Kalen Deboer's Year One Struggles: A Tough Post-Saban Era

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00:00And we'll start with Alabama today, Scotty. Of course, Kalen DeBoer, tough job. He had to replace

00:05Nick Saban last year. And let's just say things didn't get off to the best start. Well, you know,

00:11nine and four, losing a ball game, that's not really Alabama territory. They don't really do

00:17that. So was the standard met in year number one for Kalen DeBoer? What you evaluate to be the

00:23Bama standard, do you feel like your year one lived up? Yeah, I mean, if you internally ask us,

00:29no, like we we fell short of making the playoffs as simple as that, right? And giving yourself a

00:34chance to go compete for a championship. I think there's a lot of things that I'm super proud of

00:40that are happening within the program that are part of the progression. Yeah, we want it right

00:45now, too. And so, yeah, we fell short. Our guys, you know, again, I'm proud of them and the way

00:52they've responded to, you know, us, you know, not realizing the goals that we, you know, set out to

00:58have and getting back just to work and focusing on the main thing. I feel that's always been the

01:04case, but sometimes there's just ups and downs you got to go through, unfortunately, that we had to

01:09experience. But in the end, you know, we're going to take advantage of the failures we've had

01:13and be better because of it. Yeah, actually, I don't remember Nick Saban. Am I wrong? Did he ever

01:20win nine games? I mean, that guy won 11 games while he was sleeping.

01:25Maybe in like his first couple of years, but not at the end, he didn't.

01:30I mean, to tell you, and not being in the playoff, can you imagine? Like, it was a failure. And here's

01:40another thought for you. I think they'd bring Saban back in two seconds if they could get rid of DeBoer

01:46and bring Saban back. I think they'd actually do that. I think they'd fire him and bring Saban back.

01:54Right now, today, they would do it. I think they 100% would. I mean, I don't ever remember. Like,

02:03am I crazy? Like, I just don't remember them ever. What, they lose four games? I've never

02:08remember that guy losing four games anywhere. And remember, they were nine and three, and they

02:13were bellyaching that they didn't get in to the playoff. They were upset. They were in, I guess,

02:18one of the last two spots out or right around there. They deserve to be in. Right. And then they lost to

02:23Michigan in the bowl game, which the bowl game, you know, who played, you know, whatever. The bowl

02:29games are nonsense anyway. Of course, not only did they not make the playoff, but the SEC dominance,

02:36I guess you could say, Scott, you've brought it up a bunch recently. Who's been winning all the

02:41national titles lately every year in the college football playoff? A big 10 has been winning.

02:47DeBoer says not just Alabama, but the SEC as a whole has to start getting better and taking back the

02:53national championship. Yeah, I think individually in our own programs, that's our responsibility to be

02:58to be at the top. That's the expectation of, I know, at Alabama, but also the expectation for

03:06the SEC as a whole. You know, I still feel that the SEC top to bottom is as strong as you'll find.

03:14And, you know, we experienced that last year. You had games where you showed what your ceiling was,

03:19but you also had to back it up and play the next week against again. And, and it showed that every

03:26team in the league can win on every given Saturday. So yeah, we want, we want to prove ourselves as a

03:32program, but also as a league as well. I got to tell you, like, I believe that that is a vicious hot

03:38seat, a den of iniquity. I think the fans will turn on him this year without a doubt. If they go

03:47nine and four, you can forget about it. They'll fire him. Like, they're not going to just go nine

03:52and four every year with this guy and put up with it. Not at Alabama. I'm telling you, they don't,

03:58they just don't tolerate it. And I, you know, at the end of the day, I think anywhere else that would

04:04be a nice start to a coaching career, right? In a big time program, right? Anywhere else you go nine

04:11and four, they'd probably say that's a nice start. I think if Freeman went nine and four at Notre Dame,

04:16they would have thought that's pretty good. Uh, let's see where he can go from here. But at

04:19Alabama nine and four, what they're saying is if he does this again, we have to think about getting

04:24rid of him and we'd have to pay him a lot of money to get rid of him. I, you know, I always have

04:30doubted that hire, you know, I don't think he's a bad coach. I just think they're used to something

04:38completely different. And he's used to something completely different. I don't think he's a bad

04:45coach either, but the places where he's coached and had success were not exactly the pressure cooker

04:54that Alabama is like, it's like, there's a big difference from coaching in Washington

04:59for the Huskies. Then coaching in Tuscaloosa, where, where, like, like you said, like imagine

05:05being upset about winning nine games, you know, they're upset. You win nine games. It's not good

05:09enough. It's like, you got to win 11 every year. Um, it's not easy, uh, for Kalen DeBoer. Uh,

05:16here's the Alabama, uh, numbers for this season. Of course, as they get ready after not making the

05:22playoff, they're minus one 84 to make it this year. Their win totals nine and a half,

05:2611 to one to win the title plus four 70 to win the sec. Uh, one of those wins will probably be

05:33week one. You know, they open at Florida state at Florida state quarterback. Castellanos keeps

05:38running his mouth to about Alabama. Every chance he gets, man, is he going to get that check cashed

05:45on opening night?

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