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Kalen DeBoer could be on the hot seat going into the 2025 season.
DeBoer was featured in ESPN’s way-too-early hot seat breakdown for the 2025 campaign, which it released on Monday morning. DeBoer was filed under the “We want this to work” section of the story, along with coaches such as Oklahoma’s Brent Venables and Kentucky’s Mark Stoops.
Here’s an excerpt of analysis on DeBoer’s standing as he enters the offseason ahead of Year 2 in Tuscaloosa, via ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg:
The prospect of following Nick Saban at Alabama was never going to be easy, even for a coach as gifted as DeBoer. It seemed to be a good move that Alabama looked outside the Saban sphere for his replacement, and DeBoer came to Tuscaloosa days after coaching Washington in the national title game. But DeBoer’s first season seemed to confirm fears about whether he could succeed in a different region, especially while replacing a legend.
Kalen DeBoer could be on the hot seat after going 9-4 in his first year at the helm. It’s the first time Alabama hasn’t won at least 10 games in a campaign since 2007 — Saban’s first year in Tuscaloosa. After Alabama played for the national championship 6 times in 7 seasons from 2015-21, it’s now been 3 years since the Tide were on that stage.
With Jalen Milroe declaring for the 2025 NFL Draft, the Crimson Tide will have a big question to answer at the quarterback position this offseason as well as a few other key spots.
It’s worth noting that a short coaching tenure would be abnormal for Alabama’s program. Only once (Dennis Franchione) in the last century has a coach lasted 2 years or less as Alabama’s head coach.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
