Kalen DeBoer on embracing the Alabama job: 'I'm not gonna let myself get comfortable'

Kalen DeBoer has Alabama playing as good as any team in the country through nine weeks this season. The Crimson Tide’s 7-1 start is a complete turnaround from what this season could have been after Week 1.

As DeBoer hits his stride as the Alabama head coach, complacency isn’t an option. The Crimson Tide fanbase and its suits demand success. There’s a standard that needs to be met, so every week presents a new challenge.

“I’m not gonna let myself get comfortable,” DeBoer told Rob Stone, Urban Meyer and Mark Ingram on the Triple Option Podcast. “I think that’s that’s the way you’ve got to just keep attacking it, and that’s the way it’s always been. The pressure you put on yourself, that I’ve put on myself, has always been so great and so high.”

Having to be the successor to Nick Saban, a six-time national championship-winning head coach for the school, is far from the ideal position for any head coach to be in coming into a new job. DeBoer arrived in Tuscaloosa with all the hype surrounding him after taking Washington to the national championship game to end the 2023 season.

Year one saw Alabama fall short of the College Football Playoff, not to mention failing to win 10 games in a season for the first time since 2007. After beginning the season 0-1 with a loss to Florida State — a team that finished 2-10 the year prior — questions over how long DeBoer may last with the Crimson Tide swirled around social media.

Though, his Crimson Tide squad has since put those doubters to bed by rattling off seven consecutive victories since Week 1. That includes a 5-0 start to SEC play, the first four of which came against ranked opponents. In turn, everyone around the program is excited about Alabama football this season.

“I love living here, though,” DeBoer said. “My family loves it, and it’s fun when what you’re really passionate about is a priority and really important to the university, the people, your alumni. Getting the text from Mark (Ingram) and other (alumni) that they’re proud — that means the world to me because that’s what I do.

“This sports for is those that came before, trying to make this place better, for those that do come after you at some point down the road. The experience that we’re giving these guys and the life lessons they’re learning — it’s what leads to the winning.”

Alabama will look to continue its winning ways when it returns to the field after its this weekend. They’ll take on LSU at home during Week 11.