Kalen Deboer Reveals His Logic Behind Choosing the New Alabama Staff as He Kickstarts Crimson Tide’s New Era

It definitely won’t be an easy task to live up to the standards of coaching that Nick Saban left behind in his wake but by the looks of it all, Kalen DeBoer is doing a fine job already. His newest additions from the transfer portal and the coaches that he’s brought in will all sum up to a great Alabama squad for the 2024 season, which can hopefully end the team’s trophyless drought since 2020.

Kalen DeBoer was the former head coach for the Washington Huskies from 2022 to 2023. In his debut year, he led the team to a national championship game but lost to the Michigan Wolverines, unfortunately. That being said, he started to be fawned over by the scouts at Alabama who touted him to be the most apt coach to fill in Saban’s mighty shoes. Along with his suitcases to Alabama, DeBoer has also brought in new coaches, the logic behind which he has explained quite vividly.

Kalen DeBoer talks about his coaching recruitment

On the 28th June episode of the ‘Next Up with Adam Breneman’ show, the newest HC for the Crimson Tide, Kalen DeBoer sat down for an interview and talked about his transition from Washington to Alabama along with the changes that he’s planning to make to the culture. In one of the segments, DeBoer was questioned on his methods of building Alabama’s staff, and here’s what he had to say.

DeBoer explained the long-term relationships that he’s had with his former coaches and the new ones like Ryan Grubb that have joined the program and said, “There’s some people that I have you familiar past with, and worked with at different stops but there’s this Southeast part of the country, kind of feel to our staff as well.”

He further added, “If you remember, I brought originally four coaches down from Washington, and then Ryan Grubb, Scott Huff got an opportunity to be with the Seattle Seahawks and so happy for those guys because they’re great friends and they helped me and our teams the last two years and Grubb, I’ve known for 17 or more but Nick Sheridan, JaMarcus Shephard, really the two onfield coaches that are here from Washington.” Thus, it is evident that DeBoer leads with a relationship-style method when it comes to adding new members to the staff, and as per the QB of the team, Jalen Milroe, the coach mirrors that style with his players as well.

Jalen Milroe speaks up on DeBoer’s methods

The star QB for the Alabama Crimson Tide, Jalen Milroe is now entering his 4th and final season with the team before stepping into the NFL to begin his pro-football career. For someone who’s been trained by Nick Saban throughout the entirety of his college career, it must be a bit hard to adjust to being led by a different coach but if Milroe’s words are to be believed, he’s happy with the way DeBoer is coaching the team.

According to Milroe, the entire team along with the fans must have faith in the process and in DeBoer’s capabilities. Milroe also emphasized the “relationship” dynamic that DeBoer leads and said, “Coach DeBoer is cool, I like him a lot. He’s relationship-oriented, he does some really good stuff on offense and defense. I like him so far, it’s just a process with everything.“Thus, the crown of Saban will obviously end up wearing heavy on the head of Kalen DeBoer but all great coaches endure a few bumps before they go on to establish their own legacies, something which we saw happen with Nick Saban when he took 2 years before winning his first national championship with Alabama.