Nick Saban, Paul Bryant, and Gene Stallings are the three legendary names in Alabama football history for head coaches.
All three won national championships, but Kalen DeBoer has an opportunity to do something that they failed to do as first-year head coaches for the Crimson Tide. DeBoer is one win away from becoming the first Tide head coach since Ray Perkins (1984) to have at least eight wins in his first season. Perkins, who coached Alabama from 1983 to 1986, went 8-4 in his first year.
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Coach Bryant’s first season with the Tide was in 1958 and he finished at 5-4-1. Coach Stallings finished at 7-5 in his first year in 1990, while Coach Saban went 7-6 in his first campaign with Alabama in 2007. Wallace Wade was 7-2-1 in his first season (1923) as Alabama’s head coach. Frank Thomas was 7-1-1 in 1933 in the Crimson Tide’s first season in the Southeastern Conference.
DeBoer is 7-2 through his first nine games. Alabama faces Mercer on Saturday at Saban Field inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.
A victory creates history for the 50-year-old and he is ready for it.
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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.
