In the nearly six months since Kalen DeBoer was hired as the Alabama football coach, he’s had plenty of moments where the totality of the position he now holds has sunk in. But two stand out above the rest.
One was the spring game, or “A Day” as it’s referred to in Tuscaloosa, where DeBoer first got to lead his team into Bryant-Denny Stadium with fans in the stands. But the first came in January, when DeBoer and his family arrived in Tuscaloosa.
“I think when we landed,” DeBoer said on the Always College Football podcast with Greg McElroy. “My family and I, there’s thousands of people or it at least felt like that, that are there to greet you. And as we pulled from the airport to the complex, just pretty much everyone knowing that you’re in town and what was happening. That’s, I think, really was the one that stands out. Then I think the spring game was another one of those moments. But each and every day that we’re here, you just run into so many people that have so much passion for this program and those are the magnitudes — 72,000 at the stadium and the people at the airport.”
DeBoer continued, adding that part of what’s made the experience of being the Alabama coach special aren’t just the big, celebratory moments, but all the little bits along the way.
“But each and every day you just run into people that will do whatever they can to help out and make it known and honestly I really truly believe that’s what they’ll do if you ask them, they would do whatever they could to help you out,” DeBoer said. “And that’s what this place is all about. It’s passion and it’s people who love this program.”
DeBoer doesn’t want Alabama to have its guard down with an expanded playoff
College football will look differently in 2024. Conference realignment will take place and the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff format changes the game for teams like Alabama, who no longer have to win every single game of the season to make the field.
However, DeBoer believes there’s still little wiggle room for error heading into 2024. After all, the top four seeds receive first-round bye’s and the last thing the Crimson Tide head coach wants is to potentially face another power conference opponent in a first-round scenario.
“You want to be the highest seed that you possibly can. And so every single game, still, to me is very important,” DeBoer said at the SEC spring meetings in Destin. “You know, it isn’t just always about making the playoffs. It’s about winning in the playoffs and winning a championship. And so everything that goes into that, you know, matters when it comes to each and every game. So, I don’t like to think that you have a little wiggle room because more teams are in the playoffs.
“I don’t want us thinking that way. I want us to think about every game, the significance of it, and how important it is to us landing at a great spot, you know, and getting a potential first round by the playoffs. And so that, to me, you know is what we’ll be attacking and what we’ll be working for.”
On3’s Barkley Truax contributed to this report.
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