“Not Good Enough”: Kalen DeBoer Can’t Escape Nick Saban’s Shadow as NFL Legend Sounds Alarm on Alabama

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Alabama football does not look the same since Nick Saban left Tuscaloosa. The first season without him ended a 16-year streak of at least 10 wins. The 2025 team bounced back, and the 2026 opener was a blowout. Even so, the heat on Kalen DeBoer has not gone away.

That criticism is now coming from NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe. On Nightcap with Chad Johnson and Iso Joe, Sharpe turned Alabama’s 48-10 Week 1 win over East Carolina into a warning. He is not content with just winning games.

“The standard for Alabama is national championships. It’s not good enough to win the SEC. It’s not good. Yeah, I understand you want to beat Auburn. That’s your cross town rival. I get all of that,” Sharpe said on the show. “I get the, 10 wins for a lot of teams. 10 wins is great, but not when you’re Alabama. The standard is the standard,” the NFL Hall of Famer added.

Saban coached Alabama from 2007 through 2023. On the field, he went 206-29. The NCAA-adjusted mark is listed as 201-29. He won six national titles in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, and 2020, respectively He also won nine SEC championships and 10 SEC West titles. Alabama won at least 10 games in each of his final 16 seasons. Four Tide players won the Heisman under him.

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“When when you follow coach Nick Saban, six national championships, they played for another three. The standard is national championships, playing for national championships,” Sharpe said on the same show. “And I think Kalen DeBoer, and I hate saying this every year, but that’s a pressure cooker down there. That’s a pressure cooker.”

DeBoer’s first year in 2024 ended 9-4 and 5-3 in the SEC. Alabama missed the SEC title game and the College Football Playoff. The Tide lost to Michigan 19-13 in the ReliaQuest Bowl and finished No. 17 in the AP poll. That season also ended the 16-year streak of 10-win years. Year 2 looked better. It still did not look like old Alabama.

Alabama went 11-4 in 2025 and 7-1 in the SEC. The program tied for first, reached the SEC Championship Game, and lost to Georgia 28-7. They made the playoff and beat Oklahoma 34-24 on the road in the first round. Then they lost to Indiana 38-3 in the Rose Bowl. Alabama finished No. 9. There was still no conference title and no national title. That is the gap Sharpe keeps pointing towards. DeBoer has not ducked that history. At SEC Media Days in Tampa on July 22, 2026, he was asked how he has handled replacing Saban.

“I think you can talk about how great of a job coach Saban did in building the program to what it is and the expectations,” DeBoer said. “I just know my past experiences being part of places that have the pride and tradition on the extreme high level like Alabama would or Alabama has, you know, it would be something I wanted to be a part of,” the current head coach added.

Sharpe also said the sport around Alabama has changed. He did not call DeBoer a bad coach, but said NIL money is now everywhere, so Alabama no longer holds the same recruiting edge. Roster continuity is harder than it was in Saban’s peak years.

That is why the East Carolina tape only went so far. Keelon Russell looked sharp in his first start. He completed 18 of 30 passes for 256 yards and ran for 86. Alabama scored five rushing touchdowns from four different players. Sharpe still flagged problems.

“He’s a quarterback. He’s not a running back,” Sharpe said about the QB. The panel also wanted more consistency from Ryan Coleman-Williams and the receivers. Drops against East Carolina are one thing. Drops against Georgia or Tennessee are another.

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