Kalen DeBoer outlines title-winning expectations, goals for program development

New Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer was officially introduced as the head of the program on Saturday afternoon, and DeBoer provided an outline of his expectations for the program moving forward.

They’re ambitious, though nothing that hasn’t been done by the Crimson Tide before.

“When it comes to our goals, I shared with you it’s to win the SEC and a national championship,” DeBoer said. “But how are we going to do that? We’re going to do it with class, with integrity and with academic excellence. That is my job to make sure we uphold the standard that has been set here at Alabama and we continue to build on that.”

Former coach Nick Saban won six national titles while with the Crimson Tide, so the stakes are certainly high. DeBoer will be counted on to run a program that at least comes close to competing at that lofty level.

To start, he’s leaning on some of what Alabama already has in place.

“When it’s about winning it’s also about a culture,” Kalen DeBoer explained. “I will share with our guys that as we already have here a culture that is contagious, and you’ll hear me say that many times, I cannot wait to add to that. Continue to make it to where you can feel through the TV screen when somebody’s watching a game how hard our guys play, how much they love each other and care for each other and how badly they want to win for all of you. The culture will be contagious, and more and more people, just as it’s been, will want to continue to be a part of this.”

DeBoer also broke down what he wants the program to be in terms of how it develops players. Development should not only occur on the field, but off it.

He plans to attack that part of the program with equal vigor.

“And the last piece when it comes to developing players athletically, academically, socially and even spiritually and that being our focus as a staff, we in the end want to make sure that we’re building better men,” DeBoer said. “We want to build better men because some day football will be over. Some day real life will hit you in the face. And building better men in this time that we’re going through, this phase in their life, it is one of the most influential that they will have. It is a privilege, it is an honor to be someone in a position that can have that influence, and I don’t take that lightly.”

Kalen DeBoer, of course, won’t be the only one making that commitment to players. It’ll be incumbent on his entire staff to show the way.

“I will surround myself with a staff that will be great husbands, great fathers, great people, provide a template for our great players that come through here to understand what it looks like to be a man,” DeBoer said. “That’s an awesome goal.”