Greg Byrne takes big-picture view of Kalen DeBoer hire: 'You hired a coach for the long haul'

There are few things on this planet quite like being a head football coach in the SEC. The media scrutiny, the fan intensity, and the pressure are all simply unmatched across the college football landscape. Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne is well aware of that. Especially in Tuscaloosa, where national titles have become the standard for the past 16 years.

Alabama head football coach Kalen DeBoer has gotten an early dose of scrutiny in his first season with the Tide. His team’s record has slipped to 5-2 after close losses to Vanderbilt and Tennessee.

Alabama fans have started to grumble about the hire of DeBoer. There’s also been criticism from many different analysts across the country such as Paul Finebaum.

On the Friday evening edition of The Paul Finebaum Show, Greg Byrne defended his head football coach. And Byrne talked about some advice he got from a football coach, that he’s got to stick in it for the long haul.

Greg Byrne on sticking with Kalen DeBoer

“You’ve taken plenty of shots in the last couple of weeks. Right? And that’s part of it. And I know early on you were very positive about Coach DeBoer and what was taking place. And I had a very wise coach tell me just the other day. He said, ‘Greg, you didn’t hire Coach for a month. You hired a coach for the long haul. For a marathon.’ And so as we go through this. And to our fans who are so good and they’re so special. We can’t thank you enough. We’re sold out tomorrow. Right? That’s awesome. And we don’t take that for granted whatsoever,” Byrne explained.

“But they’ll be people out there. They’re gonna be looking for cracks in the foundation. And I truly believe for the long haul for Alabama football for the University of Alabama. We’re in a really good position to have as much success as we can possibly have in the future. And it’s because of the incredible job of our kids, our coaches, our fans. Coach Saban and Miss Terry have been so, so supportive to Kalen and Nicole. And we couldn’t ask for it to be a better situation in that matter. So, we’re thankful for that as well. So, hey, did the game go the way we wanted it to in Nashville? No, you know what, Vandy deserves credit for that. But at the same time, too, I’m dang proud about where we are and I’m dang proud about what we’ve got ahead of ourselves,” Byrne finished.

Alabama football will look to regroup this weekend as they face off against Missouri. Kick for that one is slated for 3:30 PM EST. The game will be televised on ABC and ESPN+.