Kalen DeBoer’s first year-plus at Alabama has been judged through a brutal lens, and former Crimson Tide quarterback Greg McElroy thinks that has gone too far.
ESPN’s 2026 ranking of the best head coaches in college football placed DeBoer tied for 10th with Miami’s Mario Cristobal, a drop from seventh a year ago. That came even after Alabama reached the College Football Playoff and beat Oklahoma on the road to move on to the Rose Bowl. For plenty of fans, the ranking is just the latest reminder that DeBoer is still being measured against an impossible Alabama standard.
McElroy wasn’t having it on the Mac and Cube show on WJOX.
“Very few people in college football coaching can tell you that they’ve won national championships, first and foremost,” McElroy said. “You can tell me the level; I could care less.
Winning a national championship at the NAIA level, D3, D2, they’re hard to win. It’s not like Sioux Falls had some remarkable advantage over every other team in NAIA.
They didn’t. They won it with coaching acumen.
That’s the heart of McElroy’s case for DeBoer: the wins have followed him everywhere. At Sioux Falls, he went 67-3 over five seasons and won three national titles. Then he moved up and kept rolling, finding immediate success at Fresno State and Washington before taking over for Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa.
McElroy also pushed back on the idea that DeBoer’s first major Power Four job came with the kind of ready-made machine some other top coaches inherited.
“He went 14-1 at Washington, ended one game short, lost to Michigan in the National Championship Game," McElroy said. "In the process, he is undefeated against Dan Lanning, who came in at No.
- Reminder: when he got to Washington, he didn’t step into a great situation.
The year before he arrived, that team went 4-8."
DeBoer’s run at Washington included an 11-2 debut season, then a PAC-12 title and a runner-up finish in 2023.
McElroy also zeroed in on DeBoer’s record in tight games, which has become a sore spot for Alabama fans used to the Saban years.
“He has done an incredible job in one score contests. …He’s 30-9," McElroy said.
"Coaches who consistently win games that come down to the final possession are, in most cases, outcoaching the opposition. He knows how to get to the finish line with more points than the team he’s playing against.
Would you like him to win games by 40? Awesome.
Cool. I just want him to win games, and he’s done that at a pretty remarkable clip.”
The pushback from Alabama supporters is easy to understand. DeBoer is 20-8 with the Crimson Tide, a solid 71% winning percentage, but that number sits in the shadow of what came before. In the 16 seasons before he arrived, Alabama won 89.6% of its games under Saban.
That gap explains a lot of the frustration around DeBoer’s early tenure. It also explains why McElroy’s defense matters: DeBoer is not being compared to an ordinary coach or an ordinary run. He’s being compared to the most dominant stretch in Alabama football history.
The Tide may never look like the Saban era again. But McElroy’s point is that DeBoer has already shown enough to deserve a fairer read - and still has room to build something of his own in Tuscaloosa.
In Other News...
Labaron Philon Is Already Making One Draft Decision Look Risky
Labaron Philons first few days in Las Vegas have done little to slow the buzz that followed him out of Alabama. The former Crimson Tide guard, taken 22nd overall by the 76ers after an impressive sophomore season, has already looked comfortable against NBA competition, and his early Summer League play has only strengthened the case that he belonged in the first round. In one outing, he led Philadelphia with 24 points and added six assists in an overtime win over the Pacers, the kind of all-around line that tends to travel quickly through draft-night conversations.
Christian Anderson, meanwhile, has had a quieter start with the Hornets, and that contrast is already inviting second-guessing from outside observers. Charlotte used its pick on Anderson, but Philons immediate impact has made the decision look at least a little risky in hindsight, especially for a team that passed on a guard who is showing he can create, score and control a game right away. Summer League only goes so far, but in a league where first impressions matter, Philon has made one draft choice feel a lot more fragile than it did a week ago. [Read more 🡒]
Brandon Miller Just Reached A Massive Moment In Charlotte
Brandon Millers second season in Charlotte gave the Hornets exactly the kind of proof they were hoping to see after a shoulder injury slowed his start. Once he got back on the floor, Miller settled in as a central piece of the rotation, topping 20 points per game and knocking down a career-best 38% of his 3s, a strong sign that his game is trending in the right direction just as the franchise starts making bigger decisions around him.
Jeff Peterson has already made clear the Hornets view Miller as part of the long-term plan, and that makes this offseason a pivotal one for both sides. Miller is expected to be eligible for a major extension, and the conversations around his future now go beyond simple development - they touch on how Charlotte wants to build its next core and how much responsibility Miller is ready to carry as that picture comes into focus. [Read more 🡒]
Kalen DeBoer Is Already Facing A Conversation Alabama Fans Dread
The early returns on Kalen DeBoer at Alabama have been productive enough on paper, with 20 wins against eight losses in his first two seasons, but the conversation around him has already shifted from results to identity. Even with a College Football Playoff appearance on the ledger, the loss to Indiana and the broader feel of the program have left some fans uneasy about whether Alabama still looks like Alabama in the trenches.
That unease has centered on physicality and the rushing game, the kind of concern that tends to linger in Tuscaloosa when expectations are this high. DeBoers new contract only raises the stakes around every debate, because Alabama is no longer just judging a coach on wins and losses, but on whether the style of play matches the standard the fan base expects. [Read more 🡒]