Kalen DeBoer Was The Right Hire

Stephen M Smith of Touchdown Alabama Mag and host of "In My Own Words" joins the show to explain Kalen DeBoer is a whole vibe!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
As we sit here in July,we're getting closer to college football season,
and who better to speak with otherthan Steven M. Smith of Touchdown Alabama
and the podcast of In my OwnWords. Steven M. Smith, it
is always a pleasure having you on. Thanks for giving us a few minutes.
Oh man, this is awesome.I appreciate you, Zach, have

(00:22):
me in here. Man, it'sbeen a while. Absolutely, it's been
far too long. One of thefirst questions I got to ask is what
is the feel like around Alabama withthe new head coach? Well, right
now, Zach, there is somuch energy. There is so much of
a trust today around Tusta, Musaright now. Kind of crazy because you

(00:42):
would think, you know what,seventeen years of dominance under Nick Saban,
you would think that there would beway more concern with coach Saban retiring and
you're bringing in Kanaan to Bor fromWashington to replace him and be the successor.
But it's been just the opposite.There's been a confidence from the fan.
There's been an energy and electricity andexcitement. People are ready to see

(01:06):
what can this Alabama program do inthe post Nick Saban era. Yeah,
and Steven, this is Zach Alsonand Jr. Just with everything that is
coming along with you know, NickSaban's been the face of the Alabama football
program. You know, he's beenthat public talking point. He's been that
whole talking point this offseason. Isthere any reason that Alabama fans should temper

(01:30):
their expectations with the lost of NickSaban coming into this season? Well,
Junior, I mean that's a goodthought because you can't compare Caman to board
of Nick Saban. You can't dothat. Nick Saban had his own style.
He was kind of more disciplined.He was kind of a bit more
rigid, kind of my way onthe highway. Now, of course Saban
mentled out in his matter of years. But Saban had his own style and

(01:55):
that produced six national championships, nineStoutheastern Conference titles. So you have to
have Debor do it his way.The Bor's younger, The bors more hip
two social media and the creativity ofbacks. He's more so hip two.
You know what attracts these sixteen seventeenyear old kids in terms of the recruiting
trail. He's very big on socialmedia. Sod Boar has a different pleasence

(02:20):
to what Saban had so you can'tnecessarily compare the two, or would not
be wise to compare the two.So you do want to tapeer the expectation
back a bit because he's not coachSaban, nor do you expect them to
be. But you still expect thatabout him to be very very good based
on the talent on the roster andbased on how Debor has been able to

(02:42):
develop championship programs and every stop he'sbeen at. Absolutely and so with Saban,
well, we obviously can't compare them. I agree with you the definite
way of their mentalities in the waythat they run a team are very different.
But with Stevens still being around asan advisor getting paid about half a
million dollars, how often is heactually around the team and how much input

(03:05):
is he actually having on the structureof the organization, the way they're going
things like that. Well, Sabanis not going to overstep any boundaries,
but he does have same. Nowcame in the board, does come to
Coach Saban's office as a coach,what do you think about this? How
would you do this? What doyou see here? So Saban still has
input. Saban still has input interms of you know, talking to the

(03:28):
players, motivating the players, encouragingguys, having players coming in sitting with
him and talk to him, andhaving those guys pick his brain. So
Saban's office is right above Bryant DennisStadium now, so as an advisor,
he still has well if all withthe team in trying to make sure that

(03:49):
that program is still going in theright direction as he had it for seventeen
years. As the head coach,He's not going to overstep any boundaries,
but he still has say in regardsto what goes on assi of the football
program to some extent. Now correctme if I'm wrong, but these two
vastly different directions with the program.From the head coach standpoint, Nick Saban

(04:15):
was always that guy where you comein your freshman year, you work,
Maybe you get some snaps on thespecial teams. Second year, you're gonna
get special teams, maybe some partof the defense or offense, depending on
what side of the ball you play. Third, that's when you really take
that next step. All of asudden, you're an NFL draft prospect.
And I feel that aspect from NickSaban's point of view, it played into

(04:38):
the nil in transfer portal that wasn'ta big fan of Saban's philosophy as opposed
to the new head coach where he'syoung, he's energetic, he's on TikTok
this that whatever. Is he goingto lean more into the transfer portal than
we really saw with Saban, whichSaban did do a great job at grabbing
some guys late in the transfer portal, you know that have taken off and

(05:03):
Jalen Jason Jamison Williams comes to mind, as well as some other guys.
But I think Kaitlin de Bor cando a better job in the transfer portal
and really kind of lean that wayas Nick Saban kind of leaned away from
him. I think Kangan the Boyis going to really maximize the portal.
The general manager for Alabama, CourtneyMorgan, who came with Kangan the Boy

(05:27):
from Washington. Courtney Morgan a formeroffensive lineman at Michigan. He inter city
Los Angeles native. This is aguy that's incredibly creative young man and he's
going to take will advantage of notjust a transfer portal but also freshman recruiting.
So I think Deborr william And lostthe portal or that I think the

(05:48):
biggest thing with him is he's apure developer parent. If you look at
no matter where Debor has been,whether that be Sioux Falls and in a
a Fresno state, Indiana, Washington. Now, the bar just didn't have
a roster shock full of five stars. There were a bunch of three stars
two star guys that came out ofthose programs and de Boar developed those young

(06:13):
men into being the NFL draft picks. The first guy comes to mind is
Michael Pennix. Michael Pennix wasn't ahighly recruited kid. He goes to Indiana
and they work with them, theydeveloped him some. But then when Pennix
makes decision, they transferred to Washingtonand he gets back with de Bar.
Now this kid becomes a two timesfour thousand yard quarterback. Now he becomes

(06:35):
Heisman Trophy finaling US and now he'sthe number eight overall pick of this past
draft by the Jet Nanta Falcons.So the biggest thing with de Bar Yes,
he will utilize the transfer portal alot, but he's a big time
developer of talent, especially at thequarterback position. Speaking of developing of talent,

(06:56):
we saw Jalen Milroe really take abackseaturing the time where he was benched,
came back and looked like a betterpasser than we ever could imagine,
trending in the right direction. Howjoyful does he have to be to get
a head coach in there that justdid what he did with Pennix in Washington
to now come to Alabama with hislast year of eligibility before he can enter

(07:19):
the draft. Millroe, guys isover the moon right now. I mean
ever since the hire of de Boriwas made, Milroe has been excited.
He's been over Joey. He's beenlocked in because he knows I now have
a head coach and an offensive mineand guys around him. But I can
really show what I am as afull passage quarterback. And it's not just

(07:43):
kagging the board to have Nick Sheridanas the offensive coordinator. Nick Sheridan who
played quarterback at Michigan. Nick Sheridan, who knows what it feels to go
through a coaching change. When NickSheridan was a quarterback, he went from
from Lloyd Carr to Brady Hoak,not Brady Hope, and he went from

(08:03):
Y Carter Brady Hoak. So NickSheridan knew what it meant to go through
a coaching change during his time inComage. He's been able to kind of
guy mill roll through that. Andthen you have JaMarcus Shepherd, who a
big time offensive mine in his ownwhite played congers, was a wide receivers
coach. And you've got mich Gamonon staff who played quarterback in Commage.

(08:24):
Now he's an offensive anilyst for Anabamaworked with quarterbacks. And you have Brian
Emis, who's Alabama's tiny ends coach, but he played quarterback at UAD.
So you have all of these quarterbackminds in one room, worked with Jagon
Milrow making sure he's at his verybest. This young man's over the moon

(08:46):
to have this offensive staff around him. Now, a question I have to
ask you, is the athletic directorfor Alabama paying for any meals? Because
it sounds like Nick Saban. Thenyou go to the Boor and you got
kN Oates over there coaching the basketball. He just hit two home runs with
Neat Oats and the Boor is hepaying for any meal in that town at

(09:09):
all? I'm gonna say this,Greg byrny for free. Greg Byrn is
eating for free. Run the jobhe has done and keep in mind Greg
Byrn prior to Amabamma, I believehe was an Arizona State and Greg Byrn
was not known as a football guy. He was known as more so a
basketball guy. So when he gothere, of course he get right by

(09:33):
coach Saban, extending his contract andthings of that nature. But Greg Burn's
first high was Nate Oats because goingback to the basketball roots of Greg Burns
and seeing the job that Nate Oatsis done with the basketball program gave Greg
Burn the confidence of okay, whenSaban went to Burn and said, you

(09:54):
know, Greg, this is gonnabe my last year after twenty twenty three,
I'm going to exit stage math here. And when save and decided to
exit stage and math after the twentytwenty three season, you saw a confident
Greg Burn tell the people, giveme seventy two hours to find the coach.
I knew this was gonna happen,Savan, And now we've had conversations

(10:16):
about this, give me seventy twohours, and the fact that Greg Burn
did it in forty nine hours,that just tells you the work, that
tells you exactly where Greg Byrn wantedto go with this. He has been
phenomenal speaking on exactly where he knewto go with us. Was Deboor his

(10:37):
first guy because there was talk aboutsark There was talk about getting Lane Kiffin
back, as well as maybe Leygoing over to Oregon grabbing their head.
Coach, was this the first optionfor them? I think guys to board
truly was because if you think aboutit, when Nick the day after Nick

(10:58):
Saban announced his retirements, he announcedit January tenth, which was a Wednesday.
The next day the eleven, yousaw Coach stave them back to the
office trying to pack up the restof the deal, and his agent,
Jimmy Sexton walks into the building.And when Jimmy sex now if I have
to call him the godfather, whenJimmy Sexton walks in, you know,

(11:20):
contracts were flying everywhere. So JimmySexton walks in and a lot of people
were thinking out of that would getSteve Sarkeesian. Well, Jimmy Sexton walks
in Texas, digs up too,the or rig Sarkesian gets more money,
he stays in Texas. Then thethought becomes, well, maybe Daniel Lanning
of Oregon. Oregon gets wind ofthat, they pay Dan Lanning. Well,

(11:43):
then maybe it becomes Mike Norbela FloridaState. Florida State gets more of
that, pays Mike Norbeo. SoJimmy Sex is moving all of these chess
pieces around just so his guy camein the boar can get that job at
an Obama. So I thought thebar from the jump was gonna was Greg
Burnes number one guy. But Ithought that. I thought the genius of

(12:05):
Jimmy Sexton walking in there and movingthose chess pieces around play a role in
that too. Yeah, Steven,And so with all of this being said,
what are the expectations for the Alabamateam this year? Are they going
to be a championship contender? Isthere going to be some drop off here?
What exactly are we looking at comingup for this season? I think,

(12:26):
guys, this is a championship contendingfootball team. I don't see anybody
going I don't see anybody going undefeatit with the twelve team playoff and you
know the SEC doing the way withdivisions. But I do see this as
a championship contending team. There isa lot of time back on this roster.
Now, yes, Alabama loss,guys. The transfer portal and you

(12:48):
understand that because mixcited, we're retired. But the guys that stuck around this
is a strong nucleus. This isa strong core of guys. You've got
a ton of depth of cave andthe ball was able to keep the majority
of that twenty twenty four recruiting classbehave and brought in here. This is
the championship roster. What's the energyand feel like for the whole athletic program

(13:15):
as a whole, because you gotKaitlyn de Bor there and it feels like,
not to say Nick Saban wasn't fallingoff towards the end, but there
feels like a little re energizing herewith the new head coach because you've heard
the same voice for so long andyou've been used to the way that they
do things. And then you gotNATO's over there, and Mark Sears is
a guy that we thought he wasgone. Mark Sears comes back and it's

(13:39):
one of the greatest news is thatwe've heard What is the feel like right
around that locker room in the campusitself? The campus is electric itself dies
When you look at your football program, first and foremost, you got so
used to hearing Nick Saban for seventeenyears. You got so used to his

(14:01):
style and his schedule and his regimenof doing things, and he had incredible
amount of success. But it wastime to get a fresh jolt of energy
into the program, and Kang andthe Ball was the right guy, you
know for this. I remember Conferencespring Practice. You know, in seventeen
years of save Them, I neverheard music playing inside of practice. I

(14:24):
go inside of a King and theBoy practice. They got the entire Biggie
Smalls album and they're going. Theygot the entire country music going. They
got nineties, early two thousands rapgoing. Every genre of music that could
be played that practice under Kay andthe Boy doing spring Ball is being played
there, and you get a senseof you, Bam, I needed a

(14:46):
coach that could reach this generation ofsocial media acme. And as good as
Nick Staban is, Coach Saban isnot tapped into social media like that.
Keep in mind, he's just nowhis wife, Miss Terry, just now
got him into checking his text messages. He's just now answering emails. He's

(15:09):
just now picking up his own prescriptionat the medical doctor. So you know,
Miss Terry has gotten Nick Saban andnow doing this, but you've got
Kagan the bar at forty nine.He is well tapped into what's going on
externally where social media is concerned,and this is where these young athletes are

(15:31):
gravitating towards. So the football programvery excited to see after you haven't won
a championship, a national championship sincetwenty twenty, so the football fan base
is hungry to see a championship returnhere in terms of bemb of football.
For the basketball program, I mean, what Nate os is a simple getting

(15:54):
Sears back, having Latreil Wrightsdale combat, Granton Nelson, come back, Stevenson
come you get clearer from the portal. You sign the number two class in
the country. They're looking at thisteam either getting back in the Final four
again or possibly winning a national championship. I'll tell you right off. I

(16:15):
don't mean to sound like a jumpingfan base, but Nick Saban was the
reason I got into Alabama football.Nate Oates is one thousand percent the reason
that I watch Alabama basketball. Ilove the energy he brings, I love
the way he backs those kids,and I love that he wants to teach
him like Nick Saban, where it'snot just about the sport. It's about

(16:37):
life after the sport. It's aboutbeing who you are on the court and
being off the court. Now.I know there was some issues earlier on
in his career there at Alabama withsome off core issues including his players,
but I really do think he doesa great job of backing his guys like
Nick Saban did. And I amobsessed with Alabama basketball. I mean,

(17:00):
Oates has been phenomenal. And Igo back to last year's team. You
lost so many assistant coaches. Theyear before with Brandon Miller, you lost
guys like Antoine Pettway, you lostso many other great coaches on that staff.
And then you graduate Brandon Miller.In the NBA, you graduate Noah
County, Charles Bediaco, decide toturn pro. You lost so much,

(17:25):
and then they come back with thisgroup and you make a run of the
Final four to where if you havea big man to control the paint,
you possibly beat UK and then you'replaying for a national championship. So the
job that Oates has done, yougot to take your clap off to him.
He has really emerged himself in theculture and making this program a winner.

(17:48):
I appreciate you being so well versedin that. I know we didn't
discuss talking about college basketball, butI couldn't help myself with Ni Oates.
One last question before I let yougo, Steven, now that Nick Saban's
retired, Bill Belichick is retired fromfootball at the moment, what do you
think of a possible Netflix series orsomething along the lines where you get Bill

(18:11):
Belichick and Nick Saban doing their versionof bar rescue and going from football team
to football team to trying to figureout what's wrong with that team and how
to fix it. I would loveit. You got two of the greatest
minds in football history doing that.Now, who would not be compelled to

(18:32):
a TV set to watch that?Who would not be compelled to be in
the same room with both of thosetwo guys and pick their blames to ups
the downs, what to do,what not to do, and how to
put together a program that would besuccessful for the longevity of it. Steven
M. Smith as always wonderful,wonderful information. I appreciate it, and

(18:55):
we won't make it so long betweenour visits. We'll get together soon.
Okay, absolutely, Now I appreciateyou guys. That was Steven M.
Smith who covers Alabama for Touchdown AlabamaMagazine, and also hosts his own podcasts.
In my own words, I didn'tget to talk to him about this
on air because I kind of forgot, but I did want to congratulate him.

(19:15):
I did recently see him on ThePaul Fine Bob Show, what I
thought was absolutely awesome, and wealways appreciate him coming on because he has
such great insight