Was Kalen DeBoer's First Season as Alabama Head Coach a Success?

The Crimson Tide went 9-4 with three losses to unranked teams.

Oct 12, 2024; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer watches his team play at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Alabama defeated South Carolina 27-25. / Gary Cosby Jr.-Imagn Images

"The standard is Alabama."

Those are the words that played through Bryant-Denny Stadium before every Alabama football home game this season from Kalen DeBoer's introduction to the Alabama fanbase inside Coleman Coliseum back in January.

From the time he was even be considered for the job, DeBoer knew what he was stepping into. He would be replacing the greatest college football coach of all time while stepping into the lead role of a program that has been the standard of college football, certainly during Nick Saban's tenure, but also for several decades.

No one has more national titles. No one has more College Football Playoff appearances. No one has more SEC championships. No one has more bowl appearances. And because of these things, expectations will always be high, even for a first-year head coach.

DeBoer's first season as the Alabama head coach ended in disappointing fashion with a 19-13 loss to Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Tuesday to finish Year 1 with a 9-4 record and his third loss to an unranked team as a double-digit point favorite.

"I want that guys that are going to be coming back to remember this feeling, remember some of the feelings throughout the year," DeBoer said after the game. "We've got to keep building and continue to move forward."

Alabama's trip to Busch Gardens leading up to the game and the ride the players went on was symbolic of the Crimson Tide's season. This year's team experienced true highs followed by huge crashes. DeBoer had his team ranked No. 1 in the country a month in after knocking off No. 2 Georgia before losing to unranked Vanderbilt the next week.

Even after losing to Vanderbilt and Tennessee, the Crimson Tide was back in prime position to make the SEC championship game with a path to the 2-seed in the College Football Playoff after blowing out LSU on the road. Yet two weeks later, Alabama put up its worst performance of the regular season in a 24-3 loss at 5-5 Oklahoma, who finished with just two SEC wins.

The Crimson Tide was still had a bath to the CFP if things broke its way over the final two weeks of the college football season. But Clemson's win in the ACC championship game stole a bid, and Alabama finished one spot short of the 12-team CFP in DeBoer's first season.

Alabama had the opportunity to finish the season on a high note to carry some momentum in the offseason with a win over Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl. Players and coaches said the team was motivated heading into the matchup, and the defense played well, but the offense struggled again in the loss.

Saban's retirement in January came as a shock to most, and DeBoer was officially hired just three days later. Saban didn't leave the cupboard bare for his predecessor, but DeBoer immediately had to navigate holding the roster together when the transfer portal opened back up with a head coaching change.

"Coach did a great job," Alabama starting left guard and captain Tyler Booker said after the bowl loss. "People are going to probably laugh at me when I say that, but you’ve got to understand that their first act of duty when they got here was retaining the team, especially in the era of NIL and a bunch of guys leaving. We also got a bunch of guys to come in. To do all that, to have a great recruiting class that they just recruited in, and to go out here and really battle in the SEC for the first time— I think they did a great job.

"There’s obviously things we could’ve done better as players, things they could’ve done better as coaches, but there’s always going to be room for improvement top to bottom. And he’ll be the first one to tell you that. I’m just very thankful and blessed to have had this coaching staff, and I’m glad that Coach DeBoer came here. And just a shoutout to him because it takes a certain amount of pride and confidence in oneself to come follow up the greatest coach of all time.”

Was a national championship in Year 1 a realistic expectation? Probably not, but it was a possibility. The 2024 team showed, at times, its championship potential. The first half against Georgia, when Alabama jumped out to a 28-0 lead, provided glimpses early on of what this team could look like at its best.

It's not fair to judge a coach at pretty much any level in any sport based on what happens in their first year. There are so many factors out of their control, and things take time–– recruiting, building a staff, building a roster, implementing a culture. Losing four games at Alabama isn't going to land you on the hot seat after one season, but it might if it happens against in Year 2.

With Jalen Milroe declaring for the NFL draft, it is now guaranteed that DeBoer will have a new quarterback to work with in 2025. Alabama's defense showed a lot of potential with young talent at the end of the season. The Crimson Tide is bringing in a highly-rated recruiting class. DeBoer's culture and system will have another year to marinate.

The four losses in a season are the most DeBoer's ever had in a single year as a head coach. As someone not used to losing, this year isn't going to sit right with him. The play by the end of the year wasn't Alabama's standard, but it wasn't DeBoer's standard either.

I think DeBoer summed it up best himself with his words after the loss to Michigan. On paper, this is not a successful season by Alabama standards, but we'll really know how successful it was or not based on what happens next.

"To me, it's a success if we move forward and we take advantage of the lessons, even though we don't want to learn those lessons sometimes because they're hard," DeBoer said. "We're going to learn from those lessons, move forward, and be better next year because of it."

Read more: 2025 Alabama Crimson Tide Football Offseason Tracker: Coming and Going

Jalen Milroe Tipping Off the Defense: What I Noticed In Alabama's 19-13 Loss to Michigan

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