The Alabama Crimson Tide finished the 2024 season with a 9-4 record.
That’s a pretty good season for most SEC programs, but that’s not the standard at Alabama (thanks to Nick Saban’s brilliance).
Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer, who took over for Saban after the 2023 season, understands that. And he’s not suggesting to anyone that 9-4 was “good enough”. In fact, he’s doing quite the opposite.
DeBoer spoke to reporters at the Senior Bowl in Mobile this week and he acknowledged that the program needs to be better moving forward.
“We know that we need to be better,” said DeBoer. “That’s the expectation I had from Day one, is that we perform at a championship level. And we certainly fell short of that. Whether you’re 0-12 or 12-0 in a regular season, you’re always gonna really critique and be detailed on how you’ve gotta improve. I appreciate what our staff is doing, what our players are doing to really look inward, work together, and continue to move forward.”
Alabama fans received a glimpse of what’s possible with DeBoer at the helm in the Crimson Tide’s thrilling 41-34 win against the Georgia Bulldogs last season.
DeBoer could easily point to the win against Georgia or the fact that Alabama nearly made the College Football Playoff as reasons that fans should be optimistic entering the 2025 season.
But instead, DeBoer is making it clear that 9-4 wasn’t good enough and wasn’t to the championship standard that he expects and that fans expect.
No one knows what the future holds for DeBoer in Tuscaloosa, but it’s obvious that anything short of playing at a championship level just isn’t good enough for Alabama’s head coach.
