Kalen DeBoer and the Alabama Crimson Tide got off to a rough start in the 2025 NCAA season. After losing to the Florida State Seminoles in college football’s kickoff week, the Tide’s head coach issued a sincere statement.
Alabama hoped to leave the drama behind after the disappointing 2024 campaign. However, it didn’t make it past the opening week for chaos to break loose in Tuscaloosa. Now, DeBoer and the Crimson Tide are in the eye of the storm.
It might be an exaggeration on the fans’ part, but many believe DeBoer’s seat should be heating up. Of course, it’s much easier said by the students than done by the brass, as it would require a hefty buyout to terminate the head coach’s contract.
Still, DeBoer isn’t letting the outside noise get to him. Instead, the 50-year-old head coach in Tuscaloosa has dropped a bold statement on the football program, despite the string of disappointing results.
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“I think we’ve got a really good football, I think we have a good football team that can do some big things still this year,” DeBoer stated during the SEC’s weekly coaches teleconference. “But we’ve got to prove it and we’ve got to go do it. To this point, it’s been just me being able to focus on football, and I appreciate that.”
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Unrecognizable
Filling in as head coach after Nick Saban’s exit was never going to be an easy mission. The transition was expected to be rough, but DeBoer’s time has been even more turbulent than envisioned. Now, the Crimson Tide looks nowhere near to the program that dominated the NCAA for over a decade.
College football has changed lots, but that doesn’t take any responsibility off DeBoer and the staff in Tuscaloosa. Alabama had one of the best recruiting classes across the country, but the on-the-field product against Florida State was one that left fans puzzled. The Tide looked lost and, for the first time ever, soft was an adjective fitting for their outing. At least, former quarterback AJ McCarron believes so.
“We as a team are soft up front on both sides of the football,” McCarron said, via The Dynasty podcast. “Absolutely dominated from an offensive line standpoint – and maybe this lights a fire under them or, maybe they don’t care at all — (but Alabama was) absolutely dominated from an O-line standpoint. Extremely soft, no nastiness up front whatsoever, just getting pushed around.”
Plummet
Ranked 8th in the AP Top 25 Poll going into the 2025 NCAA season, Alabama has fallen to the 21st spot after the loss to FSU. It’s the school’s worst ranking in over 17 years. However, this is also the lowest in-season ranking in that span. The last time Bama was outside the top 20 was during the 2008 preseason, when it sat in 24th place.
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Since DeBoer took over as head coach, a concerning trend has started to brew in Tuscaloosa. Last season was the first time Bama fell below the 10-win bar set by Saban, and now the Tide has hit another unwanted milestone. It’s becoming unbearable for fans who have grown used to dominating the college football landscape. DeBoer must turn the tide, or the Tide will turn on him irreparably.
