Image credit: ClutchPoints

Before I get to Kalen DeBoer, Nick Saban, and all things Alabama football in the 21st century, I’d like to start with a short story about Ray Perkins. Some old school football fans will recognize the name, and surely, most Alabama fans probably will too, but chances are the name Ray Perkins doesn’t ring a bell for most football fans like it would if I were to say Paul “Bear” Bryant. That’s because Perkins, an Alabama alum, had the unfortunate honor of being the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide after Bear Bryant retired. In four seasons as Alabama’s head coach, Perkins went 32-15-1, leading Bama to three bowl wins. However, he was following Bear Bryant, who set the bar for success so high at Alabama, it would’ve been almost impossible for anyone to follow in his footsteps.

Perkins departed Tuscaloosa after four seasons to take the head coaching job for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His final season with Alabama was his most successful — the Tide finished 10-3, won the Sun Bowl, and were 9th in the final AP Poll of the season. Part of the reason Perkins left was because of mounting pressure from Alabama fans and boosters who were disappointed that the Tide were no longer the juggernaut that Bear Bryant had turned them into. But when you’re walking in the footsteps of a football God, your feet are bound to look small.

This is the same position that Kalen DeBoer may find himself in. After Nick Saban brought six National Titles to Alabama — just as many as Bear Bryant, mind you — DeBoer has the unenviable task of being the next guy. Sure, Alabama is the best job in the country that any college football coach could hope to land, but DeBoer is arriving in Tuscaloosa at arguably the worst possible time… on the heels of the most successful decade and a half long run in program history.

Kalen DeBoer found instant success at Washington, so there’s a track record of him helping a program reach heights that have never before reached. In just two years, he transformed the Huskies from a 4-win afterthought in the Pac-12 to a 14-win powerhouse that trailed by only a touchdown heading into the 4th quarter of the National Championship Game. Now, just one day after announcing he’d be taking the Alabama job, DeBoer laid out his plans for how to keep Alabama at the top of the college football world.

“We’re going to recruit the best guys, but our concepts will be built around the players we have.. the game’s changed a lot but there’s only one way to play– physical,” DeBoer said, per Kennington Lloyd Smith III of The Athletic. Sounds simple enough, and for what’s it worth, this was what DeBoer put into motion in Seattle. But as the old saying goes, “When man plans, God laughs.” And in this case, it may be Nick Saban, football God, who has the last laugh.

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