Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer embraces 'privilege' of following Nick Saban. Don't expect him to wilt

You want to talk about pressure? How’s this:

You’re 30 years old and a first-time head coach. You replaced a legend at your alma mater who was also your mentor, and the local newspaper writes that you have “enormous shoes to fill.” The media pick your team as the overwhelming favorite to win the conference.

Fast forward to 15 years later. It’s 2020. You’re a first-time Division I coach with a Bowl Subdivision team, and your inaugural season is played amid a pandemic.

A couple years later, you make your Power Five coaching debut. You inherit a program that went 4-8.

Through it all, you never experience a losing season. You win nearly every game throughout nine seasons. You build a career that results in Alabama hiring you to replace the irreplaceable.

No pressure, right?

Kalen DeBoer frames it as opportunity.

“Embracing the moment is a privilege that you get that comes along with being at a place like Alabama,” DeBoer, Alabama’s first-year coach, told me recently during an exclusive interview. “So, enjoy it.”

DeBoer, 49, faced pressure at every stage of his career. Each time, he proved he’s a smashing success.

That first coaching job at Sioux Falls, DeBoer’s alma mater? DeBoer won 67 games and three NAIA national championships in five seasons.

The pandemic season at Fresno State launched a two-year run that springboarded DeBoer to Washington. There, he steadied a program in disarray and catapulted the Huskies to the national championship game at warp speed.

None of this, let's acknowledge, matches the pressure DeBoer will encounter at Alabama as he succeeds Nick Saban. If he starts slowly at Alabama, DeBoer will face enough heat to make even the believers sweat in church.

To coach in Saban’s shadow, while Saban retains an office at Alabama and pontificates on ESPN, is to accept one of the most high-pressure assignments in college football history.

It’s also one heck of a job.

“A lot of people would love to be in your shoes,” DeBoer said. “That’s the way you’ve got to look at it.”

Alabama to College Football Playoff? Kalen DeBoer accepts challenge

When I ask DeBoer about running toward this challenge, he offers a clarification: He sees this less as him gravitating to a challenge – it’s not as if replacing Saban was his career goal – and more as accepting a great opportunity to coach a storied program backed by a powerful brand.

But, yes, he’s also up for a challenge.

“I can’t say I intentionally look at it where you see challenges and you want to go take it on,” DeBoer said, “but when you’re in a spot like this, there’s an excitement of the challenge. That’s what I do enjoy.”

DeBoer took hold of a talented roster, albeit one that faces more questions, especially on defense, than Alabama was accustomed to with Saban.

The SEC served DeBoer no scheduling favors. The Tide will face Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, LSU and Oklahoma, all of which could be preseason top-15 teams.

Any more than two losses would put Alabama on shaky footing for the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff.

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Still, making the playoff is an expectation at Alabama. DeBoer won’t deny that.

“This program has that expectation of being championship caliber and being involved in the playoff every single year,” DeBoer said. “And so, easier said than done, especially here with a schedule like we have this year, but that’s the expectation.”

I appreciate that answer. DeBoer could have deflected, demurred or immediately started discussing the “process” rather than concrete goals. (Indeed, process came up later.) Instead, he acknowledged reality. Making the playoff ought to be the floor of expectations for Alabama. If you’re bold enough to replace Saban, you might as well embrace the mission.

“I’m going to put everything into this program every single day and have the confidence and belief that it will be enough to reach the goals and meet the expectations that this program has,” DeBoer said.

Kalen DeBoer’s rural beginnings and grounded confidence

DeBoer’s predecessor relished being the voice of college football. Saban possessed some charm and humor, but his specialties were crushing opponents and lecturing from his bully pulpit. He sounded off on everything from scheduling to up-tempo offenses to NIL collectives. I still hear Saban saying: Is this what we want football to be about?

DeBoer comes off more understated. He’s confident but reserved. Self-assured, but grounded. He reminds me of someone I might encounter in the rural Midwest.

DeBoer grew up in Milbank, South Dakota. Population: 3,544. A town with stoplights at just two intersections.

Milbank birthed American Legion Baseball. It’s home to Valley Queen Cheese, a company with a straightforward slogan: “We make dairy.” You don’t say.

Farmland surrounds Milbank. A John Deere dealership resides on the town’s doorstep.

To find the nearest town of 25,000, you’d travel to Aberdeen (population 28,000), west of Milbank on Highway 12. DeBoer offhandedly recites the exact distance between the towns.

“Aberdeen is just down the road – 96 miles,” he said.

Just a wee drive.

What to do in Milbank? Play sports – DeBoer starred in several – and coach Little League during the summertime.

Becoming an SEC football coach would not have been on DeBoer’s vision board.

“I would have never imagined being even a college coach in any capacity when I was that age,” he said. “Even going to college, probably in my early high school days, and playing football probably would’ve been something that would’ve surprised me, if you would’ve told me that’s what’s going to happen.

“It’s just amazing how things work out for you. I got around the right people and got influenced the right way.”

DeBoer never before had coached in the South. He’s getting on OK. Importantly, he's recruiting well.

“Living here reminds me of the Midwest and reminds me of home as much as any place I’ve been to over the last 20 years,” he said.

The difference?

“They love football on another level here,” DeBoer said.

Kalen DeBoer ‘speaks light’ into Alabama and Jalen Milroe

Every word Alabama’s coach says gets scrutinized – and even the words he doesn’t say. Shortly after DeBoer’s hire, a storyline formed that he doesn’t cuss.

A lack of a potty mouth is no sin – quite the opposite – but it marks a pivot from the fiery Saban, who once joked he’d need to take out a loan if Alabama instituted a swear jar.

Is it true that DeBoer doesn’t cuss?

Pretty much true, he says.

“It’s few and far between, is probably the best way to put it,” he said.

DeBoer doesn’t have a language rule for players or coaches. Nothing like that. They’re allowed to cuss. He just doesn’t.

“It’s just kind of who I am,” he said. He added that he knows plenty of top-notch people who cuss frequently. He just doesn’t feel like he needs that language to effectively communicate.

Alabama’s players rave about DeBoer’s positivity.

As Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe put it after A-Day, DeBoer and his staff “speak light” into him and fill him with confidence.

“When you have a coach who speaks this positive reinforcement into you, that makes you want to play even better, play even harder,” Milroe said.

DeBoer became a believer in Milroe before he arrived at Alabama.

DeBoer’s Huskies played a College Football Playoff semifinal game against Texas on New Year’s Day, following Alabama’s Rose Bowl game against Michigan.

The Huskies would face the Alabama-Michigan winner, so DeBoer and his staff kept one eye on the televisions showing the Rose Bowl as they prepared to play Texas. He couldn’t miss Milroe, whose dual-threat exploits helped Alabama take a second-half lead in a game it lost in overtime.

After one of Milroe’s runs against Michigan, DeBoer remembers a Washington staff member saying, “That’s going to be a problem.”

Now, he’s a luxury.

Quarterback depth counts as an Alabama strength. That starts with Milroe, the returning starter who ranks among preseason Heisman Trophy favorites.

“You combine running the football with the arm talent, he’s a pretty special guy,” DeBoer said. “He’s been doing a great job of leading our team, as well.”

As for other areas of Alabama’s roster?

“We’re very solid across the board,” DeBoer said, “and that gives us a chance.”

Here again, he’s not dialing down expectations or attempting to deflect pressure.

Why should he?

If you’re waiting for DeBoer to wilt, you’re waiting on something that’s never happened.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's SEC Columnist. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.