A tip of the hat to Chase Goodbread of the Tuscaloosa News for his recent piece on compressed success cycles in college football and the Alabama Crimson Tide fans who remain on the fence about Kalen DeBoer.
Assessing the Alabama Crimson Tide and how fans view DeBoer, Goodbread wrote: "Significant improvement from Year 1 to Year 2 has been enough for some to stand squarely in DeBoer's camp, already sold on where he's taking the program. At the same time, eight losses in two years, four of which were routs, has coalesced doubters. Then there are the fence-sitters, not a small contingent, who don't need four years to judge an Alabama coach. And for whom three is enough."
Goodbread explained that three seasons is the new tipping point for newly hired college football head coaches. He explains that the standard had long been four seasons before a coach had to deliver. Going further back, Bear Bryant told Kentucky, Texas A&M, and Alabama that it would take five seasons to build a winner. Bryant later admitted that he always knew that three or four seasons were enough.
Kalen DeBoer is in season three in Tuscaloosa. Goodbread wrote that season three for DeBoer would have "Crimson Tide fans still straddling the fence about him jumping off to one side or the other." 'Fence-straddlers' is a good old-fashioned term. So is 'put up or shut up' and 'get it done or get gone.'
Also old-fashioned, but a more graphic idiom is nut-cutting time. Literally, it is when three-year-old cattle are castrated. More often, it refers to 'make it or break it' points in time. Year three for Kalen DeBoer in Tuscaloosa should be the Alabama head coach in 2027. Then again, if several 'experts' are correct and the Crimson Tide fails to make the Playoff, DeBoer's situation could become untenable in Tuscaloosa.
Providing nothing more than one fan's opinion, I predict the Crimson Tide will go 10-2 and win at least one Playoff game. Sure, I have my crimson-tinted specs on, but my opinion is also affected by Goodbread's fence-straddlers. Opinions are equal, but facts are not. DeBoer still has much to prove and overcome as Alabama's coach. But his overall coaching record proves he is a top college football coach. If he fails at Alabama, the odds are the Crimson Tide will go backwards before going forward again. So my advice is - get off the fence now.
Add us as a preferred source on Google