He has to do things his way and build his own winning culture in Alabama football, but how does Kalen DeBoer do it?
In his first season as the Crimson Tide’s head coach, he is 5-2 through seven games. Alabama is not a top 10 team in the nation right now and is in danger of not making the College Football Playoff. He has been in tough moments throughout his coaching career, including last year at Washington in leading it to the CFP National Championship Game, but expectations are different in the Southeastern Conference. DeBoer is not surprised by how challenging the SEC is, but he needs to find ways to be successful.
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DeBoer said Monday that Alabama has to do what championship teams do.
“We have to build on our belief and our intensity,” he said. “We have to have some grit. I think if you look across that have been won at this program, obviously I was not a part of them, but there are probably a lot of common things. I firmly believe this team is capable of that, but we have to jump over the fine line between winning and losing and what it takes to be great.”
DeBoer said he and staff knew that making the transition to the SEC ‘was not going to be easy.’
“We knew winning a championship each and every year, especially in the SEC, is gonna be hard,” he said.”We knew there were going to be challenges, transitions, all of that. … No excuses. We gotta continue to move forward. We gotta continue to build and that is what this week is about.”
Alabama returns to Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium this week to host Missouri for homecoming.
The Tigers are 6-1 and have an explosive team. Alabama’s chance to save its hopes of being in the CFP and hosting a playoff matchup start with handling Missouri at home. We will see how the Crimson Tide goes about its mission.
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Stephen M. Smith is the senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
