Paul Finebaum didn’t like what he heard from Kalen DeBoer at SEC media days, and he made that clear.
With SEC media days in the rearview and fall camp about to get going, Alabama is heading into a season loaded with pressure in Year 3 under DeBoer. The Crimson Tide haven’t gotten back to the level expected in Tuscaloosa, and that reality is hanging over everything.
DeBoer’s first two seasons have been a mixed bag. He opened with a 9-4 record and missed the College Football Playoff, with Alabama also losing to three teams that finished the year with five or more losses.
Year 2 brought a step forward at 11-4, plus a trip to the SEC Championship Game and the CFP. But once Alabama got there, the results weren’t flattering.
The Tide fell 28-7 to Georgia in the SEC title game, beat Oklahoma 34-24 in the first round of the playoff, then got blown out 38-3 by Indiana in the next round.
That backdrop made DeBoer’s answer in Atlanta stand out. When asked whether his tenure in Tuscaloosa would be defined by championships, he pushed back on the premise.
"I certainly know that it's an important part of what's happened in the program, so wouldn't doubt that that's the case," DeBoer answered. "I'm not focused on that."
Finebaum thought that was the wrong message entirely. On "The Next Round" podcast, he unloaded on the Alabama coach.
"It was a terrible answer... he doesn't have to sound like Pete Golding, he doesn't have to slam the table... but he does need to say, 'We're going to win a national championship,'" Finebaum said. "Why can't he say that? Maybe because he doesn't believe it."
At Alabama, that kind of reaction comes with the territory. The standard in Tuscaloosa was set long ago, and every public comment gets measured against it. This isn’t a place where a cautious answer about championships just disappears into the noise.
The bigger issue is optics. In a program built on belief as much as results, the words matter because they help shape whether boosters and supporters buy in - and whether they feel good about putting money into the team’s NIL efforts. A coach at Alabama is expected to project certainty about winning at the highest level.
None of that changes the bottom line: DeBoer will be judged by what Alabama does on the field, not by one answer at a podium. But in Tuscaloosa, speaking like a national-title coach is part of the job. Whether this becomes a passing blip or something bigger will be determined by what the Crimson Tide do this season.
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Paul Finebaum Just Raised A Painful Alabama Championship Question
When Nick Saban retired after the 2023 season, Alabama handed the program to Kalen DeBoer with the expectation that the standard would not change. DeBoers first two years have kept the Crimson Tide in the national conversation, including an 11-4 season and a College Football Playoff berth, but the postseason issues have left the broader picture a little less settled than it looked when he arrived.
ESPNs Paul Finebaum recently put a sharper edge on that conversation, pointing to lingering concerns about the offense as Alabama heads into another offseason of transition. The Tide still have the talent to matter, but the questions around how the unit will function next season are hard to ignore, especially with major turnover up front and a quarterback picture that has yet to bring much certainty. [Read more 🡒]