Nick Saban reveals why Kalen DeBoer is in great position to win at Alabama in Year 1

Kalen DeBoer might just pick up right where Nick Saban left off at Alabama in 2024. With the latter retired, Saban explained why the new coach can lead the Crimson Tide to the promised land.

Sure, there were staff and player changes, but the core group is back. Guys like Jalen Milroe and Malachi Moore, among others, lead the charge.

As DeBoer ushers in a new era of Crimson Tide football, Saban expects more of the same from his tenure.
“I think what everybody’s trying to point to is we want to win,” Saban said on SEC Network. “Players want to win, Tyler Booker wants to win, Malachi Moore wants to win, Jalen Milroe wants to win. Everybody on the team wants a win. They know how to win. You know we’ve won before. Kalen DeBoer knows how to win. So everybody wants to win. The style is going to be a little different. But the ingredients of what it takes to win, especially the intangibles are going to be the same. 

“And I think a lot of those are in place and I think he’s done a really, really good job of building on that, getting the players to buy into what they’re doing on offense, defense, special teams. I think they’re gonna be very successful because of the way he’s used his leadership to transcend how these players are going to still have an opportunity to win.”

Nick Saban to Kalen DeBoer could be seamless

The transition from Saban to DeBoer couldn’t have gone any better this offseason, at least in a broad aspect. The results still have to speak for themselves on the field.

Still, DeBoer treasured any type of advice he received from the GOAT of college football.

“I don’t know if there’s one single piece,” DeBoer said. “I think, anytime you’re with Coach Saban, you’re just trying to grasp onto everything he has to share. It might not even be something specific, it just might be the way he carries himself, and the way he just kind of views things.

“So, I’ve watched from afar, for many years. I’ve even had to process a little bit, of what are the things that I already do, that I’ve taken from things I’ve hard from him, or seen from him and his teams, in the past year of two, five, ten years. So, you know, I think, as much as you know, we have maybe different ways of coaching, I think there’s still probably more similarities, than most people would understand.”