Kalen DeBoer 'excited' by challenge of following Nick Saban at Alabama

For years, the discussion around Nick Saban‘s successor mentioned nobody wanting to be “the guy after the guy.” Saban won six national championships with Alabama and there is a good chance we never see a similar run in college football. Being the person to follow him up and maintain the level is going to be difficult.

Kalen DeBoer is up for the challenge though, saying it’s an “honor” to be the Alabama head coach to replace Saban. DeBoer’s message since arriving in Tuscaloosa has been “The standard is the standard” to let Crimson Tide fans know they expect nothing less than winning on an annual basis.

Going out there and executing is a whole lot harder than speaking it into existence but DeBoer is confident in what he has going.

“It’s a privilege and an honor to be the next person to follow Coach Saban,” DeBoer said during Monday’s episode of The Paul Finebaum Show. “There’s only going to be one. He did some amazing things, led the program, and built an infrastructure for Alabama football that I’m really hoping to build on. I think we’ve got a great staff that can do that and I’m excited about that challenge.”

Running backs coach Robert Gillespie and defensive line coach Freddie Roach are the two guys from last year’s Alabama staff who were retained by DeBoer. Jeff Allen and David Ballou will continue to run the strength and conditioning program as well. Outside of them, a ton of fresh faces are now wearing script A’s on their chest.

A few players will help the transition period too, mainly quarterback Jalen Milroe. He and Saban still have a tight relationship, highlighted during the 2024 NFL Draft after Terrion Arnold was selected.

Starting left guard Tyler Booker and defensive back Malachi Moore are expected to be two other leaders for the program before eventually leaving for the NFL.

Plenty of people who were in the building during Saban’s time will remain. DeBoer will learn from them but also wants to bring his own personality into the program. After all, his resume is not too bad itself — fresh off an undefeated regular season and a national championship appearance with Washington.

“I’m going to be me,” DeBoer said. “There’s a few things that are different but I think as much as anything, you always find there are more similarities between coaches, no matter what their style is.”