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Kalen DeBoer receives C- grade from ESPN analyst after Year 1 at Alabama
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Kalen DeBoer had a roller coaster of a first season at Alabama, and because that roller coaster failed to lead to a College Football Playoff berth, he was given a C- grade for his overall coaching performance by ESPN.
ESPN revealed its grades for college football’s first-year head coaches on Wednesday morning, and to nobody’s shock Kalen DeBoer didn’t come in at the head of the class, you might say. Here’s an excerpt of analysis from ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg on DeBoer’s Year 1 in Tuscaloosa:
Alabama finished 115th nationally in penalties. Any post-Saban season that doesn’t end with a CFP appearance will be deemed a big disappointment, and Alabama’s bowl loss to Michigan — despite having almost all of its key players participating — was inexcusable. DeBoer will be under an even bigger microscope in Year 2.
DeBoer was replacing a legend in Nick Saban, and that was going to be tough to begin with in 2024. After a sensational September capped by Alabama’s thrilling win over Georgia, it started to go south for DeBoer and the Crimson Tide in October.
That’s when Alabama dropped 2 games in the state of Tennessee, first getting stunned by Vanderbilt in Nashville before another loss to rival Tennessee in Knoxville. That put DeBoer on the defensive and gave him no margin for error in trying to squeeze into the 12-team Playoff with 2 regular-season losses.
The death blow turned out to be the listless loss at Oklahoma in November, when Alabama only managed 3 points and suffered its crushing 3rd defeat. There was still talk of the Crimson Tide grabbing the final Playoff berth, but it didn’t happen, and the Crimson Tide were forced to settle for a spot in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Michigan. That didn’t go well, either, as Alabama looked flat and uninterested in losing its 4th game of the season.
With all of that, it’s no surprise that DeBoer earned that C- grade for his first season.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
