Kalen DeBoer recalls initial call with Nick Saban, what questions he asked

With spring practice in the rearview mirror, it feels like a while ago when Kalen DeBoer took over for Nick Saban at Alabama.

Essentially, DeBoer did not ask Saban the secrets to his success before he took the job. It was simple advice on how to build upon the structure already in place.,

Not to mention, it’s pretty cool to talk to Saban.

“I did get a chance to speak with him,” DeBoer said on Ryen Russillo’s podcast. “Just kind of right around the time when I was offered the opportunity, I reached out to him and just wanted to have kind of that feeling, that vibe. Not that I was gonna ask him if I should take it … but I’d never had a chance to talk with him. And I think that alone, right there was a cool opportunity. And, you know, he’s just he’s just done it so well at a high level for so many years, not just here but before that, and, you know, I think I understand what the work is that he put into it. 

“You know, you can see it daily with the structure that’s within this place and this, whether it’s the facilities and how they were built, the structure of the people that were in this program. There’s just so much thought and so much that was put into it to make it successful.” 

Kalen DeBoer on same page with Nick Saban

Saban is considered a god among college football coaches. DeBoer wanted to keep it on the ground level and simply sought advice from the future Hall of Famer.

“I didn’t look to him that way right away,” DeBoer said. “I think a lot of the questions I had were just, you know, about, you know, maybe things that made the program click. (And) I know my staff has reached out to him and it has asked many of those same questions whether it’s, you know, coordinators or even some staffing, you know, some personnel staff. The type of players that have been successful over the long haul, how that’s changed. 

“Just, you know, over time. Defensively, obviously he has been an expert above and beyond. And so, you know, there’s been times we’re just trying to get that perspective, I know of some of my staff who have gotten some good advice from him that way.”

DeBoer and Alabama open the 2024 season with a home game against Western Kentucky on August 31st.