What Greg Byrne said about Alabama's discipline, structure under Kalen DeBoer

Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne recently received some advice from “a very wise coach” that he shared when discussing Kalen DeBoer on The Paul Finebaum Show on Friday.

“You didn’t hire a coach for a month. You hired a coach for the long haul, for a marathon,” Byrne said.

The Crimson Tide has lost two of its last three games and enters Saturday’s home game versus Missouri with little margin for error as it relates to the postseason Alabama has two losses before November for the first time since 2007, but Byrne remains optimistic.

“There will be people out there looking for cracks in the foundation,” Byrne said. “I truly believe for the long haul for Alabama football, for the University of Alabama, we’re in a really good position to have as much success as we can possibly have in the future, and it’s because of the incredible job of our kids, our coaches, our fans.”

“… Did a game go the way we wanted it to in Nashville? No. Vandy deserves credit for that. But at the same time, too, I’m dang proud about where we are and I’m dang proud about what we’ve got ahead of ourselves.”

When asked how he processes the negative comments as Alabama has struggled in October, Byrne said he tries to only read two articles each week – win or lose. However, that doesn’t stop him from seeing headlines. One in particular on the discipline within the program under DeBoer, after Alabama committed 15 penalties at Tennessee, caught his attention.

Byrne has witnessed firsthand what the new coaching staff is doing to address those issues.

“Monday morning, 6 a.m., I’m in the indoor facility doing my old-man workout,” Byrne said. “I’m not gonna say who it was, but there was a young man from our football program in there doing some extra work based off of a bad decision from Saturday.

“Are we gonna tweet about that? Are we gonna put a video out about that? No, but I’m really impressed from an accountability standpoint, from a discipline and structure standpoint. We’re not going backwards there. Does that mean we’ll have perfection? No, we’re not going to. But I really am pleased with the structure and what’s taking place there.”

Finebaum later pressed Byrne on the perception that DeBoer isn’t what the AD thinks he is.

“I believe that he absolutely is focused on discipline and structure,” Byrne said. “I’ve seen it. They’re coaching to get better every single week. There are teams that we’ve had in the past that have struggled at different times of the year and gotten better. I have full confidence that we’re gonna continue to get better every single week.”

The final question for Byrne is if there’s anything that has changed his opinion of DeBoer.

“Not a bit,” Byrne said.

“And listen, you’ve gotta have something to talk about, right? And when you’re on top, people are going to come after you all the time. It doesn’t matter if it’s us, whatever organization you want to talk about. It’s a nice position to be in, right? Do we have opportunities to get better? Yep, we do. Every year at every sport I’ve been here and been a part of, we’ve had opportunities to get better during the course of the season.

“When you go inside that locker room, when you’re out at the practice field watching these guys, when you’re in the indoor early morning, you’re seeing the commitment that these young men, the coaches have. And I know our fans have been so supportive of them. I feel confident that will continue. It’s a great group of kids to go out and support and get behind.”

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