Kalen DeBoer Takes Over for Nick Saban at Alabama

Alabama didn't get one of its top few options to replace Nick Saban, but the Crimson Tide did end up with Kalen DeBoer, who has a 104-12 record as a head coach and is coming off a National Championship Game appearance at Washington. Not too bad for your third or fourth choice.

DeBoer only has two years of head coaching experience at the Power Five level, but in those two seasons he went 25-3 at UW, which went 4-8 the year before he got there. And that's in addition to going 12-6 in his two years at Fresno State and 67-3 with four NAIA national titles in six seasons at Sioux Falls.

DeBoer doesn't have any connections to the Saban coaching tree like Dan Lanning or Steve Sarkisian, but he's just a winner. He's won games everywhere he's been at every level and now heads to a school with everything you need in place to win championships. If there is one unknown it's how DeBoer will recruit against SEC schools, but even if the Tide take a hit from the level they've been recruiting at for the last 15 years, DeBoer just took the 26th-most talented team in America to the College Football Playoff.

I don't think this should have been the first name on Bama's list — and it obviously wasn't — but there are infinitely worse coaches you could end up with than Kalen DeBoer. Imagine if he said no. Then you're left with ... Tommy Rees? Eli Drinkwitz? Lance Leipold? Those guys are fine coaches, but a far cry from what anyone would have imagined the guy after Saban would be.

I'm very interested to see how this hire plays out. Alabama goes from the greatest coach of all-time to a guy with two years of Power Five experience who has never coached or recruited in the SEC. I guess we'll find out soon enough.