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Kalen DeBoer talks challenge of facing LSU after coaching changes

1918632_10206777287683070_1367905321192383146_nby: Charlie Potter3 hours agoCharlie_Potter
LSU coach Brian Kelly
LSU coach Brian Kelly (Petre Thomas / Imagn Images)

When Alabama faces LSU in two weeks, the Tigers will be led by an interim head coach.

On Sunday, following LSU’s second straight loss, head coach Brian Kelly was fired. The Tigers opened the 2025 season, Kelly’s fourth in Baton Rouge, with a 5-3 (2-3 SEC) overall record but had lost three of their last four games, losing to Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M.

The Tigers will have a bye week before traveling to Tuscaloosa, and interim head coach Frank Wilson, who was LSU’s running backs coach, will try to rally the troops to battle Alabama.

Both teams are off this week before the November 8 matchup, and the Crimson Tide is likely to spend the open date focusing on itself before turning its focus to LSU. But the Tigers could pose some different challenges with a coaching change, not only at the top but on the staff.

In addition to Kelly, LSU offensive coordinator Joe Sloan was also fired. That means that tight ends coach Alex Atkins will be calling plays when the Tigers take on the Tide in two weeks.

“Unfortunately, I think just in the coaching world and these teams that have had these situations pop up, you can see it kind of go both directions, where the next week, in particular, there’s a different energy,” said Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer in a Monday appearance on SEC This Morning.

“Just everyone’s kind of trying to make a run and do something together when these changes happen. So, we’ve just got to do what we’ve been doing, and that’s focusing on us and focusing on what we are and improving the areas we can. We’ll be ready to adjust to whatever comes our way.”

Alabama’s Week 11 matchup with LSU is scheduled to kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC. It will be the Tide’s sixth conference game, and it has taken care of the first five, first beating four ranked opponents in a row before outlasting South Carolina, 29-22, on the road this past week.

Alabama (7-1, 5-0 SEC) now gets a much-needed bye week before the final stretch of the year, and the Crimson Tide has, so far, weathered every storm since its disappointing Week 1 loss.

“I’m just really pleased with the way our guys didn’t look ahead, just focused in the moment,” DeBoer said. “All the cliches that you really talk about, they really lived it, and that’s a credit to them. It’s a credit to our coaching staff, not focused on anything other than just trying to put the best game plan together, trying to continue to focus on improving. 

“I think our guys went down the stretch, just everyone saying, ‘Hey this isn’t normal. This isn’t something that you can’t do.’ And we’ve kind of taken that on as, ‘Hey, we are gonna be normal. We’re different. We’re built different.’ And I think because of our experiences, we’ve been able to now believe that.”

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