Nobody in college football walks into a tougher assignment than replacing the GOAT at Alabama. The expectations only multiply. That’s why Nick Saban wasn’t buying the latest wave of criticism aimed at Kalen DeBoer. While ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith argued that Alabama should move on from their third-year head coach, the seven-time national champion offered a very different perspective. 

“He knew what he was getting into,” Nick Saban said on The Pat McAfee Show when asked whether Kalen DeBoer is feeling the pressure in Tuscaloosa. “I have a lot of respect for him knowing what the expectations are, knowing what the challenges would be.”

When Kalen DeBoer took over, the job was already messy. Alabama had lost 26 players to the transfer portal, so he wasn’t stepping into a ready-made powerhouse. He had to replace talent on the fly while everyone still expected national titles. Then there’s NIL, nonstop roster turnover and the weekly recruiting fight in the SEC. As Nick Saban views it, it’s a completely different challenge than it used to be.

“I think he’s doing a really good job,” he added. “Do I think it’s an easy job? Hell no. This league is a tough league, and recruiting is tough. But I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for him to take on that challenge and embrace that challenge and try to work through it and build something special at Alabama. And I’ve always been very supportive of them. I’m hoping that they do well and he comes out of this on top.”

Nick Saban also voiced something Kalen DeBoer himself has been saying throughout SEC Media Days. Alabama, in his view, is flying under the radar entering 2026. That outlook couldn’t be more different from Stephen A. Smith’s. On First Take, the ESPN analyst named the Tide head coach facing the most pressure in college football and didn’t even bother being subtle.

“Give him the money to just go away,” he said. “Call him Jimbo Fisher. Call him Brian Kelly. Do something. Get rid of him, because he ain’t the guy.”

Smith also criticized Alabama’s recent performances, arguing the program no longer carries the same aura after accumulating eight losses over Kalen DeBoer’s first two seasons. The criticism comes with the job. Following Nick Saban was never going to be easy after he spent nearly 20 years making championships feel normal at Alabama.

But Kalen DeBoer’s time in Tuscaloosa hasn’t been the disaster some people make it out to be.

He’s 20-8 in two seasons and is coming off an 11-win campaign in 2025 as he heads into Year 3. The Tide reached the playoffs and earned the program’s first CFP victory since 2021 before their season came to an end. Alabama also remained in the SEC title picture deep into the year despite replacing key veterans and reshaping the roster. Now another challenge awaits.

The Tide head into 2026 with fresh questions at QB, several NFL departures to replace, and less preseason hype than usual. Nick Saban seems just comfortable with that. His message wasn’t that Kalen DeBoer had already arrived. It was that judging him without acknowledging the circumstances misses the bigger picture. Replacing a legend was never going to be clean, and rebuilding Alabama during the transfer portal era is even tougher.