It's been noticed by everyone at this point that Kalen DeBoer has undergone a personality change over the last two games following a disappointing defeat to Florida State to open the season. His way wasn't working. His calm, easy-going demeanor continued not to resonate, and the second-year Alabama head coach was beginning to feel real heat for the first time.
So DeBoer changed it up. He's raising his voice. He's getting in the face of his players. He's coaching them hard. It's a change that has clearly resonated as Alabama outscored UL Monroe and Wisconsin 101-14 in back-to-back weeks. Competition be damned, Alabama played the way it should against overmatched opposition.
Don't expect the return of the calm, even-keeled coach any time soon. DeBoer is embracing his dark side, channeling his inner-Nick Saban, and doing what is necessary to motivate this team.
"Coach DeBoer is a very, very nice guy and a guy that doesn't really like to raise his voice and get loud and yell at people," senior WR Germie Bernard said on the Next Round Live on Monday. "That had to change real quick. He learned that. He understood that.
"If him changing his mentality and firing guys up, yelling at guys, getting out of his comfort zone -- if that's what it's gonna take, that's what it's gonna take. A lot of guys are leaning into that, because that's what they're used to being under Saban."
Kalen DeBoer is doing what it takes to win football games at Alabama
DeBoer's mild-mannered approach worked everywhere he's been. He found success at the NAIA level with it. He did the same at Fresno State and Washington. But it's clear that getting through to this Alabama team that still features so many holdovers from the Saban era is going to take a more fiery approach.
That clearly doesn't come naturally to DeBoer, but good coaches adapt to what their team needs from them, whether that's schematically or via demeanor. This team hasn't responded to DeBoer's personality the way he hoped they would and the way his other teams have. But they sure seem to be responding to this version of their head coach.
The buy-in has always been high with the guys DeBoer recruited and the ones who transferred with him from Washington. The issue has frequently been the Saban holdovers who have struggled to adapt to the personality of the new regime. Eventually, DeBoer can probably go back to being himself to be successful.
For now, however, this is the version of DeBoer that is producing the desired results.