Only Nick Saban could make 10-win seasons look normal. Still, even with six national titles, nine SEC championships, there was one thing he never managed to do in 17 years at Alabama. And that’s posting a 3.353 team GPA. That’s now Kalen DeBoer’s achievement to boast about.

Kalen DeBoer has not only broken Alabama’s football academic record once. He keeps breaking his own record over and over again. First it was 3.20 in 2024, then 3.29 last May, and now, his football team just posted a program-best 3.353 cumulative GPA while also recording a perfect Academic Progress Rate score of 1,000, the best in the country.

This is probably not the kind of headline many Alabama fans expected when Kalen DeBoer replaced Nick Saban after the 2023 season. The expectation wasn’t to raise the GPA. It was to win immediately and prove he’s a worthy replacement for the GOAT coach who lost four or more games only once in his 2007-2023 tenure. But academically, even he never climbed this high.

That doesn’t mean Nick Saban’s program was struggling in the classroom. Alabama was between 2.8 and 3.2 team GPAs under him. APR scores climbed to the 990-998 range from 944 when he arrived. Kalen DeBoer has somehow taken that academics and pushed it further. Over 103 Tide players recorded individual GPAs above 3.0 during these semesters. And fans are welcoming this achievement.

“As much as i uncontrollably LOVE winning SEC & national championships… as a parent myself, this genuinely makes me as proud as anything,” one fan wrote. “All this after the transition that came with soooo many distractions and opportunities for young men to lose focus.”

Kalen DeBoer stressed on academics right after taking the Alabama job. During his appearance on Next Up With Adam Breneman back in June 2024, he openly talked about the “non-negotiables” he wanted defining Alabama football moving forward. 

“We want you to be Men of Integrity. Classroom excellence is really key,” he said. “We want to be family-centered. We want to have a Brotherhood.”

And that brings us to the obvious question Alabama fans still care about most. Can all this translate back into championships?

Kalen DeBoer believes Alabama is building toward that level again

The academic numbers are historic but nobody hangs GPA banners inside their stadium. Kalen DeBoer knows his first two seasons didn’t satisfy Alabama’s championship standards. Following a disappointing 9-4 record in 2024, the Tide improved in 2025 with two more wins. They also made a CFP appearance before falling to future national champion Indiana. Now he believes they’re getting better. 

“We took some steps,” he told reporters in Montgomery earlier this year. “I definitely believe that. And so, I think from within, just what you’re trying to build, and the belief and confidence that you need to have. I think there’s a lot from year one to year two, as far as what I saw. You know you’re trying to continue to install a culture, you’re trying to install a scheme. I think we were better in the critical moments, at the end of games.”

In 2024, Alabama struggled badly in close games, going just 2-3 in one-score contests. Last season, the Tide finished 4-1 in games decided by eight points or fewer, including a wild comeback from 17 points down against Oklahoma on the road.

“Obviously, we’ve fallen short of what our expectations are,” he added. “But I think the habits we create every day, the ones that we consider are championship habits. It doesn’t mean that you are going to win a championship, but you install those habits, and I think we did a lot to make strides in those areas.”

Maybe that’s the wisest thing Kalen DeBoer could say right now. But once his QB dilemma gets settled and a playmaker emerges, maybe he can talk about winning championships too. But for now, he has already proven that the standard in Alabama didn’t disappear after Nick Saban left. It just evolved in a different direction.