiting machine rolling?
Beginning with his first full recruiting cycle in 2008, Alabama’s lowest-rated signing class under Saban came in 2010, when the Crimson Tide ranked fifth nationally. In the end, the difference was always Saban; still, even he’d agree that talent
evaluation and development was a foundational part of his program’s historic run.
The onus is on DeBoer to prove he can recruit at that level. That’s the biggest question facing his day-one tenure: Can he maintain the conveyor belt of talent that has juiced Alabama’s roster for a generation?
It doesn’t make too much sense to lean on Washington’s recruiting efforts the past three cycles as evidence. For one, two of those classes have been interrupted by coaching changes – the 2022 group was built on the fly after DeBoer was hired and the 2024 class could be shattered by his departure.
One positive: DeBoer landed a high-profile passer in every cycle, a necessity given the heavy amount of player movement at the position. He also stockpiled skill talent, especially at receiver, and his program did a good job identifying transfers capable of contributing immediately on the offensive line.
But it’s clear that DeBoer will need to fill his staff with proven recruiters with SEC ties, and maybe direct ties to Alabama, in order to keep the Tide alongside
Georgia, Ohio State and others as the top recruiting programs in the FBS.
Does Grubb join DeBoer or stay at Washington?
And speaking of his staff: DeBoer will do everything he can to bring along offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, and understandably so. Grubb has built a name for being one of the top assistant coaches in the Power Five and a future head coach in his own right thanks to the Huskies’ performance on offense the past two seasons.
With Grubb no longer in the mix to replace DeBoer at Washington, the odds have increased dramatically that this key assistant comes along to Alabama.
Keeping Grubb to run his offense would be the biggest hire DeBoer can make to his debut staff. Doing so would help ease the transition to the SEC and ensure that the offense remains the defining aspect of DeBoer’s program.
Ironically, Grubb was one of the top targets for the open Alabama coordinator position after last season but turned down Saban
and the Tide to stay in Seattle. Things seem set to change a year later.
Will he hit the ground running?
It’s vital that DeBoer hit the ground running or risk having his program quickly come under the sort of scrutiny and negative attention that has crippled Billy Napier at Florida, as one recent example.
The stakes are even higher at Alabama. There’s an easy game to circle: DeBoer’s SEC debut at home against Georgia on Sept. 28. A win there could spark a run to the top of the conference and set DeBoer’s tenure on a perfect track; even if against a fellow powerhouse, a loss could spell trouble.
Two weeks earlier, the Tide will travel to Wisconsin. Next season’s schedule also includes road trips to Tennessee, LSU and Oklahoma.
In many cases, a fast start from a new staff can be misleading in the long-term – see Larry Coker at Miami, Brady Hoke at Michigan and Mark Helfrich at Oregon as some recent examples.
But when stepping in for a legend, a slow start can doom a promising tenure.
Saban inherited a mess when he arrived at Alabama in 2007 and was given more than enough leeway to go 7-6 in his debut. DeBoer won’t be given anywhere close to the same room for error.
Is DeBoer ready for life in the SEC and after Saban?
Three head coaches in the SEC this past season had previously been head coaches at another SEC program: Saban (LSU), Auburn’s Hugh Freeze (Mississippi) and Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin (Tennessee).
All but four other coaches this coming season had previous experience in the conference in some capacity: Kentucky’s Mark Stoops, LSU’s Brian Kelly, Oklahoma’s Brent Venables and Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea did not.
But there’s one historic factor in DeBoer’s favor: Saban had never coached in the SEC, either, before being hired at LSU in 2000. Three seasons later, he led the Tigers to his first of seven national championships.
In other words, successful coaches tend to succeed regardless of the stomping ground.
There’s still set to be a major learning curve as DeBoer and his scheme adapt to life in the best conference in the FBS. While running through this season’s Pac-12 was no easy feat – the league definitely went out with a bang in terms of depth and quality – the SEC is a different animal.
DeBoer will also have to succeed with Saban looming over his shoulder. Not because Saban plans to keep his fingerprints on the program; his comments about assisting in the transition seem very genuine. But because everything he does will be compared to the greatest coach in FBS history.