Nick Saban says he did not talk to Kalen DeBoer after loss to Vanderbilt

Nick Saban experienced a lot of things during his head coaching career. Losing to Vanderbilt is not among them, something his Alabama successor, Kalen DeBoer, can no longer say.

Alabama’s upset loss to the Commodores is something that draws a lot of attention, especially for its historic nature, but Saban said recently he did not communicate with DeBoer after the loss. Saban described it as something he did not want to get in the way after as DeBoer looked to right the ship.

“I talk to him when they do something well, I just didn’t wanna get in the way this time,” said Saban in a conversation with Pat McAfee.

It was certainly a low point for the Crimson Tide, but Saban used it as a moment to draw attention to the importance of getting your assistant coaches on the same wave length as the head coach:

“One thing I would like to comment on though is, talking to Kalen, I always really put a lot of pressure on the assistant coaches because they’re kind of your Lt. to get your message to the team,” Saban explained. “And I think Kalen has been doing a good job of getting the right message to the team but everybody in the organization has to reinforce that because they’re the people that sit in the meetings every day with the players, and they’ve got to impact that.”

“I didn’t talk to Kalen DeBoer after the game and I didn’t wanna get in the way this time..

He’s been doing a good job of getting the right message to the team but everybody in the organization has to reinforce that” ~ Nick Saban #PMSLive https://t.co/DBy9Aspjl1 pic.twitter.com/UtaIKVKemx

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 11, 2024

Now, DeBoer has a chance to rebound and see if his team can learn from their misstep in Week 6.

Paul Harvey

Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.