Your realistic and earnest expectations for Kalen DeBoer

[theballguy]

Obviously no one is Nick Saban. But, what kind of expectations do you have for Kalen DeBoer while at Alabama? Let's be realistic here.

First off, how long do you think he stays? Is it unrealistic to expect he may go for the NFL at some point or do you think he's a pure college football coach at heart? Or maybe he finds Alabama fans are just too demanding and considers going to another CFB destination (God forbid).

What level of staffing quality do you expect from him? Does he lose staff like Nick Saban did or does he struggle at times filling positions?

What kind of recruiting class rankings do you expect from him and the his staff?

And of course, the big question ... how many National Championships (if at all) and/or SEC Championships (these may mean less of course with conference alignments drastically changing) do you expect during his time at Alabama?

Personally, I see him as mostly a pure CFB coach. Sure, he could go off to the NFL at some point or retire maybe. I see being successful but not quite like Nick Saban was. I'm thinking 10 years or so. That puts him at close to 60 or so and I wouldn't expect that he would go off elsewhere.

With the way CFB is going, I can't expect that he (or Kirby or anyone else of Kirby's caliber) will stay much longer in this game without getting worn out from the grind. So, 10 years to me seems realistically optimistic.

I would expect a consistent A-B level staffing and as such, a decent recruiting class in the top 10-15 80% of the time. I think the rankings of his recruiting classes will vary more widely than what we've been getting.

As far as NC's go, it would be nice for us to have at least one during his tenure (2 would be above exp.) and unless the SEC Championship goes away, I would think 3 - maybe 4 would be nice during that time.

What do you think? Sure, it's impossible to know but it's fun to guess and set our own expectations.

 

[BamaMoon]

I hope he stays at least 5-10 years.

He keeps us as a perennial top 5 team (which means we stay top 1-2 SEC team).

He wins a NC in years 2-4.

If successful with SEC or NC, he'll lose coaches but he's able to garner top assistants (the way CNS did early in his tenure).

 

[Bamabuzzard]

He keeps Alabama as one of the top tier programs in the country. I can see him winning a national title within his first 3-5 years. If he does better than that then we may have another legend in the making on our hands.

 

[davefrat]

Win an SEC championship every 2-3 years, go to the expanded playoffs most every year, win a national championship within like 7 years of coming to Tuscaloosa.

 

[TideEngineer08]

I think 5-10 years.

I think he will win 1 NC. Anymore is massive icing on the cake.

I think he will be able to maintain competitiveness at the top of the SEC, which means top 10 nationally.

I would feel very confident in these predictions if it weren't for NIL/Portal. It would be easy to say he would do no worse than Les Miles following Nick Saban. But Les Miles did not have to contend with all of this nonsense.

 

[PA Tide Fan]

While I'd like DeBoer to be another long term legendary coach at Alabama I really think DeBoer will be at Alabama for about 5 years but not much more. By that time either he will fail, making the university go in a different direction for a coach or he'll win a national championship and be offered mega-bucks by an NFL team. I think if he was offered an NFL job he would take it since it seems most highly successful college coaches want to give it a try. There are exceptions such as Kirby who seem committed to the college game but in DeBoer's case I'll predict he'll win a national championship at Alabama and then head to the NFL.

 

[CoolBreeze]

I like Buzzard's response. We really do not know what we have at the moment but optimism is through the roof for most of us. I prefer to take a wait and see approach right now. When Nick was hired he was expected to be the hired gun off to greener pastures after 3-4 years. I get the impression that CKD will be around for quite a while.

 

[RollTide_HTTR]

I think he'll have a good amount of success and at least compete for titles and maybe win 1. He might be more successful than I think as he's already showing more success quickly when it comes to recruiting than I thought possible.

My biggest worry about how long he will be here is if Grubbs has success in Seattle. If that happens we know the NFL is a copycat league and will come calling. The question would then become does his personality fit in the NFL. I'm not sure on that yet but he does seem to be a players coach which might fit better than Saban did

 

[CrimsonTitles]

1) If the NFL comes calling, it will probably be sooner, rather than later, so I think he either stays for a very short time (5 or less), or stays for 10+ years.

2) He's put together an awesome staff this first cycle, so my expectations there are going to be fairly high. The fact that Coach Saban had his eye on multiple members of DeBoer's staff, tells me this guy has an eye for this sort of thing, just as Nick did, so while I do think there will be a great deal of

3) I am expecting solid recruiting, but maybe not Sabanlike results, because what he did in that area for such a prolonged period of time, was nothing short of incredible. Did we ever even drop out of the top 3 under Saban? With DeBoer I am thinking no worse than 7 in any year, while hovering around the 5 range most years, with some higher ranked classes sprinkled in. Given how this guy has done with lesser talent, I think that would be enough to compete for championships year in, and year out.

4) 2+ National Championships, several SEC championships

These are my expectations just using everything I know about Kalen DeBoer. It doesn't mean I want him gone if he falls short of that. As long as he is in the playoff most years, occasionally making it all the way to the Championship game (ideally winning), recruits at a high level, and wins a national championship by year 6 or 7, then I'll be happy. If he hasn't won a championship, then I'd probably want Iron Bowl wins also. I may be in the minority, but if he is winning championships on a regular basis, then I could really care less about the results in the iron Bowl. If we won a National Championship every year but somehow lost the Iron Bowl every year, then that would still be fine with me. National Championships take presidence over everything else. So it really just depends. I'm not gonna be wanting to run him out of town if he isn't Nick Saban, but I do need to believe that he is on the cusp of winning a National Championship if he hasn't yet.

 

[Bama Lee]

make opposing fan bases whine and moan …..

wait they they do that no matter who we have

just win baby

 

[mlingerfelt31]

I believe we made the right hire I feel like he will be here until he retires.

 

[dWarriors88]

I Expect one more national championship before the last of nick saban's classes graduates.

 

[22Musso22]

I only know CKD's records from other schools which is very impressive.

I have no idea how he will do at the Capstone. So far the only facts we have are his recruiting accomplishments and coaching hires.

He has done an excellent job with recruiting and coaching hires so far.

Our guys were hitting the portal, but Deboer and staff stopped the bleeding. He got Ryan Williams and Kadyn Proctor back and possibly others down the road.

He brought in Mack, Braislford and Bernard from UW.

If he can go 10-2 with our brutal schedule I will be elated!

If he goes 8-4, I will still be patient, but alarmed.

Obviously, if he can string some SEC titles and National Championships, he might last 4-5 years, but then the NFL.

JMHO.

 

[Ledsteplin]

He'll be the new GOAT, with 11 National Championships in 21 years at Alabama. Or we wait and see.

 

[tusks_n_raider]

I think he will be here 10-15 years and only leaves if he has NFL aspirations.

I think he will continue to put together Top 5-10 Coaching staffs.

He will recruit at a Top 5-10 level

I think he will win 2-3 NC’s and his 1st within 3-5 years.

He will get us to the SECCG more seasons than not and probably win 5 or more SEC Titles.

We will never miss making the expanded Playoffs.

Imo CKD will be an Elite Coach for us.

 

[BamaMoon]

I think he will be here 10-15 years and only leaves if he has NFL aspirations.

I think he will continue to put together Top 5-10 Coaching staffs.

He will recruit at a Top 5-10 level

I think he will win 2-3 NC’s and his 1st within 3-5 years.

He will get us to the SECCG more seasons than not and probably win 5 or more SEC Titles.

We will never miss making the expanded Playoffs.

Imo CKD will be an Elite Coach for us.

If this happens (and I'm not saying it won't) the rest of the college football world's heads will explode led by the head cheerleader of the group, the Barn.

There is the collective belief that Bama goes back to the Mike years because we were lucky enough to nab Saban.

I sure hope CKD makes it happen and all it's gonna take is 1 NC in the 1st few years to set the fire. If there's a second one to follow soon after, it's on!

 

[AlexanderFan]

He just needs to find that button to push on these kids to make them come together and play as a team.

 

[davefrat]

I think 5-10 years.

I think he will win 1 NC. Anymore is massive icing on the cake.

I think he will be able to maintain competitiveness at the top of the SEC, which means top 10 nationally.

I would feel very confident in these predictions if it weren't for NIL/Portal. It would be easy to say he would do no worse than Les Miles following Nick Saban. But Les Miles did not have to contend with all of this nonsense.

If we won 2 national titles in the next 10-15 years under DeBoer (and in the kooky evolving world of college football) that would be pretty darn good.

 

[TideEngineer08]

If we won 2 national titles in the next 10-15 years under DeBoer (and in the kooky evolving world of college football) that would be pretty darn good.

It's going one of two ways, over the next 10 years, IMO.

1: NIL/Portal is not regulated in any meaningful way. Two to five programs will dominate, and they are the richest ones, or the ones willing to spend the most money. Texas, Ohio State, USC, etc.

2: NIL/Portal gets significant and meaningful regulation. Talent stabilizes across the board, and some sort of parity ensues.

If the first happens, I don't have much hope for Alabama to remain among the elite.

 

[Tidelines]

I think Deboer will have Bama in the playoffs most every year he is here. And I think we will win at least 3 of them. How long he stays will depend on how college football evolves. Ten years at one place will be about the limit unless some changes are made. Don't know enough about coach Deboer yet to gage how well he might handle the job long term.