Alabama Crimson Tide first year coaching transitions don't go well

Alabama Crimson Tide fans don't know what to make of Kalen DeBoer and the 2024 Alabama Crimson Tide. What Alabama Football team will show up for this season's Iron Bowl is a mystery. 'Good' Alabama will trounce the Auburn Tigers. 'Bad' Alabama might scrape by, but could also unsurprisingly lose.

A loss to Auburn in Tuscaloosa would ignite a fury that Kalen DeBoer cannot imagine. The Alabama Football fanbase is impatient. As the brief Dennis Franchione era showed, we can stomach frauds if they win. But we'll cast aside even former Crimson Tide heroes if they don't.

Kalen DeBoer is no fraud. His head coaching career has been a solid success. Many Alabama Crimson Tide fans retain faith in DeBoer's Alabama future. An Iron Bowl loss would change that perspective drastically.

Alabama's football history, going back to the 1950s is Crimson Tide first-year coaches often don't do well. Clear exceptions were Paul 'Bear' Bryant and Nick Saban. In their cases, they inherited Alabama programs in near total disarray. Bryant followed an Ears Whitworth team that posted a 2-7-1 record in 1957. Bryant's first Alabama team went 5-4-1. Bryant won a National Championship three seasons later. Nick Saban inherited a 6-7, 2006 Alabama team and only improved the 2007 record to 7-6; but won a National Championship just two seasons later.

Alabama Crimson Tide First-Season Coaching Failures

• The worst first-year transition came in 1955. In the 1954 season, Red Drew led Alabama to a 4-5-2 record. In the first season of Ears Whitworth's three as Alabama head coach, the Crimson Tide was 0-10. Two seasons later Ears was fired with a 4-24-2 record.

• Mike Dubose followed Gene Stallings in the 1997 season. Stallings' last Alabama team was 10-3. The next season Dubose coached the Tide to 4-7.

• Mike Shula was hired in a no-win situation. After 'Hold the Rope' Franchione turned tail and bolted to Texas A&M, Alabama hired Mike Price. Price never coached a game. Shula did his alma mater a big favor by taking over. Under Franchione, Alabama 10-3 in 2002. Shula's first season, the Crimson Tide was 4-9.

• Bill Curry followed Ray Perkins in 1987 after Perkins decided to return to the NFL. The last Perkins team was 10-3. The following season, Curry and the Crimson Tide were 7-5.

• Alabama Crimson Tide fans rightfully love Gene Stallings. But after Curry also bolted; in this case to Kentucky, Stallings followed a 10-2 Curry season, with a 7-5 record in 1990. Two seasons later Stallings and Alabama won a National Championship.

Does this Crimson Tide history lesson provide any valuable perspective on DeBoer's future? Every season has a unique set of circumstances. What can be concluded is that many Alabama fans were mistaken in believing DeBoer was handed the keys to a Ferrari. To some extent, he was, but that abruptly changed when 40 players either transferred or moved on to the NFL. DeBoer inherited and subsequently built a very talented roster. But it was (and is) a flawed roster for which Kalen DeBoer deserves little blame.

An Iron Bowl win and the 9-3 Crimson Tide is historically a first-year success. Perhaps unfairly, an Iron Bowl loss and an 8-4 Crimson Tide will be viewed as a massive failure.

Note: Alabama Crimson Tide coach and team records provided by Sports Reference