Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer embraces 'privilege' of following Nick Saban. Don't expect him to wilt
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You want to talk about pressure? Howâs this:
Youâre 30 years old and a first-time head coach. You replaced a legend at your alma mater who was also your mentor, and the local newspaper writes that you have âenormous shoes to fill.â The media pick your team as the overwhelming favorite to win the conference.
Fast forward to 15 years later. Itâs 2020. Youâre a first-time Division I coach with a Bowl Subdivision team, and your inaugural season is played amid a pandemic.
A couple years later, you make your Power Five coaching debut. You inherit a program that went 4-8.
Through it all, you never experience a losing season. You win nearly every game throughout nine seasons. You build a career that results in Alabama hiring you to replace the irreplaceable.
No pressure, right?
Kalen DeBoer frames it as opportunity.
âEmbracing the moment is a privilege that you get that comes along with being at a place like Alabama,â DeBoer, Alabamaâs first-year coach, told me recently during an exclusive interview. âSo, enjoy it.â
DeBoer, 49, faced pressure at every stage of his career. Each time, he proved heâs a smashing success.
That first coaching job at Sioux Falls, DeBoerâs alma mater? DeBoer won 67 games and three NAIA national championships in five seasons.
The pandemic season at Fresno State launched a two-year run that springboarded DeBoer to Washington. There, he steadied a program in disarray and catapulted the Huskies to the national championship game at warp speed.
None of this, let's acknowledge, matches the pressure DeBoer will encounter at Alabama as he succeeds Nick Saban. If he starts slowly at Alabama, DeBoer will face enough heat to make even the believers sweat in church.
To coach in Sabanâs shadow, while Saban retains an office at Alabama and pontificates on ESPN, is to accept one of the most high-pressure assignments in college football history.
Itâs also one heck of a job.
âA lot of people would love to be in your shoes,â DeBoer said. âThatâs the way youâve got to look at it.â
Alabama to College Football Playoff? Kalen DeBoer accepts challenge
When I ask DeBoer about running toward this challenge, he offers a clarification: He sees this less as him gravitating to a challenge â itâs not as if replacing Saban was his career goal â and more as accepting a great opportunity to coach a storied program backed by a powerful brand.
But, yes, heâs also up for a challenge.
âI canât say I intentionally look at it where you see challenges and you want to go take it on,â DeBoer said, âbut when youâre in a spot like this, thereâs an excitement of the challenge. Thatâs what I do enjoy.â
DeBoer took hold of a talented roster, albeit one that faces more questions, especially on defense, than Alabama was accustomed to with Saban.
The SEC served DeBoer no scheduling favors. The Tide will face Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, LSU and Oklahoma, all of which could be preseason top-15 teams.
Any more than two losses would put Alabama on shaky footing for the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff.
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Still, making the playoff is an expectation at Alabama. DeBoer wonât deny that.
âThis program has that expectation of being championship caliber and being involved in the playoff every single year,â DeBoer said. âAnd so, easier said than done, especially here with a schedule like we have this year, but thatâs the expectation.â
I appreciate that answer. DeBoer could have deflected, demurred or immediately started discussing the âprocessâ rather than concrete goals. (Indeed, process came up later.) Instead, he acknowledged reality. Making the playoff ought to be the floor of expectations for Alabama. If youâre bold enough to replace Saban, you might as well embrace the mission.
âIâm going to put everything into this program every single day and have the confidence and belief that it will be enough to reach the goals and meet the expectations that this program has,â DeBoer said.
Kalen DeBoerâs rural beginnings and grounded confidence
DeBoerâs predecessor relished being the voice of college football. Saban possessed some charm and humor, but his specialties were crushing opponents and lecturing from his bully pulpit. He sounded off on everything from scheduling to up-tempo offenses to NIL collectives. I still hear Saban saying: Is this what we want football to be about?
DeBoer comes off more understated. Heâs confident but reserved. Self-assured, but grounded. He reminds me of someone I might encounter in the rural Midwest.
DeBoer grew up in Milbank, South Dakota. Population: 3,544. A town with stoplights at just two intersections.
Milbank birthed American Legion Baseball. Itâs home to Valley Queen Cheese, a company with a straightforward slogan: âWe make dairy.â You donât say.
Farmland surrounds Milbank. A John Deere dealership resides on the townâs doorstep.
To find the nearest town of 25,000, youâd travel to Aberdeen (population 28,000), west of Milbank on Highway 12. DeBoer offhandedly recites the exact distance between the towns.
âAberdeen is just down the road â 96 miles,â he said.
Just a wee drive.
What to do in Milbank? Play sports â DeBoer starred in several â and coach Little League during the summertime.
Becoming an SEC football coach would not have been on DeBoerâs vision board.
âI would have never imagined being even a college coach in any capacity when I was that age,â he said. âEven going to college, probably in my early high school days, and playing football probably wouldâve been something that wouldâve surprised me, if you wouldâve told me thatâs whatâs going to happen.
âItâs just amazing how things work out for you. I got around the right people and got influenced the right way.â
DeBoer never before had coached in the South. Heâs getting on OK. Importantly, he's recruiting well.
âLiving here reminds me of the Midwest and reminds me of home as much as any place Iâve been to over the last 20 years,â he said.
The difference?
âThey love football on another level here,â DeBoer said.
Kalen DeBoer âspeaks lightâ into Alabama and Jalen Milroe
Every word Alabamaâs coach says gets scrutinized â and even the words he doesnât say. Shortly after DeBoerâs hire, a storyline formed that he doesnât cuss.
A lack of a potty mouth is no sin â quite the opposite â but it marks a pivot from the fiery Saban, who once joked heâd need to take out a loan if Alabama instituted a swear jar.
Is it true that DeBoer doesnât cuss?
Pretty much true, he says.
âItâs few and far between, is probably the best way to put it,â he said.
DeBoer doesnât have a language rule for players or coaches. Nothing like that. Theyâre allowed to cuss. He just doesnât.
âItâs just kind of who I am,â he said. He added that he knows plenty of top-notch people who cuss frequently. He just doesnât feel like he needs that language to effectively communicate.
Alabamaâs players rave about DeBoerâs positivity.
As Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe put it after A-Day, DeBoer and his staff âspeak lightâ into him and fill him with confidence.
âWhen you have a coach who speaks this positive reinforcement into you, that makes you want to play even better, play even harder,â Milroe said.
DeBoer became a believer in Milroe before he arrived at Alabama.
DeBoerâs Huskies played a College Football Playoff semifinal game against Texas on New Yearâs Day, following Alabamaâs Rose Bowl game against Michigan.
The Huskies would face the Alabama-Michigan winner, so DeBoer and his staff kept one eye on the televisions showing the Rose Bowl as they prepared to play Texas. He couldnât miss Milroe, whose dual-threat exploits helped Alabama take a second-half lead in a game it lost in overtime.
After one of Milroeâs runs against Michigan, DeBoer remembers a Washington staff member saying, âThatâs going to be a problem.â
Now, heâs a luxury.
Quarterback depth counts as an Alabama strength. That starts with Milroe, the returning starter who ranks among preseason Heisman Trophy favorites.
âYou combine running the football with the arm talent, heâs a pretty special guy,â DeBoer said. âHeâs been doing a great job of leading our team, as well.â
As for other areas of Alabamaâs roster?
âWeâre very solid across the board,â DeBoer said, âand that gives us a chance.â
Here again, heâs not dialing down expectations or attempting to deflect pressure.
Why should he?
If youâre waiting for DeBoer to wilt, youâre waiting on something thatâs never happened.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's SEC Columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.