The best head coach does not always win games. Other, sometimes unpredictable factors influence the outcome of games. But in a close game between two closely matched teams, coaching skill can become the difference. For Alabama, that means Kalen DeBoer gives the Crimson Tide an advantage over almost every opposing head coach on the regular-season schedule.
Searches about the top college football head coaches rarely rank Kalen deBoer outside the top 10. His high rankings go back to his tenure with Washington, and though he has incurred some bad losses with Alabama, he has also produced some good wins. Non-fan opinions of DeBoer have changed little over the last five years.
Based on multiple preseason rankings, it is possible to argue that Alabama will have a head coach advantage in every regular season game. Georgia fans can justifiably disagree. Kirby Smart is ranked above Kalen BeBoer in every ranking I have seen. One fact clouds that assessment. Smart is 1-2 against DeBoer, and one of the losses was in Athens.
One other 2026 opponent has a head coach ranked high enough to possibly outcoach DeBoer. The team is LSU, with its attention-grabbing head coach, Lane Kiffin. Kiffin is a good coach and quite the quipster, but in the four head coach rankings used for this post, Kiffin outranked DeBoer only once. That one source is Chris Low, who ranked Kiffin No. 2 among SEC coaches and DeBoer No. 3.
The other three ranking sources used here are CBS Sports, Bill Bender of The Sporting News (TSN), and the New York Times' Stewart Mandel. Note: Mandel only ranked the top 25 coaches.
Head Coach Rankings - Alabama Football Opponents
- Kirby Smart - No. 2 among all FBS coaches ranked by CBS and TSN, and in Mandel's top 25. DeBoer is No. 5 by Mandel, No. 6 by TSN, and No. 8 by CBS.
- Lane Kiffin - No. 8 by TSN and Mandel; No. 9 by CBS
- Mike Elko - No. 11 by TSN, No. 14 by CBS , and No. 18 by Mandel
- Josh Heupel - No. 16 by TSN, No. 17 by Mandel, and No. 19 by CBS
- Clark Lea - No. 15 by Mandel, No. 29 by CBS, and No. 31 by TSN
- Mike Norvell - No. 35 by TSN and No. 42 by CBS; unranked by Mandel
- Shane Beamer - No. 40 by CBS and No. 46 by TSN; unranked by Mandel
- Alex Golesh - No. 35 by CBS, No. 50 by CBS; unranked by Mandel
- Jeff Lebby - No. 58 by CBS, No. 62 by TSN; unranked by Mandel
- Will Stein - No. 64 by CBS, No. 67 by TSN; unranked by Mandel
- East Carolina head coach Blake Harrell was ranked No. 84 by TSN.
Preseason rankings may be little more than offseason filler. But for Alabama football fans, these rankings are not a worthless andidote to the many media-defined gloomy secnarios for the Crimson Tide.
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