The old saying goes, "where there's smoke, there's fire," but that's not always true when it comes to coaching searches. Sometimes smoke is just smoke. It's Jimmy Sexton season, folks. With the amount of high-profile jobs on the market, a lot of coaches who have no interest in leaving their current jobs are going to get raises anyway.
Message board rumors are ablaze connecting DeBoer to the Penn State vacancy. Some of your favorite insiders - though not a single credible reporter - are saying there's interest between the two parties.
The same insiders who swore Dan Lanning was in Tuscaloosa the day after Nick Saban retired and that Alabama was going to hire Thad Matta as the basketball coach right before Greg Byrne announced the hiring of Nate Oats in 2019. Miss Terry is still house-hunting in Austin, Texas, as we speak.
Message board rumors often jump the shark. It's like playing the telephone game in school. Someone says something tangentially related to the subject, and by the time the 75th person has been whispered to, we've killed off Brodie Croyle in the Argentinian wilderness.
Penn State being interested in DeBoer doesn't mean he's interested in them
Penn State's interest in DeBoer seems real. That's not exactly shocking. DeBoer is a really good coach. When you have a really good coach, other schools are going to covet them. That's the price you pay. If no one is ever interested in your coach, then you have a problem.
Just because Penn State is interested in DeBoer doesn't mean the interest is mutual. Sexton wouldn't be doing his job correctly for his client, however, if these rumors were immediately squashed.
Could DeBoer be looking for an off-ramp? It's not impossible. Tensions were pretty high following the loss to Florida State in the opener, and those tensions could return if Alabama loses the Iron Bowl in two weeks, dropping two of its final three games and being knocked out of the College Football Playoff for a second straight season as a result.
DeBoer wouldn't be the first coach to leave Alabama for another job. Dennis Franchione did it following the 2002 season, trading in his crimson for maroon in College Station. Of course, those were different times, and Franchione was looking for an exit due to damaging sanctions handed down by the NCAA.
Bill Curry left Alabama for Kentucky following the 1989 season, but that was under intense pressure by the administration, which reportedly had stripped Curry's ability to hire his own assistant coaches.
Greg Byrne has applied no such pressure to DeBoer. As irritated as Alabama fans might be if they lose the Iron Bowl next week, it still won't put DeBoer on the hot seat. The future still looks bright with the amount of talent he is accumulating from the high school ranks. He is in the midst of building his program.
DeBoer was confident enough in himself to take the Alabama job two years ago. He was willing to follow in the footsteps of the greatest coach in college football history when he knew the amount of pressure that would come with it.
If after less than two full seasons in Tuscaloosa he's looking for an exit, so be it. That would mean he's not the guy Byrne thought he was hiring, and clearly not capable of leading this program.
I'm not buying it, though. For now, the smoke is just smoke.