What's it like replacing Nick Saban? Behind the scenes of Kalen DeBoer's first Alabama game week
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Chris Low, ESPN Senior Writer
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The drenching rain came out of nowhere Saturday afternoon.
Kalen DeBoer didn’t seem to mind.
Smiling as raindrops ricocheted off his face, DeBoer strode confidently and nodded as he passed the bronze statue of his predecessor, the legendary Nick Saban, while leading the Alabama football team — his Alabama football team — down the Walk of Champions and into Bryant-Denny Stadium.
It was a day that was both surreal and historic, culminating with win No. 1 of the DeBoer era, a 63-0 demolition of Western Kentucky that saw the Crimson Tide gain 600 yards on offense and hold the Hilltoppers to 145 yards.
The players said there were smiles galore in the Crimson Tide locker room afterward, and with good reason. It had been a dizzying transition for everybody since Saban retired.
But on Saturday night, DeBoer was the toast of the locker room. He said a few words to his team and sent the players on their way. But not before quarterback and team captain Jalen Milroe got everybody’s attention and awarded the game ball to the Tide’s new coach.
“He might be new to everybody else, but not to us. He’s our coach, and this was just the start,” said linebacker Deontae Lawson, another team captain. “We’re 1-0, and that’s what he’s been saying ever since he got here, to go 1-0 in everything we do.”
Fifteen years ago, DeBoer was in his final season as head coach at NAIA Sioux Falls. Ten years ago, he was in his first season as offensive coordinator at Eastern Michigan, and five years ago, he was in his only season as offensive coordinator at Indiana.
Now, he is 1-0 as head coach at Alabama.
ESPN had inside access to DeBoer’s first game week in Tuscaloosa. Here’s a look behind the curtain at the dawning of a new era in Crimson Tide football.
31 hours to kickoff: Tide Teammates
Even with Saturday night’s resounding win before a sellout crowd, one of the loudest cheers of the week came from inside the Alabama indoor practice facility Friday morning as the Tide went through their final walk-through before the season opener.
As he gathered the team together, DeBoer stood beside 10-year-old Suzannah Earnest and introduced her to the team. She was about to score the first touchdown of the DeBoer era, part of the “Tide Teammates” program DeBoer brought with him from Washington.
“It’s our way of lifting up a kid that maybe needs to be lifted up, doing our part to help them as they’re going through cancer or anything else they may be fighting,” DeBoer said. “I think we get more out of it than the kids. It’s a reminder that it’s a privilege to play this game.”
Suzannah was diagnosed in 2022 with Friedreich’s ataxia, a progressive genetic condition. There are only 5,000 known cases in the United States, and most people with FA need a wheelchair within 10 to 15 years of diagnosis. She’s also dealing with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which impacts her heart.
But she was ready to go Friday when her favorite Alabama player, Milroe, broke the huddle and handed the ball off to her. It was supposed to be a running play, but Suzannah called an audible and threw a two-handed pass. She eventually got the ball back and was escorted into the end zone by her Crimson Tide teammates for the day.
“They were tall,” she said excitedly.
But the Alabama players were just as excited. They gathered around her, jumping and celebrating as if they’d just won the national championship. Suzannah was there with her parents, Justin and Holly, and her older brother, Keasler. And in the spirit of team, she wanted to make sure her friends at Sipsey Valley Middle School in nearby Ralph, Alabama, were mentioned (Tanner, Eliza, Riley and Jordyn) “if you’re going to put me in the news.”
Being a part of DeBoer’s first game week as Alabama’s coach was nothing short of a dream.
“It gives you hope, all of us, and tells you everything you need to know about Coach DeBoer and these players,” Holly Earnest said.
The players were still talking about their first glimpse of “Tide Teammates” 30 minutes later when they went to lunch. Milroe said that connectivity has been a staple of DeBoer’s program since he arrived on campus.
“It’s like that in everything we do, practice, meetings or anything outside of football,” Milroe said. “You see how real Coach DeBoer is. He’s always who he is, and he trusts us to be who we are. That’s what every player wants.”
24 hours to kickoff: Rare Tide
The team meeting Friday night at Hotel Capstone just across the street from the football complex was short and to the point. All of DeBoer’s meetings are.
He reinforced the 10 p.m. curfew; went over the schedule for Saturday; and, mindful that this was all new ground for the players, casually asked if there were any questions.
Then came something else DeBoer brought with him from Washington. It’s called “Rare Tide,” a way to honor somebody not necessarily inside the football program who has been “unusually great with uncommon values and/or sets themselves apart from others.” Called “Rare Breed” at Washington, the first recipient at Alabama was Tina Thomas, a longtime custodian at the football complex. She had no idea she was going to be honored, so one of the staff members told her they needed her help just to get her to the meeting.
When DeBoer first came to Alabama, he had everybody in the building gather together and introduce themselves.
“And you got the biggest roar of them all,” DeBoer reminded Thomas.
She received another roar from the players as she signed her “Rare Tide” plaque that will hang in the team room.
“We’ll see it each and every day,” DeBoer said as he hugged Thomas.
His final message for the Western Kentucky game: “When they walk off the field, we want them to know they never want to face us again. Ever. I can’t wait to see you guys on that field. Go out and cut it loose.”
107 hours to kickoff: ‘Prepare like you’ve never won before’
The first game-week team meeting of the DeBoer era was proof enough that there was a new sheriff in town. With rap music from Gucci Mane blaring early Tuesday morning, DeBoer was chatting with players in the front row 10 minutes before the 7:20 meeting began.
Saban’s meetings were more like more like a presidential address as he entered a hushed room just as the meeting began and got right down to business. One of the other differences under DeBoer is that the Tide have shifted to morning practices instead of afternoon. And, yes, there was also music thumping through speakers during the practices.
“Yeah, a little different. I always kid Coach [DeBoer] about what’s on his music playlist for the day,” Milroe said. “He mixes it up, same way as his offense.”
The playlist actually comes from any number of people within the program. DeBoer is a fan of classic rock from the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, which is why Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion” echoed across the practice field Tuesday. Some days, it might be a little Boston and Journey.
The players love the new vibe, but the holdovers said the suggestion that practices have suddenly become Club Med is overblown. Alabama, which will take Mondays off during the season, begins practice with its Crimson period, the No. 1 offense vs. No. 1 defense.
“It sets the tone for the rest of practice,” said offensive guard Tyler Booker, also a captain. “We’re as physical as we’ve ever been. That standard will never change here, and it’s a standard that Coach DeBoer demands as much as Coach Saban. We said it when Coach Saban was here and say it now.
“We are the standard.”
Before the meeting broke up, DeBoer had one last message:
“Prepare like you’ve never won before. Let it rip and have some fun.”
73 hours to kickoff: The coaches’ show
DeBoer usually swings by the training table every morning for breakfast to check on the players. Last Wednesday, he also had lunch at the training table, a big plate of grilled chicken.
“It’s important for them to see me in here, and I want to see them and be around them in a setting outside of the practice field or meetings,” DeBoer said.
Saban was a stickler for eating lunch in his office every day, a salad with cherry tomatoes and a few turkey slices.
As DeBoer finished his lunch, he dumped his trash and returned his plate and silverware to the bin. He laughed heartily when asked if it’s true that while at Sioux Falls, he was the one who made sandwiches for his team on its long bus rides.
“That story gets better every time it gets told,” he said. “The sandwiches were already made and in coolers, but we did stop at parks or rest stops to eat on our way. We’d leave early in the morning the day of the game because most of those drives were several hours.
“Now, I’d help clean up and make sure everything was thrown away before we left, but I wasn’t the one making the sandwiches.”
Another connection to the Sioux Falls days for DeBoer is his executive assistant, Ali Smith, who came with DeBoer from Washington. Her father, Rob Smith, was the head coach at Western Washington when DeBoer was a senior at Sioux Falls in 1996, when Sioux Falls beat Western Washington for the NAIA Division II national championship.
Ali helped DeBoer handle the many ticket requests and travel arrangements for family and friends who would come in for the game. Over lunch Wednesday, DeBoer was fielding numerous texts from folks who went back to his Southern Illinois days more than 10 years ago and beyond.
DeBoer was quick to bring that up Wednesday night as Ali rode with him to his radio show at Baumhower’s Victory Grille. The show was on Thursdays when Saban was coaching, and the place was packed for DeBoer’s first show of the season. DeBoer was joined by Milroe; Saban always had a media member as a guest.
Elbert Roberts, aka Peewee from Grand Bay, who was the first caller to Saban’s radio show every week, drove to be there in person, and in keeping with tradition, asked the first question. Always concerned about the offensive line, he told DeBoer that Alabama needs to be known as “OL U.”
Captain Tommy Rester of the Tuscaloosa Police Department has been a fixture around the Alabama program for several years. He drove DeBoer to and from the radio show, as he did Saban, who was a bit of a backseat driver and known to grumble if the traffic light stayed red too long.
But not DeBoer, who was busy talking about the turnout for his first show.
“Coach, I’m always going to be right there with you and don’t want you to think that I’m hovering,” Rester told DeBoer. “But I also don’t want somebody who’s crazy reaching out for you.”
But that passion, DeBoer said, is exactly why he’s at Alabama. The tricky part is staying on the right side of that passion. When DeBoer was whisked out of the restaurant by his security team at the end of the show, they went through a roped-off area, but that didn’t keep him from stopping and taking selfies with several fans.
DeBoer was in the office before dawn every day that week, so there was not a lot of family time. But there was a smile on his face when he saw his wife, Nicole, and two daughters, Alexis and Avery, sitting at one of the front tables in the restaurant for the show. Alexis will head back to Washington later this month. She plays softball for the Huskies. Avery plays volleyball and attends public school in Tuscaloosa.
“We’re used to not seeing him much this time of year,” Alexis said.
Fans crowded in to welcome the DeBoer family to the area, and Nicole even got a special welcome when Big Al, the Tide’s elephant mascot, accidentally hit her in the head with his trunk.
Nicole met DeBoer during her senior year at Augustana University in Sioux Falls when he was teaching history and coaching high school football. While many football coaches are known for their liberal use of salty language, Nicole joked that she’s the one “who does the swearing for the family.”
“All the years we’ve been together, I think I’ve heard him get angry and raise his voice two times,” she said.
Game day: The passing of the torch
Saban hustled back from his duties on ESPN’s “College GameDay” in College Station, Texas, to be in Tuscaloosa for DeBoer’s debut, watching with his family from their suite. Saban plans to be at as many of the Tide’s home games as possible.
“He knows how much I want to see him have success and the team have success, and the thing I’ve been most impressed with is that he’s done it the way he’s always done it and the way he’s had success doing it,” Saban told ESPN. “I’m like all Alabama fans out there. I can’t wait to see where he takes us.”
DeBoer and Nicole visited with Saban on Thursday night at the memorial services for Saban’s mother, Mary, who died last Monday. She was 92.
Earlier that day, as DeBoer called the team together at the end of practice, he told the players he got a call from Saban that morning.
“He just wanted you guys to know how much he cares about you, how much he loves you and he can’t wait to watch you play this year,” DeBoer told the players.
Saban was inside the Alabama football complex only twice during the preseason, both times using a rear entrance to have head athletic trainer Jeff Allen provide treatment on his back.
“That’s been purposeful by Coach [Saban],” Allen said. “People get a little institutionalized when a coach is there as long as he was and has that kind of success. People ask me all the time how it’s going, and my barometer is always the players. My job is to adapt to the way Kalen DeBoer wants it done, not focus on how we used to do it per se.
“I think the worst thing that we can do … is say, ‘We’ve never done it that way before.’ You can’t fall into that trap, and we haven’t.”
For holdovers from Saban’s staff, there have been adjustments. There was a running joke in the building that if you heard a clicking sound approaching on the tile floor of the complex, you had better be ready. Saban always wore dress shoes to work.
DeBoer is more discreet, moving quietly while wearing sneakers, occasionally paired with a Tommy Bahama shirt, and has shown up at one of his coaches’ doors with a plate of cookies.
Running backs coach Robert Gillespie is one of two on-field assistants (along with defensive line coach Freddie Roach) whom DeBoer kept from Saban’s staff. Gillespie has been around some of the biggest names in football. He played at Florida and in the NFL under Steve Spurrier, then coached under the Head Ball Coach at South Carolina. Gillespie also coached under Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State and Mack Brown at North Carolina before joining Saban at Alabama.
“He’s not trying to be anybody but himself,” Gillespie said of DeBoer. “Some guys come into a place like this with a big ego. But he was secure enough and smart enough to know that this place is different. These kids are used to winning, and [DeBoer] was confident, but he listened to the kids. Some new coaches come in and don’t take the time to listen.”
While Alabama certainly is different from any of DeBoer’s previous stops, Ron McKeefery, who first worked with DeBoer at Eastern Michigan and is now special assistant to the head coach, knows him well enough to say it won’t matter.
“He grew up on a farm and is the same guy he’s always been,” McKeefery said. “This place might change a lot of people. It won’t change him.”
Kelvin Croom, younger brother of former Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom and a longtime pastor at College Hill Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa, has come to practice on Thursdays for years to pray with the players. He said he has had a front-row seat for all the coaching transitions at Alabama since Bear Bryant retired in 1982.
“This has been the smoothest,” Croom said. “Coach Saban is excited and behind Coach DeBoer, and Coach DeBoer is secure enough to do it his way while still respecting what Coach Saban did before him. But it’s like making scrambled eggs. We all can make them, and maybe we make them different ways.
“What matters is if they come out delicious.”
On to Week 2: ‘The new era’
DeBoer had long since accepted his game ball Saturday night and was already looking ahead to Game 2 of his Alabama tenure when Joe and John Atcheson and their families wandered out of Bryant-Denny Stadium and walked across the street to the condo they had rented for the weekend. They made sure to soak up the moment before leaving the stadium.
The brothers are dentists, Alabama graduates and lifelong fans. They live 10 minutes outside of Clemson, South Carolina, and reminded their kids (Carter, Carson, Connor and Anna) during Saban’s incredible run “to enjoy this.”
They admitted not seeing Saban on the sideline for the first time in 18 years was weird but agreed the positive energy inside the stadium was impossible to ignore.
“There was never this sense of, ‘It’s over,’ doom and gloom or whatever when Coach Saban retired,” John Atcheson said. “We were all like, ‘Hey, we’ve got something good going here, and this is just the new era.'”
The torch has been passed. This is Kalen DeBoer’s team and his time.
“Can’t wait to do it again a week from now,” DeBoer said.
