The Alabama Crimson Tide’s first-year coaching changes are not going well

Alabama Crimson Tide fans don’t know what to think about Kalen DeBoer and the 2024 Alabama Crimson Tide. Which Alabama football team will compete in the Iron Bowl this season is a mystery. “Good” that Alabama will beat the Auburn Tigers. “Bad” Alabama could narrowly overtake, but unsurprisingly also lose.

A loss to Auburn in Tuscaloosa would unleash a rage Kalen DeBoer cannot imagine. The Alabama football fan base is impatient. As the short Dennis Franchione era showed, we can tolerate cheaters when they win. But we’ll even brush aside former Crimson Tide heroes if they don’t.

Kalen DeBoer is not a fraud. His career as a head coach was a complete success. Many Alabama Crimson Tide fans continue to believe in DeBoer’s future at Alabama. A loss in the Iron Bowl would drastically change that perspective.

Alabama’s football history dates back to the 1950s. First-year Crimson Tide coaches often don’t do well. Clear exceptions were Paul “Bear” Bryant and Nick Saban. In their cases, they inherited the Alabama programs in near total disarray. Bryant followed an Ears Whitworth team that posted a 2-7-1 record in 1957. Bryant’s first Alabama team went 5-4-1. Three seasons later, Bryant won a national championship. Nick Saban took over a 6-7 team at Alabama in 2006 and only improved the 2007 record to 7-6; but won a national championship just two seasons later.

Does this Crimson Tide history lesson provide a valuable perspective on DeBoer’s future? Every season has unique circumstances. This suggests that many Alabama fans mistakenly believed that DeBoer was handed the keys to a Ferrari. To some extent he was, but that changed abruptly when 40 players either transferred or left for the NFL. DeBoer inherited and subsequently built a very talented roster. But it was (and is) a flawed roster for which Kalen DeBoer deserves little blame.

An Iron Bowl win and the 9-3 Crimson Tide is historically a first-year success. Perhaps unfairly, an Iron Bowl loss and an 8-4 Crimson Tide are viewed as massive failures.

Note: Alabama Crimson Tide coaching and team records provided by Sports Reference