OPINION: Did Alabama make a mistake extending Kalen DeBoer too early?

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*This piece is merely an opinionated one from yours truly and no one at Touchdown Alabama Magazine shares the same thought process.

Alabama football fans react to Kalen DeBoer receiving contract extension

The University of Alabama’s Board of Trustees compensation committee extended Kalen DeBoer on Wednesday to a seven-year contract worth $87.5 million. He has done some good things as a head coach, but is he warranted this kind of extension after two years at Alabama?

It is a question everyone is asking, so now I get into my opinion.

Kalen DeBoer is a good man, a good coach, and a program builder in every spot he has been.

No one is denying his talent as a coach; however, the lengthy extension Alabama gave him in good faith comes before he’s proven anything. Greg Byrne, the Crimson Tide’s director of athletics, approved this move based on potential and not production.  In two seasons, the Tide has not looked like one of the best teams in college football. 

It has actually looked lost, unprepared, out played, and out coached on the field. 

We can point to matchups versus Vanderbilt (2024), Tennessee (2024), Oklahoma (2024-25), Michigan (2024 bowl game), Florida State (2025), Georgia (2025 SEC Championship Game), and Indiana (College Football Playoff, Rose Bowl) as examples.

Nick Saban lost six games combined in his last four seasons (2020-23), while DeBoer dropped eight matchups in his first two years. The Tide was never embarrassed in Saban’s six losses – despite a 24-34 loss to Texas in 2023 – yet DeBoer had ugly defeats against Oklahoma (2024), Florida State (2025), Georgia (2025 SEC title game), and Indiana. One would think an extension of this magnitude would come after a head coach has proven itself with championship hardware.

DeBoer has shown nothing, and yet Byrne and the Board of Trustees felt he was deserving of a lengthy extension.

Nick Saban had to prove himself for his pay raise

This is not an article to pit DeBoer against Nick Saban, but it is something to draw attention.

Updated details for Kalen DeBoer’s buyout under extension

Saban got to Tuscaloosa (Ala.) in January 2007 after some time in the National Football League with the Miami Dolphins.

In his return to college football, Saban’s initial contract was eight years, $32 million ($4 million annually).

He did not get his first extension from Mal Moore and the Board of Trustees until five years later in March of 2012.

By then, Saban had accomplished two BCS National Championships (2009, 2011), a Southeastern Conference Championship (2009), a Heisman Trophy winner (Mark Ingram), a Doak Walker Award winner (Trent Richardson), and a few other awards.

He had hardware to bring to the table, and then he got to work rebuilding a city that was ripped apart by a vicious EF-5 tornado on April 27, 2011. Moore felt compelled to extend Saban because of his production, and he earned an eight-year extension of $5.6 million annually. Saban earned this by making the program feel that there is no one else who can elevate the Crimson Tide to be the gold standard of the sport aside from him.

Moore made the right move to bring Saban in, and in death he is tied to one of the best decisions Alabama football made.

Pressure is now high on Kalen DeBoer

He was already in a pressure cooker in making the choice to fill in the shoes Saban left behind, but this extension heaps more on DeBoer.

Greg Byrne is tied to this hire so his legacy hangs hand in hand to DeBoer.

Alabama football’s head coach Kalen DeBoer reacts to contract extension

If DeBoer does not work out, Byrne is regarded as the individual who royally fumbled the succession plan post-Saban and hired someone who was not ready for the pressure.

Should he win a national championship or at least an SEC title, then everyone will be calm on DeBoer moving forward.

Right now, the jury remains out on whether he truly belongs at Alabama or the SEC for that matter. The Tide does not have enough in its NIL budget to get high quality players, nevertheless, it has enough to extend a coach that not everyone is sold on.

He got his money, but he hasn’t shown anything of note yet.

We will see in year three if DeBoer takes the next step.

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Stephen M. Smith is a team writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine.  You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.