Bruce Feldman raves about new Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer, explains Top 5 ranking

Kalen DeBoer was always the right pick for Alabama’s next head coach and he also came in as Bruce Feldman’s No. 4 coach in college football.

Feldman revealed his Top 25 coaches in the sport for 2024 on The Athletic and raved about DeBoer. He just led Washington to the national championship game before taking over for Nick Saban.

DeBoer went up to No. 4 this year from No. 16 ahead of the 2023 season on Feldman’s list.

“Yeah, I think Alabama and Greg Byrne got it right,” Feldman said on The Paul Finebaum Show Tuesday. “I mean they were able to get him there. You look at what he did, I think some people may forget that program at Washington was 4-8 before he showed up. And they went 25- 3 the next two years and went 10-1 against top 25 teams. 

“His record all time against ranked opponents is 12-2, that’s pretty eye opening. And, you know, again, this is from what it feels like another lifetime ago, but he was 67-3  when he was the coach at Sioux Falls and won three national titles. What he’s done in the last two years is really remarkable.”

DeBoer only trailed Kirby Smart (Georgia), Dabo Swinney (Clemson) and Lance Leipold (Kansas) in this year’s ranking.

He has a new challenge now though: continuing the standard set by Saban over the course of nearly two decades.

DeBoer was asked Tuesday what surprised him most about taking this job.

“I don’t know if it’s not that I expected it, but the thing I want to give our guys props about and props for is just how open they’ve been to everything that we’ve asked them to do,” DeBoer said after opening spring practice. 

“So it doesn’t surprise me. They’ve embraced all the little differences and nuances that different personalities bring, just different ideas that we have. It’s just been really smooth. And it’s a huge credit to our guys. I think our staff has done a good job of being aligned and on the same page and being organized to where it’s very clear, concise and the expectations are something that the guys can easily understand.”

In the end, it’s all about winning for DeBoer.

“We have the maxims that we refer to them, and No. 1 is winners win because that’s what winners do,” DeBoer said. “Winning, I know that’s a results-oriented piece to it, but what we really focus on is really what the winners do, and the winners in our program have an attention to detail. They compete. We go on and on. We have a list of those things. The habits they create each and every day will lead to the winning aspect. We’re never going to shy away from that being really important here at Alabama.”