Kalen DeBoer raves about Nick Saban’s legacy at Alabama, opportunity to follow

It’s difficult to replace a legendary figure. However, that’s exactly what Kalen DeBoer is trying to do at Alabama, taking over for Nick Saban as the Crimson Tide head coach.

It’s a task that many would find incredibly difficult. However, for DeBoer, Saban is someone with a legacy worth raving about. On top of that, DeBoer raved about the exciting opportunity to follow him as the head coach at Alabama.

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“I just know that you embrace that,” Kalen DeBoer said on The Triple Option. “It’s a privilege to be here and Coach Saban deserves all that. I’m sure Coach Saban said the same about the other greats that came before him. Again, it’s made what this program is because of the work that he’s put in. The way I look at it, though, is someone like Coach Saban who pours everything into this program and makes it what it is, there is an element of he didn’t want it to lose all its luster of what it’s become.”

Very few coaches have even close to the legacy that Nick Saban has in college football. He retired following the 2023 season with a career record of 292-71-1. That run of success included seven national championships, six of which he won at Alabama. Now, there are statues of Saban and the field at Bryant-Denny Stadium was named after him.

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“That’s where it falls on me to continue to carry that on,” DeBoer said. “Show that the work that he’s put in — and you just think about teams, but I think there’s things you do structurally for the infrastructure of the program, whether it’s academically, the training room, and facilities with the weight room. He did such a good job of taking advantage of those areas, which I think people understand Alabama has a lot of great things that our players have access to and our resources are at a high level, but he took advantage of continuing to grow.”

Kalen DeBoer has already found success as a head coach. At the NAIA level, he won three national championships. Since becoming an FBS head coach, he has had a record of 40-9. So, he has a track record of success to build on.

“That’s what I’m looking to do is continue to grow, even though you might think, ‘Man, can you do it better than Coach Saban?’ That’s my responsibility is to obviously have a great product on the field that allows us to continue to grow the program and continue to evolve it like it’s been done at a high level for the last, not just 17 years, but for decades,” DeBoer concluded.

Kirby Smart describes how strange it will be to coach against Alabama without Nick Saban

This weekend, Kalen DeBoer is going to get an opportunity to win a massive game in his first SEC game against Georgia. All eyes will be on the game and, for many, it’s going to be odd to see DeBoer and not Saban along the sidelines. Despite that, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart has shared he doesn’t think the change is overly strange.

“I don’t expect it to be strange,” Smart said. “That’s just the normal progression. I think it’s strange going back there sometimes because I lived there or our kids were born there. We lived there for nine years and had such great experiences there.”

Georgia and Alabama will kick off on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. EST.