Kalen DeBoer is standing at a precarious crossroads.
He can either go old school like Nick Saban religiously did over his entire career, or he can adapt to the demands of today’s student-athletes and tweak his recruitment tactics.
Both will drastically affect how people see him as a head coach and also how Alabama football recruits players post-Saban. Most importantly, though, either will propel him down a path, which after about 10 years, will be each other’s polarising opposites.
He’s got to make a smart choice.
Saban, for example, was a classic old-school guy, who always was, always will be against deploying NIL deals to seduce recruits. Just last year — intriguingly, just days after he retired without any notice — came his speech at Sen. Ted Cruz’s public event in Washington that shook the NIL structure to its core, with just one sentence: “All the things that I believed in, for all these years, 50 years of coaching, no longer exist in college athletics.”
“It’s whoever wants to pay the most money, raise the most money, buy the most players, who is going to have the best opportunity to win. I don’t think that’s the spirit of college athletics, and I don’t think it’s ever been the spirit of what we want college athletics to be,” Saban added, which Steven Godfrey of The Washington Post believes to be the unsaid reason for Saban’s sudden retirement.
Saban’s brand stayed buried by the headlines of mega programs luring in millions and even more worthy recruits over the past few years. Now, however, as Saban’s home assistants have made it to the top, they are growing Saban’s ideologies with them.
Steve Sarkisian tops the list. The Texas HC is a heaty devout of everything Saban believes in about not succumbing to the mighty enchantress NIL. Ever since Sarkisian brought Texas to the top of the board, he has shown his utter disgust against hiring based on NIL guarantees; even if 2 of the top 5 NIL valued players in On3’s list are from Texas.
Kalen DeBoer must embrace Nick Saban’s old-school mentality or leave it in the dust
Now, it rests solely in the hands of DeBoer, whether to embrace or follow the footsteps of Saban. DeBoer will need to put his leadership acumen to strong use if he chooses the first option, given all the decision-makers at Alabama would be Saban-groomed, best suited to follow his philosophies.
Regardless, the changing times would call for DeBoer to give in to the temptations of NIL, and demand something positive to come out of it at Tuscaloosa. It would be the process of conversion if DeBoer decides to after all, that will lead to the Tuscaloosa fans truly appreciating him as Saban’s heir.