Kalen DeBoer addresses the lore of him wearing a black hoodie in wins

The true origin of Kalen DeBoer‘s gameday fit isn’t as mysterious as many Alabama fans may want to believe. But, much like the Crimson Tide’s mild-mannered head football coach, all that matters are the wins on the field — and DeBoer’s comfortability when he’s getting those wins.

Alabama’s second-year coach addressed his rather simple gameday attire — a lightweight black hoodie with “Alabama” emblazened across the chest — during a Monday appearance on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast with hosts Will Compton and Taylor Lewan.

“It’s funny how something you’ve done for so long all of a sudden becomes a thing now. And I’m good in whatever, but that’s what I’ve been comfortable in for years,” DeBoer explained Monday on the Bussin’ With The Boys pod. “So they’re just making it even more comfortable. It does get washed, I promise you that. There’s been a couple of hot games the last couple of weeks. But yeah, it’s funny that’s taken (on) a little bit of a life (of its own) there.”

According to the Tuscaloosa News, DeBoer is 12-2 as Alabama’s coach while wearing his now-famous black hoodie, with the two losses coming last season at Oklahoma and vs. Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl. DeBoer has worn the now-famous black hoodie in all but one game this season — the disappointing 31-17 season-opening loss at Florida State, during which he wore a striped Crimson polo.

Superstious or not, DeBoer has pledged to keep wearing the same black hoodie in every game — so long as it remains lucky — much to delight of Alabama fans everywhere, including in his own family.

“The guys in my family, my daughters, they see it all and they’re even putting the pressure on me like, ‘Coach, you can’t let us down,’” DeBoer concluded. “So I didn’t mean for it to be that way, it was just kind of what I was comfortable (wearing) over the years, but it’s kind of taken on a life of its own crazy enough.”

Kalen DeBoer describes how he handles the pressure of coaching at Alabama

There are only a handful of jobs in the country with pressure similar to Alabama. That’s something Kalen DeBoer has learned all about over the last two seasons, and has been exacerbated for him by virtue of following the legendary Nick Saban there.

Now, five games into his second season at the helm and having won four straight since a season-opening loss at Florida State, DeBoer acknowledged he feels that pressure all the time, as he explained during a recent appearance on Bussin’ With The Boys.

“I think first of all, going back to what you said right away,” DeBoer said. “The noise that’s real — we get it. You make your own bed. I mean, we didn’t play well, but I think the noise that people just want to make things up and [isn’t] real, about what’s going on the night before that are completely false and [not] factual, those are the things just that just add to the chip on your shoulder that I’ve held onto, I know our team’s held onto, and aren’t who we are. It’s not the character of us. These guys are all in and are doing the right things.”

Ultimately, pressure is part of being a head coach regardless of where you are. That may be exacerbated at Alabama, but it hasn’t kept DeBoer from wanting that job and to work with the players there.

“I love coaching these guys. I really do. There’s an excitement about going to battle with these guys. We’ve proven it to us, and that’s what it starts with,” DeBoer said. “But I also know that there’s an edge where we’re proving it to everyone else too.”

— On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this report.