One of my favorite segments from any of the college football preview magazines is the "anonymous coach speak" from Athlon's when the conference coaches anonymously rip their peers. it can be really spicy, even though the heat has been turned down over the past few years.
And the best part is, no one is immune from the smoke. Every coach gets some and some coaches get a lot more than others. The criticisms of Kalen DeBoer, however, didn't feel like anything new, but it does speak to a battle that the third-year Crimson Tide coach continues to fight, and it's one that he's just going to have to look past.
SEC coaches hit Kalen DeBoer with their best shot
Since all the coaches are anonymous and the quotes are probably partial quotes taken out of a greater point, it's fun to guess which coach might've said what. One of the quotes referred to a belief that Alabama lacks the toughness that opposing teams are used to seeing:
“With whoever was going to follow Nick Saban, there was going to be a measuring stick on the toughness or the softness of the program. The run-game statistics do not vouch for toughness. They have to fix that. Losing (QB Ty Simpson) doesn’t help that. The top two running backs are gone, three of the top offensive linemen are gone and (WR) Germie Bernard was a special player. Losing all of them doesn’t allow people to play you honest so that you can run the ball. People are going to be able to play two-high safeties, create multiple looks and create issues for them.”
There are two things to unpack here. The first thing that is the constant struggle for DeBoer is that he's not Saban. He can't be Saban and he'll never be Saban. This is OK. Saban will never be Bear Bryant and that was something he had to fight until it didn't come up anymore. A better comparison might be Gene Stallings and how he had to escape Bryant's shadow. DeBoer has a massive contract now. The administration has shown that they believe he is the right guy. He shouldn't have to look over his shoulder.
But DeBoer has to focus on being the best version of himself and fielding a team that represents what he stands for on the field. DeBoer's teams have shown some great resilience. Things could've gone completely off the rails after losing the season opener to FSU, but the Crimson Tide recovered and won eight straight with four consecutive victories over teams in the top 16. So, there were some real positives to take from last season.
But the underlying hope is that DeBoer wants to be represented with toughness on the field because situations like what happened in the SEC Championship Game and the Rose Bowl can't happen again. Teams aren't going to be perfect. Even Saban lost some games, but getting run off the field and completely overwhelmed on both sides of the line twice in a three-game span is always going to be unacceptable at Alabama.
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