Alabama Crimson Tide football coach Kalen DeBoer has not inspired much confidence since taking over in Tuscaloosa in the wake of Nick Saban's shocking January 2024 retirement.
Sportsnaut’s Jason Burgos believes anything short of 10 wins during the 2025 regular season should be grounds for the Tide returning their G.O.A.T. to his rightful throne and sending the South Dakota native out of the SEC.
“Let’s be real. If Kalen DeBoer doesn’t show progress in his second season as the coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide, the school’s decision-makers would jump at the chance to replace him with the man he replaced. Saban created an absurd standard for the program by winning six national championships in Tuscaloosa. The only person who could realistically maintain it would be the individual who set it,” Burgos wrote.
On3's Ari Wasserman and Andy Staples don't foresee Saban returning to college football after Greg McElroy's source revealed the 73-year-old may want to coach again.
It'd be another crack at the NFL after Saban's Miami Dolphins tenure crashed out spectacularly in 2006.
“I don't believe that Nick Saban is going to come back to college football until there's a firm set of rules, which is not going to happen before he turns 80, probably,” Staples said.
“This sounds like an NFL discussion to me,” Wasserman said.
Saban replacing DeBoer is a somewhat remote, but still possible, situation if the money is right. Of course, Saban isn't a fan of NIL because programs must now also spend on players, in addition to coaches.
Also, for some reason, it needs to be stated: Saban isn't a possibility for Auburn.
Either way, the story here is DeBoer. And how he has not inspired the kind of confidence to even get a second season before calls for his predecessor coming back have begun.
Rough.