Paul Finebaum, Greg McElroy reflect on Kalen DeBoer’s first season at Alabama: ‘He’s on a scorching hot seat’

The first season for head coach Kalen DeBoer in Tuscaloosa ended in frustration. The Alabama Crimson Tide dropped a sloppy ReliaQuest Bowl to the Michigan Wolverines to go to 9-4 on the season after missing out on the College Football Playoff.

In the aftermath of that game, Paul Finebaum and Greg McElroy appeared on Get Up. There, they shared what they had seen from DeBoer’s first season at Alabama with Finebaum notably arguing that he’s now on the hot seat.

“It was a mess and Alabama fans with whom I’ve been in contact with since yesterday are hopping mad,” Paul Finebaum said. “A lot of the good that he did early in the season went out the window. People will talk about ‘is he in trouble,’ and he’s not in trouble for his job but let me make it clear, the goodwill is gone for him. He enters a very critical season next year because I firmly believe he’s on a scorching hot seat. Doesn’t mean he’ll get fired but he’s gonna undergo a great deal of pressure next year.”

Kalen DeBoer had the difficult task of replacing legendary head coach Nick Saban, leaving a Washington program he took to the National Championship Game to do so. His 9-4 record is the worst since 2007, Saban’s first season. Still, even if there is some frustration, his buyout is reportedly in the range of $70,000,000.

For his part, Greg McElroy knows firsthand what it’s like to be the quarterback at Alabama. So, he knows the pressure Jalen Milroe was under this season, but for him, it wasn’t good enough to get the job done.

“I think that this performance kind of summed up their season,” Greg McElroy said. “Way too many mistakes, way too many inconsistencies, and it’s really headlined by the quarterback play. Jalen Milroe, this team became extremely quarterback-heavy as the season went along. If he played well, they were unstoppable — LSU, Georgia, many other performances where he played really well. If he didn’t play well, this team became as human as we’ve seen wearing crimson and white in two decades. They just have inconsistencies on both sides of the ball.”

Jalen Milroe finished the season on a sour note, completing just 50 percent of his passes and turning the ball over three times in the loss to Michigan. Now, he’ll need to decide if it’s time to turn pro or return to college.

“The offensive line got destroyed at times yesterday in the performance against Michigan, which is not too disconcerting because that’s Michigan’s strength even though they were without some of their best players,” McElroy said. “But Jalen Milroe’s inconsistency along with everyone else’s inconsistency just way too much to overcome against quality competition at times this year.”

Kalen DeBoer will now go into his second offseason at Alabama with mounting pressure hanging over him. That pressure won’t go away until he finds more success on the field next Fall.