This is an opinion column.
Kalen DeBoer is a likable guy.
He coaches football, so in that context, DeBoer’s demeanor is an unmistakable outlier.
When making the list of differences between him and his predecessor, this could be No. 1.
DeBoer isn’t one to stir the pot from a podium or near a microphone, whereas Nick Saban clearly thrived on it.
We say that to note a slight, yet notable, recent shift in Alabama’s second-year head football coach.
He’s showing a little more spunk — some personality and maybe even some edge.
All in the most polite way possible.
As Alabama approaches the SEC Championship on Saturday, DeBoer faced a few questions about his team’s playoff case. The debate surrounding the Crimson Tide is a lively one in the circumstance that it cedes previously-conquered Atlanta to the Bulldogs of Georgia.
DeBoer, not traditionally the politicking type, arrived prepared at press opportunities for such inquiries.
By Thursday, you heard the closest DeBoer comes to spicy when asked if Alabama needs a win Saturday to make the 12-team playoff.
“I mean, it kind of blows my mind,” DeBoer said, “that’s the exact words I used before, that we’re really having this debate.”
In the nicest way possible.
“I don’t say that with any arrogance,” DeBoer said, like he accidentally touched the hot stove on which Alabama fans want him to dump gasoline, “because I understand there’s a lot of good football teams out there.”
Saban was the ultimate salesman in moments when Alabama was on a playoff bubble. It’s unclear how much he helped in 2017, when he made the interview rounds after losing the Iron Bowl, but Alabama made the four-team playoff it eventually won.
Sometimes it’s about appearances and showing your team and fans you’re fighting for them.
DeBoer’s doing that his way.
“Every A4 team we played except Wisconsin this season, before, during, or after us was ranked,” DeBoer said Thursday. “Again, 7-1 record, two points from being 8-0, 4-0 on the road in the second, that jumps out at me. That’s hard to do in the environments. Our guys have been tested.”
On Sunday, he drove home the point that Alabama went 4-0 in conference road games and “won 10 of our last 11 games.”
Sorry, but that last note might not be the strongest. Using a sample size that includes every game but the one they lost by two touchdowns to a Florida State team that finished 5-7 isn’t the play.
Credit for the effort, though.
I’ll never discourage a little showmanship.
As a beat reporter who covered Saban from 2009 on, it’s hard not to miss the entertainment value he brought to any press gathering. So, what if he wasn’t as outright friendly to the dotcom wretches as DeBoer?
Big deal if he shouted you down on live TV every once in a while.
He was never boring.
DeBoer, if we’re being honest, has been.
He’s genuinely himself and that’s worked for him. So, there’s no shade. Some coaches talk too much for their own good, so DeBoer should play his game.
And tell a joke or two.
Like the one he made after a gutsy decision to throw on 4th-and-2 late in the Iron Bowl.
“I figured it was 29 yards shorter than the last time we needed a touchdown here,” DeBoer said Saturday in a nod to the 2023 Iron Bowl moment forever known as 4th-and-31. “Probably the percentages were much more in our favor.”
How about that?
DeBoer, who’s known to avoid cuss words, likely won’t be citing tin horns or what flows through them any time soon.
There won’t be a highlight reel of his best news conference moments quite like the last guy.
Still, it’s fun to hear a little bit of personality from the nice guy who also lit up when asked about rumors concerning his future. A coach who’s been known to wade cautiously into an answer came out swinging like he knew the fastball was coming.
Penn State?
“Yeah, we’re extremely happy at Alabama,” DeBoer said. “This is the first time I’ve been asked. I appreciate you … We’re extremely happy here. Love the challenge, love the grind, love this place. There’s never been any link, there’s never been any conversation, there’s never been any interest either way. I’m glad we can put that to bed right now.”
All in a week’s work of Alabama’s not-leaving, possibly funny, and playoff-confident head coach.
DeBoer may not be the Saban soundbite generator, but maybe he’s found a voice this past week.
I’ll take that.
