Tyler Stearns |
After Nick Saban's retirement last week following the National Title game, the coaching search began for the next coach of the tide. Many sites and insiders reported that Alabama was looking at Dan Lanning, Mike Norvell, Steve Sarkisian, Lane Kiffin, and other big-name coaches. Lanning turned down the job showing that Oregon is a destination job rather than a stepping-stone for coaches. Norvell was given a massive contract extension with Florida State to remain the HC for years to come. Sarkisian decided to stay in Austin as he has his most talented team and recruiting class coming into the 2024 season. Kiffin had similar reasons to Steve Sarkisian as to why he should stay in Mississippi. Not all of these potential candidates were necessarily given the job, but their names were circulating the search process.
Kalen Deboer went relatively unnoticed in the search process. His success at Washington has been duly noted, but many attributed that success to the emergence of QB Michael Penix Jr., WR Rome Odunze, and RB Dillon Johnson, along with the Joe Moore Award-winning offensive line. This rise of these players was fully the responsibility of Deboer. Penix was injury-prone before his transfer to Washington, with two ACL tears and four season-ending injuries at Indiana. Odunze's production massively increased with the arrival of Deboer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb. Johnson transferred over from Mississippi State and had over 1100 yards this season on the ground. The offensive line was dominant all season long even though they were significantly undersized to some of the talent they faced in Oregon, Texas, and Michigan. Other than the Michigan game in the National Championship, they created space for Johnson to run through and gave Penix a clean pocket to throw darts downfield. No player on the offense experienced that much success at any point in their careers, so it shows that Deboer turned the program around quickly. The defense was solid but never great. They struggled heavily against the run and mobile quarterbacks. Overall, they played well enough which is all that Deboer needed.
Despite his last two years at Washington, Alabama's decision to make him HC has come under a lot of scrutiny. For one, his experience at the P5 level has been minimal. He has been the OC at Indiana for one year and the HC at Washington for the last two years. He has spent most of his coaching career at levels below the FBS at schools such as Sioux Falls and Southern Illinois. Nonetheless, he has been a winner his entire career. His record as a Head Coach is 104-12. At whatever level, his leadership and his winning characteristics led him to Tuscaloosa.
Alabama has a significantly tougher schedule in the SEC next season. The Deboer era hasn't gotten off to a great start, as 5 Star WR Ryan Williams de-committed, WR Isaiah Bond transferred to Texas, and other notable players and recruits have left the school. The biggest tests for Deboer and the company are if they will be able to rebuild the roster, develop QB Jalen Milroe into a better passer, and if they can get to the 12-team CFP next season. Deboer is used to roster turnover and he is certainly used to winning with lesser talent, so I expect him and Tide to be just as great next year.
Called it