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Kalen DeBoer has won everywhere he’s been with a 124-20 overall record across 11 seasons as a collegiate head coach. That includes a 20-8 record in two years at Alabama, as well as a College Football Playoff appearance last season.
Nevertheless, the 51-year-old DeBoer enters Year 3 in Tuscaloosa facing intense criticism, especially from sports pundits like ESPN’s Paul Finebaum and Stephen A. Smith. In fact, Smith flatly called for Alabama to “get rid of him because he ain’t the guy” during Tuesday’s First Take. A day later, the “Mouth of the South” piled on by questioning DeBoer’s culture fit with the Crimson Tide.
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“He is a good solution for any program in the country, but we’re talking about Alabama here, and at some point he’ll be judged by championships. … He’s a Top 10 coach in the country, but fit is critical in college football and the jury is still out on how he fits that culture,” Finebaum said on Wednesday morning’s First Take. “I live in that culture every day, I’ve been making a living there for 30 years on radio, and the fans are different. That’s all I’m saying. … You don’t just want to hear about the past, and you don’t want to hear about patience.”
Despite his impressive career winning percentage, DeBoer was a somewhat controversial pick to replace legendary head coach Nick Saban when he was initially hired in January 2024. Among the biggest questions around his hiring centered on DeBoer’s ability to coach in the South.
Prior to arriving at Alabama, the former Washington head coach had never worked within the SEC footprint, not even as an assistant. A native of South Dakota, DeBoer’s most Southern job before joining the Tide was his lone season as Indiana’s offensive coordinator in 2019. A year later, DeBoer was hired as Fresno State‘s head coach.
But moreso than his regional fit, Finebaum called into question DeBoer’s fit within college football’s modern era in the day and age of NIL and the transfer portal. Alabama enters the upcoming 2026 season facing serious questions at QB following the offseason departure of 2025 starter Ty Simpson to the NFL as the No. 13 overall pick to the Los Angeles Rams. But rather than dip into the portal for an experienced transfer, DeBoer stuck with the two already on the roster — junior backup Austin Mack and Five-Star Plus+ redshirt freshman Keelon Russell, the No. 2-ranked QB in the 2025 class.
And while there’s plenty of hope that either Mack or Russell can be the guy in Tuscaloosa, Finebaum suggested DeBoer’s perceived inability to adapt to the year-to-year transactional nature of modern college football could ultimately be his downfall if the Crimson Tide stumble in 2026.
“I think he’s capable, but there are a lot of questions on how (DeBoer) even handled the portal. Why doesn’t he have a (starting) quarterback?” Finebaum continued. “Because he gambled on Austin Mack, who came with him from Washington, and a 5-star in Keelon Russell, (who) may be generational.
“But if he’s not, then (DeBoer) is way behind the other (SEC) coaches who went out and grabbed a quarterback to win now.”
