Stephen A. Smith didn’t hold back when he took aim at Kalen DeBoer on ESPN’s “First Take” this week, arguing that Alabama’s coach is already under massive pressure because of the standard left behind by Nick Saban.
“We're talking about the successor of Nick Saban. We're talking 17 seasons, six national titles, nine SEC Championships.
The man went 117-18,” Smith said. “It took about six years to lose eight games.
Kalen DeBoer has lost eight games his first two years there. He's lost four games each season; they were luck to get to the postseason.”
That critique drew a response from SEC Network host Peter Burns, who jumped on social media to push back with DeBoer’s recent résumé.
“There have been over 190+ coaches in FBS over the last three years,” Burns said. “Kalen DeBoer has the 5th most wins and 5th most ranked wins.”
DeBoer’s first two seasons in Tuscaloosa have been productive on paper, even if they’ll always be measured against an impossible benchmark. He followed a near miss at a College Football Playoff berth in his first year with a trip to the College Football Playoff quarterfinals in his second.
The numbers are solid, and in some cases historic. DeBoer’s nine wins in 2024 are the most by a first-year Alabama head coach since Frank Thomas in 1931. Across his first two seasons, he has 20 wins, more than any previous Alabama coach managed over the same span.
Still, the frustration around Alabama hasn’t disappeared. A big part of it comes from how the losses have piled up. Four of the eight defeats came against teams that finished one of the last two regular seasons with seven or fewer wins, and the Crimson Tide was not competitive in either of its final two losses of 2025.
The ground game has also been a sore spot. Alabama struggled badly to run the ball for much of 2025, a jarring issue for a program that has produced two Heisman Trophy-winning running backs within the last two decades. DeBoer has won at Sioux Falls, Fresno State and Washington, but in Tuscaloosa, every step is still being judged against the towering standard Saban set over 17 seasons.
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