I mentioned it a while back, but August is the only time of year when almost every college football fanbase feels like their team has a chance to win it all.
Hope does indeed spring eternal every summer, but there are still plenty of programs who realistically have no shot at even making a College Football Playoff appearance.
One juggernaut who has historically been among the “haves” rather than the “have nots” is the Alabama Crimson Tide, but according to college football commentator Paul Finebaum, Bama’s days of owning the lion’s share of championship trophies may have come to an abrupt halt.
And it’s all thanks to the man they hired to fill the team-issued polo previously worn by Nick Saban.
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“I’m selling that,” Finebaum said on Crane & Co. when asked if he would “buy or sell” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer winning a natty while in Tuscaloosa. “I’ll spare you the ‘I think Kalen DeBoer is a good football coach.’ I think everybody does. The question is, ‘is he going to win a championship at Alabama?’ And my answer is no.”
Finebaum goes on to call the “culture fit” between DeBoer and Bama “okay,” and says Alabama is a unique job where sometimes really good football coaches don’t necessarily win titles due to factors that go far beyond the painted lines of Bryant Denny Stadium.
“In the last 60 years, only three people have won national championships, two of them happen to be the greatest coach of all-time on the day they retired,” Finebaum stated. “At Alabama, you can be unique, you can be different, but Kalen DeBoer, to me, just doesn’t have the right ingredients to win the title there.”
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It’s interesting to hear Finebaum say that DeBoer doesn’t have the right “ingredients” to win at Bama, but if you know what he means by that, it makes a ton of sense.
“Ingredients,” in this instance, doesn’t refer to talent on the field, because DeBoer and his staff haven’t exactly been lacking in that department.
In the three full offseasons that DeBoer has been the head coach at Alabama, his average recruiting class ranking according to the 247Sports composite has been 2.5.
Every coach in America can only dream of averaging a top-three recruiting class every year they’ve been at their current school, but it’s more than just a talent issue.
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As Finebaum mentioned, the “culture fit” wasn’t right from the start between DeBoer and his current employer, and though that may sound like a nebulous excuse, there’s some real weight behind it.
“He’s capable of winning it elsewhere,” Finebaum reasoned. “He came within a reasonable chance of winning it at Washington. I think he could probably have won one at Michigan. Alabama’s different.”
For those who don’t remember, DeBoer was rolling while coaching the Washington Huskies.
In his two seasons in the Pacific Northwest, DeBoer had two top-ten finishes and a national championship appearance under his belt.
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Even before he arrived at the ranks of the Power 4, DeBoer was a noted winner, capturing three NAIA National Championships while at Sioux Falls and guiding Fresno State to a nine-win regular season in just his second year there.
The point is, DeBoer didn’t just forget how to coach the moment his plane touched down in Tuscaloosa, and it’s not like he’s been an abject failure for the Tide either.
Averaging ten wins a year and making a CFP appearance would be welcomed at 99% of schools in the country.
But as Finebaum said so poignantly, “Alabama is different.”
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It’s the same reason a guy like Brian Kelly, a coach who went 145-61 in his three FBS stops prior to landing in Baton Rouge, “failed” at LSU.
Kelly is not a bad coach or even an average coach, but he didn’t understand the culture and expectations that come with being the Tigers’ head coach.
Will DeBoer prove everyone wrong and win a title at Bama? I can’t say for sure.
As long as they keep recruiting at their current pace, a coach like DeBoer has a chance.
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But I also wouldn’t be shocked to see him looking for a job in two to three years either.
Programs like Alabama and LSU have one goal and one goal only: to win a national championship.
And sometimes, even that isn’t enough to save your job (see: Ed Orgeron).
DeBoer will be judged by the trophy case he assembles while coaching the Crimson Tide, and right now, that sucker is looking a little empty.
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