When Nick Saban retired, a lot of people thought that Kirby Smart was the next GOAT CFB coach. But it looks like Week 5 of the 2024 regular CFB season gave birth to a new best head coach! When Kalen DeBoer came to Tuscaloosa, he faced high pressure and speculation as a replacement for the legendary Crimson Tide coach. But little did anyone know that Alabama “hit a home run landing Kalen DeBoer.”

The new Crimson Tide HC showed his dominance over Kirby Smart and No. 2 Georgia by maintaining Saban’s winning culture over the Bulldogs with a 41-34 win. Following that, talks about the best CFB coach fell in the favor of Kalen DeBoer and Paul Finebaum couldn’t refrain from taking a dig at Kirby Smart’s situation with his X post on October 2. He uploaded an excerpt of JD PicKell’s take on who the next Nick Saban is, where he said, “I’m not so sure that Alabama didn’t hire the next Nick Saban in Kalen DeBoer.” 

JD PicKell also took Alabama’s last victory into consideration and added, “I don’t want to be a victim of the moment but it feels like they hit a home run landing Kalen DeBoer.” Looking at Alabama’s season record, it almost seems like no coaching transition happened! But what less can you expect from an HC whose win-loss record features an impressive 108-12 as well as three NAIA championships?

Kalen DeBoer seamlessly integrated into Nick Saban’s successful tenure to prove that it takes more than one legendary HC to become the top-ranked CFB team in the nation. After crushing Georgia, Alabama is now AP Poll’s No. 1 ranked team with the Dawgs trailing second. 

Kirby Smart falls behind Kalen DeBoer’s success 

The way Kalen DeBoer led Alabama to surpass Georgia’s rankings five games into the season as Nick Saban’s replacement is nothing short of incredible! The only time Kirby Smart defeated Alabama in seven games was during the 2021 National Championship game where they won 33-18. But even with Nick Saban gone, Kalen DeBoer still has the Crimson Tide covered as Smart’s all-time record against Alabama remains 1-6. 

For Smart, that lone win is still an achievement as he observed, “What’s everybody else’s record against them, you know? Has anybody got one better than 1-6 that’s played them? I don’t think so.” Still, opinions are diverse, and other CFB analysts like Joel Klatt are leaning towards Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs as the better team despite getting their first-season defeat from Alabama. Who do you think is a better coach?