There's an expectation with strength coaches that they are fiery, loud, and completely wound up. They bring the energy to the program every day, in the weight room and on the field. They are the guys who set the tone.
Alabama's David Ballou, who has been the Crimson Tide's strength coach since 2020, has been setting the tone for this team since the disappointing end of the 2024 season. Ballou knows that last season was well short of expectations, and he's making sure that his players know it, too.
Alabama S&C coach David Ballou 'emphatically' challenged players immediately after the '24 season.
— Charlie Potter (@Charlie_Potter) August 4, 2025
"There were results from last year that were unacceptable. Honestly, to this day, when you wake up, it still pisses you off. So that's how we train."
🔗 https://t.co/gmpfU6pOoZ pic.twitter.com/MFwp9TH1Fa
Alabama's mindset is on getting back to the standard in 2025
Last season's team fell way short of the Alabama standard. It's not hard to find the results last season that were unacceptable, as Ballou described them. Losing to Vanderbilt in October, one week after beating No. 1 Georgia at home, was among them. The Crimson Tide clearly didn't prepare properly and clearly weren't ready to play in Nashville. Because of that, Alabama lost to Vanderbilt for the first time in 40 years.
If that was the last time last season you could have said that, then it would be easy to forget about. But with a College Football Playoff berth squarely on the line in November, Alabama suffered an embarrassing three-touchdown defeat at the hands of a mediocre Oklahoma team in Norman. The Crimson Tide couldn't even muster a single touchdown. It was the single most inept offensive performance by Alabama in 20 years, sparking memories of Spencer Pennington and Marc Guillon at QB when they filled in for an injured Brodie Croyle.
And to top it all off, Alabama went ahead and did it one more in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Michigan, falling to a Wolverines team that was a shell of its National Championship self from a season before.
The 2025 version of Alabama football seems to understand what went wrong last season and how to fix it. At least, they've said the right things all offseason long. We'll see at the end of this month, when the team takes the field in Tallahassee to open the season against Florida State, whether or not the message Ballou, Kalen DeBoer, and the rest of the coaching staff have gotten through to the players or not.
A season-opening road loss to a Power-Four opponent wouldn't be damaging to the Tide's playoff or SEC Championship chances, but it would be catastrophic to the perception of a program that still wants to be considered among the elite.