Josh Pate: Alabama should target Kenny Dillingham if Kalen DeBoer leaves for Michigan

With the now-open job at Michigan taking center stage in college football, Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer has had his name surface. Whether it’s nonsensical or an actual possibility, Josh Pate believes he has the answers for the Crimson Tide if their coach were to leave for Ann Arbor.

During an appearance on Get Up on Friday, Pate discussed the fallout of the Wolverines’ firing of Sherrone Moore on Wednesday. The emerging candidacy of DeBoer could change everything. He believes Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham would be the perfect choice if a surprise vacancy comes to fruition for Alabama.

“Look, I know the folks over there in the social department want me to say Lane Kiffin. So I’ll say Lane Kiffin if you guys want me to. I actually don’t think Alabama would look at Lane Kiffin. I’d fill in the same blank I just filled from Michigan. I’d go look at Kenny Dillingham. That’s a guy who would be frothing at the mouth for that job,” Pate stated. “Kenny Dillingham’s just a name that I’ve been really high on since a couple years ago. I’d be really high on him now.”

Why would Kalen DeBoer leave Alabama for Michigan?

Dillingham would be a worthy replacement for DeBoer, but fans in Tuscaloosa aren’t ready to let him go just yet. Pate provided further context on the situation and how the Crimson Tide coach’s mindset has allowed him to have success in two seasons at Alabama.

“I will say this, though, that adage that you just repeated on TV is one that 99% of people agree with, ‘You don’t want to be the guy who follows the legend.’ I asked Kalen pretty point-blank, when he took that job, how he felt about that,” Pate added. “He looked back at me, and he was not trying to be arrogant in the least. I want to stress that. But he said, ‘I don’t care who I’m following, what I care about is what resources I’m being given.’

“I think, to read in between the lines, what he means is, ‘Hey, I think I’m pretty good too. If I’m given the proper resources, I’m cool.’ The Catch-22 in college football is most of the time, when you follow the legend, it’s cause the legend hung on too long. You’re inheriting not only a little bit of a willowed program. But also sky-high expectations with no immediate way to meet them.”

All things considered, DeBoer would be a coach that plenty of programs would want, including Michigan. That’s why he was hired as the next coach of the Crimson Tide two years ago. He’s 19-7 (.731) at Alabama, which brings him to a record as a head coach of 123-19 (.866), including his stops at Washington, Fresno State, and Sioux Falls.

More on Kalen DeBoer, Michigan Wolverines

He also, along with three national titles in NAIA, has two appearances now in the College Football Playoff. He has the Tide back in the CFP after leading a runner-up finish two years ago for the Huskies.

Still, despite his successes in Tuscaloosa, rumors have arisen about how happy DeBoer may or may not be at Alabama. Pate discounted that thought earlier this week, based on where he thinks he stands so far in his tenure with the Tide.

“I will say there is this thing that’s floating around because it hasn’t been turned down, and it started with the Penn State search and it will probably continue in the Michigan search, and it’s about Kalen DeBoer, and it’s about him secretly being miserable at Alabama. So, I don’t know who the sourcing is on that,” Pate explained.

“I can tell you I have sat in Kalen DeBoer’s office, both on record with him on camera and off record, just looking him in the eye. I have asked him about that point blank. This is a guy who’s a pretty straight shooter, and he has been effusive in his praise of what it’s been like to move there. So, I’m not saying that’s definitive.

“I’m just saying I kind of trust my source on that, because my source is the guy himself. I don’t know what the folks on talk radio and message boards know that I don’t about that.”

Regardless, Pate doesn’t yet exactly know where things stand this early in the search for Michigan. Among those factors is how realistic an option DeBoer is right now for the Wolverines. Perhaps Dillingham could head to Ann Arbor instead, but he’s an interesting option for either team.

— On3’s Sam Gillenwater contributed to this article.