Is Kalen DeBoer enjoying his time with his new team? Since he was announced as the new head coach, major media outlets, analysts, and football insiders have been questioning his leadership qualities. Although this Saturday, Alabama Crimson Tide bounced back after losing their first game to a non-ranked team, Vanderbilt, and secured their fifth victory of the season, guess what? The criticism is not stopping.
However, Kalen and his squad are now preparing for their upcoming game against the Tennessee Volunteers. Vols head coach Josh Heupel is on the right path as his team bounced back and secured their fifth victory of the season against Florida after they lost to Arkansas in week 6. Heupel is in his 4th year with the team, and he understands what a game against the Tide means for the Vols faithful. On the other side, we have DeBoer, who, fair to say, is still figuring out these rivalries in his first season. However, the Tide fans mustn’t worry. Their Nick Saban replacement is catching up to things! In his Monday press conference, DeBoer shed light on the 63YO tradition of lighting up cigars following a Crimson Tide victory.
In 2005, when Tide defeated Vols, fans pulled out their cigars and lit them, following the tradition. During the same year, former head coach Nick Saban was also seen chewing on one during a CBS postgame interview. DeBoer emphasized his focus on preparing his team to honor this tradition while showing respect for their rivals, Tennessee. “I know that this tradition goes back quite a ways. I know that cigars are a part of it, but I know that what I’m trying to do is just make sure we do our part of the football program and prepare so that people can celebrate and enjoy the rivalry on our end, and a lot of respect for Tennessee, their coaches, their players.”
Kalen DeBoer is asked about the Alabama / Tennessee rivalry, including the tradition of lighting up cigars after a Tide victory #rolltide pic.twitter.com/pNY0M9rZPU
— Alabama Crimson Tide | AL.com (@aldotcomTide) October 14, 2024
He further explained that he wants fans to celebrate the rivalry in a meaningful way. At the same time, he also highlighted that the faceoff is a must-win game for Tide.
“But, you know, we’re just pouring into things we can control, what we can focus on, and we want to bring that joy to not just the hard work we put in personally, but also some more fan base can’t enjoy as well.” Despite the comeback, Kalen DeBoer is still facing criticism. Will this rivalry matchup be the game-changer for the new head coach?
Kalen DeBoer on Alabama’s Challenges: “Another game comes down to the wire”
College football can be cruel; the highs and lows for the head coaches are too frequent for their liking. Just imagine: you replace Nick Saban, and you have a big game against the Bulldogs. What do you do? You defeat Kirby Smart. The feeling, the joy, the ecstasy; all of it, and you’re down to Mother Earth in a matter of a week as an unranked team crashes your Georgia afterparty.
Even this Saturday, the Crimson Tide was very close to losing against South Carolina. The game may have started with a touchdown drive for the offense, and everything looked rosy until the last few minutes of the first half. Mistakes after mistakes, and what looked like a commanding lead was reduced to 14-12. Those 12 points for South Carolina came in a matter of minutes. How do you even make sense of that as a head coach? Fans are naturally upset despite the win.
What frustrated the fans more was that at the end of the game, No. 7 Crimson Tide almost let their opponents take the game after failing to recover an onside kick. However, cornerback Domani Jackson intercepted LaNorris Sellers just before the game ended, which helped Tide secure their narrow 27-25 victory.
ESPN reported Kalen DeBoer’s statements on the ongoing issue, “Another game down to the wire,” Kalen DeBoer added. “We’re kind of getting accustomed to those. There’s some things that we can do to make sure it doesn’t get to that point. But we always talk about finding a way to win. As many times as it looked like we weren’t, we did.” Well, these things need fixing, and they can’t afford to repeat these errors against the Vols.
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