Cole Cubelic calls for end of Nick Saban, Kalen DeBoer comparisons
By David Wasson
Published:
Comparisons between present Alabama football coaches and their legendary predecessors is nothing new, as coaches who served after Paul W. Bryant’s retirement and death bore the same unfair burden of expectations that Kalen DeBoer now endures in the shadow of Nick Saban.
But at least one college football analyst, the SEC Network’s Cole Cubelic, said Wednesday on his radio show that is is time for the DeBoer-vs.-Saban comparisons to end.
“You can say that direction of the program is nowhere near where it has been in certain points of time – from 2009 to 2021 – there weren’t a whole lot of times where the program was trending down,” Cubelic said on the McElroy And Cubelic In the Morning show. “All the points on this team not being where they were five years ago. I’m gonna ask you a real question college football fans, who is where they were five years ago? … We’re gonna keep comparing this Alabama team to the Saban peak?
“We know that’s gone, we that’s not real, we know a lot of the fan base is unrealistic and will expect that every year. … They will expect this with every coach. It’s not different. But who is what they were five years ago?”
Alabama is coming off an 11-4 season that saw the Crimson Tide make the College Football Playoff and earn a first-round victory against Oklahoma in Norman, but is also a program under DeBoer that has lost four games in each of his first two seasons after replacing the retired Saban in 2025.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
