Tony Thomas
Author
In 2023, after losing to Michigan in the Rose Bowl in the College Football Playoff, Alabama coach Nick Saban hung up his coach’s whistle.
Recruits and portal players had just two questions for Coach Saban: how much playing time will I get and how much are you going to pay me.?
The rise of the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness forced arguably the greatest college football coach of all time to live out his days on the lakes, the links and the College Gameday set. Saban rode off into the sunset singing “I did it my way.”
Saban posted a 206-29 record with the Crimson Tide, an extraordinary .877 winning percentage. He won seven national titles (six with Alabama, one at LSU). Over his 17-year career at Alabama, Saban lost 4 or more games only once, in 2007, his first in Tuscaloosa.
There is a line in the sand between love and hate. And whether you had one or the other for Saban, he knew how to run a college football program. Saban knew what it took to win national championships.
And, he had his players ready to play each and every week to achieve that goal. Saban’s players were expected to do their job in the proper way at the proper time. This preparation and execution became known as the “Process.”
After the 2024 national championship game between Michigan and Washington, Huskies’ head coach Kalen Deboer was hired to replace a coaching legend. Shock waves rippled through Tuscaloosa and the college football world. The shoes that DeBoer had to fill were Shaq’s size.
Under DeBoer, Alabama finished with a 9-4 record. Those four defeats were at the hands of Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Michigan once again (in the Reliaquest Bowl). Alabama had won 23 straight games against Vandy before the Commodores won 40-35 last season in Nashville.
The Crimson Tide rolled into Tallahassee, Florida, last Saturday as the No. 8 team in the Top 25 poll. The home-standing Florida State Seminoles were unranked, mostly because of their 2-10 record the previous season.
However, this Florida State team was different. A new quarterback, former Boston College standout Tommy Castellanos, was behind center. Gus Malzahn, former head coach with UCF and Auburn, was calling the offensive plays for FSU.
When the pregame hype died down, Chief Osceola and his beloved steed Renegade galloped to midfield and planted a fiery spear into the collective backside of the, ahem “Crimson Tide football team.”
Then the Seminoles grabbed Bama by the facemask, threw them in a hole and covered it up faster than you could say “Sweet Home Alabama.”
When the clock struck zero, Florida State won 31-17 on the strength of 230 yards rushing and four touchdowns. FSU hung that 14-point loss around DeBoer’s neck like a Hawaiian lei.
The “Choke at the Doak” was over as Alabama flatlined. As a result, the Crimson Tide was reduced to blood spatter as they plummeted down the Associated Press Top 25 this week, landing with a resounding thud at No. 21.
Over their last 10 games, the Crimson Tide is a pedestrian 5-5, dating back to last season.
Sep. 6 Louisiana-Monroe
Sep. 13 Wisconsin
Sep. 27 at Georgia
Oct. 4 Vanderbilt
Oct. 11 at Missouri
Oct. 18 Tennessee
Oct. 25 South Carolina
Nov. 8 LSU
Nov. 15 Oklahoma
Nov. 22 Eastern Illinois
Nov. 29 Auburn (Iron Bowl)
After the Wisconsin game, there is an eight-game stretch that could be described as a Murderer’s Row of doom, despair and agony for the Tide.
In recent Saban years, winning those eight games were more often than not a foregone conclusion. Now, the media and the fans are not so sure.
The late Paul “Bear” Bryant, when asked why he had returned to Alabama in 1958 to become the head football coach, he said “Mama called, and when mama calls, you just have to come runnin’.”
Saban is enjoying his retirement, at age 73. No one thinks he will be running back to save Alabama football.
There is a lot of football left to be played in this 2025 season. But one has to wonder, will the legacy of winning football at Alabama cemented in history by coaching greats Bryant and Saban be forever tarnished by a specter of mediocrity creeping in the back door?
Mama can beat back those specters with a good strong broom, but DeBoer would be well-advised to bring back the “swagger off the bus” persona of those great Crimson Tide teams that came before him.
TJ Chapman
Lead Columnist, Editor
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