Kalen DeBoer couldn’t have expected a better personal start to his third season at Alabama. Just last month, DeBoer received a seven-year, $12.5 million average per year contract extension, and now a vote of confidence from AD Greg Bryne.
A 20-8 record (12-4 SEC) is decent performance at best speaking in Alabama terms. Filling in Nick Saban’s shoes wasn’t going to be easy, but calling for DeBoer to get fired was a bit of a stretch.
With his statement, Bryne indirectly asked Alabama fans ton step out of the Saban era, and embrace the head coaching change and the wins that are coming with it.
“Expectations at Alabama are high. That’s what you sign up for when you come to Alabama. That hasn’t changed,” Byrne said per ESPN following the second day of SEC spring meetings per ESPN, where six different schools have new football coaches.
“What I also believe, though, is the idea of changing your coach every two to three years is absolutely ludicrous, and when you have a coach that you believe in, like we believe in Coach DeBoer, you want to have stability in that, and you will have a lot of really good times, and you’ll also have challenging times.”
Kalen DeBoer Expected to Bring Stability at Alabama
GettyAlabama AD Greg Bryne doubles down on Kalen DeBoer in post-Nick Saban era.
Saban was and will always remain the benchmark at Alabama. That’s never changing. But with Saban off handling his media role now, Bryne emphasized the program’s trust in DeBoer.
He mentioned how the contract extension was their token of belief in DeBoer bringing stability at the head coach position in the post-Saban aftermath.
“Everybody’s going to face that as our world has changed, and so our extension with Coach DeBoer showed our commitment and belief in him, and that we really value stability at Alabama. And that’s been the case with Coach Saban, obviously, forever, and we want that stability to continue with Coach DeBoer.”
Pressure Stays on For Kalen DeBoer
All that said, the pressure might not come down even a notch for DeBoer. It’s his third season, and fans want more wins. The Saban prejudice might still be running strong, but thirs season is where he truly needs to step up.
ESPN’s Heather Dinich mentions why: “Saban won his first title with the Tide in 2009, his third season. Gene Stallings did the same in 1992, also his third season. Going way back, Wallace Wade won Alabama’s first national title in 1925 — also in his third season.”
It’s a precedent that DeBoer will absolutely feel the pressure of throughout this season.
However, it is also worth noting that DeBoer has accumulated 20 wins against ranked opponents since 2021. That is the second-best mark among all active head coaches in college football over that span.
Specifically at Alabama, he is 8–4 against AP Top 25 teams.
Not just that, during the 2025 season, DeBoer’s squad knocked off four ranked opponents in four consecutive weeks (including that playoff road win at Oklahoma). That stretch set an official SEC record for consecutive ranked wins without a bye week in a regular-season month.
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