Kalen DeBoer’s buyout leaves Alabama with very few options after disappointing 2024

Alabama fans, save yourselves. Don’t go down the rabbit hole of how this season wasn’t quite up to the standard former coach Nick Saban held for decades as the coach. Taking over Alabama is hard; doing after a legendary coach like Saban is nearly impossible. 

It also is going to take time as a new coach, with a new philosophy in a new era of college football and college athletics. So it’s OK Kalen DeBoer didn’t make the College Football Playoff in year one. 

The world isn’t going to end. But you have to end any conversations of getting DeBoer out now before you find yourself in dangerous territory. That said, for all you curious fans, it would cost Alabama upwards of $70 million to fire DeBoer. 

Needless to say, he ain’t going nowhere. So appreciate that he didn’t have a horrible season, but gave you something to build on for next year. 

It’s irrational to call for Kalen DeBoer’s firing despite unorthodox season by Alabama standards

Calling for DeBoer to get fired after a 9-4 season in year one is simply irrational. Even for a fan base that’s used to being in the College Football Playoff like Alabama. Winning is hard and the way college football is now only makes it harder. 

What DeBoer did in his first season taking over for Saban isn’t all that bad. Sure, losses to Vanderbilt and Oklahoma aren’t exactly good. But those things happen from time to time. 

The loss to Tennessee looks a lot less worse, but again, not quite where Bama standards are. Which begs the question, if you fire DeBoer after one year, what would you do next?

It was always going to be a tall task for DeBoer taking over for Saban. But that doesn’t mean his expectations are sky high just because he’s at Bama. It’s going to take time for him to build his own program. 

He didn’t take Washington to the national championship game in year one. Nor did he have the pressure to. He should be afforded that same grievance in Tuscaloosa. 

Winning is hard and as seen this year, winning in the SEC is even harder. In his first year, he was one win away from a College Football Playoff appearance. It could have been so much worse. 

And yes a loss to Michigan will probably cloud your judgement. But DeBoer doesn’t deserve to be fired. At least not yet. It could be so much worse.