Kalen DeBoer reflects on the most meaningful conversation he had with Nick Saban after Alabama hire

Kalen DeBoer had a lot of meaningful moments with Nick Saban as he took over for the head coach at Alabama.

As far as what the two talked about publicly and privately, there’s no doubt the transition was smooth. It’s not easy replacing the GOAT, but so far so good for DeBoer.

He revealed a tidbit from the morning being named head coach on Saturday’s College GameDay.

“I think it was probably the morning of everything happening, and I just think that that conversation that I had with coach, just feeling, you know, just feeling how he felt about things,” DeBoer said. “Knowing that I kind of had a kind of peace in my heart, that the transition would be smooth and that I’d have the grace from him to be able to go and be able to take over and and still be able to embrace everything that he’s done for this program.”

Saban transitioned to television following his retirement. But he got to share a moment with DeBoer during Saturday’s show ahead of the evening showdown against Georgia.

“Well, I appreciate the fact that I think Kalen has done a fantastic job in transition, which is not easy when you take over a successful program,” Saban said. “But you know, he respects the tradition here, he honored the success that we had, but actually put the program and the stamp on the program relative to how he wanted to do it, and the players have really bought into it. And I think it’s reflective in the way they played this year.”

Alabama is 3-0 and ranked No. 4 in the country. A win today would certainly solidify a top three ranking, perhaps a No. 2 spot, swapping with Georgia.

DeBoer took over for Saban and had to face the players who were so used to a legend. But it was a surreal moment.

“I knew that coming in that Friday night, meeting with those guys, I knew it’d be dead quiet, them having a lot of questions,” DeBoer said. “There (were) a lot of emotions and things that they were going through, and it was just to try to meet them where they were at the time, you know, and just really try to again, and use the word embrace a lot, but that’s really what it was all about.”

Saban, of course, had the last laugh.

“But the real advantage you had is they were really tired of my ass,” Saban said.