Stephen A. Smith slams Kalen DeBoer, says Alabama should pay him to ‘go away’
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Stephen A. Smith didn’t even let Kalen DeBoer take the microphone on Wednesday in Tampa at SEC Media Days.
Nope.
The ESPN analyst who’s claimed many times in the past to be a fan of Alabama football had a rant ready for the Crimson Tide head coach during his appearance on First Take on Tuesday morning. Sure, DeBoer still has plenty of doubters in Tuscaloosa and around the country, despite getting Alabama to the SEC Championship Game last season as well as an appearance in the College Football Playoff.
But the Crimson Tide flamed out in the quarterfinals in a 38-3 beatdown, courtesy of eventual national champion Indiana. Now, as DeBoer gets ready for Year 3 at Bama, which happens to be the same year that Nick Saban won his first of 6 national titles at Alabama, he’s already hearing it from folks like Smith who believe he’s not the man for the job.
DeBoer is a pedestrian 20-8 in his first 2 seasons in Tuscaloosa, and Smith wasn’t having any of it on Tuesday morning.
“We’re talking about the successor to Nick Saban. We’re talking about 17 seasons, 6 national titles, 9 SEC championships,” Smith said. “The man went 117-18. This man, alright, it took about 6 years to lose 8 games. Kalen DeBoer has lost that many games his first two years there. He’s lost more games each season. They were lucky to get to the postseason.”
But Smith wasn’t done, naturally.
“This man’s supposed to be about offense? They scored three points (against Indiana). Paul Finebaum’s talking about Indiana handing them their lunch money. They beat them like they stole something,” Smith said. “(Alabama) waved the white flag. You’re talking about Alabama fans talking about buying the man out.”
Then Smith went even deeper
“Give him the money to just go away,” he said. “Call him, Jimbo Fisher. Call him, Brian Kelly. Do something. Get rid of him, because he ain’t the guy.”
Naturally, time will tell if Smith’s rant was right on or just emotion talking before DeBoer goes out and proves him wrong this season.
As Smith fires away at DeBoer, the Alabama head coach will be trying to push the Crimson Tide back to the College Football Playoff this fall. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about Bama’s chances to get back to the Playoff with DeBoer at the helm for the second straight 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.
