It's going to feel weird not seeing Nick Saban on the sidelines for Alabama football next season. The legendary coach decided to retire after the 2023 season, and now Kalen DeBoer is the head coach of the Crimson Tide. It's been a few years now since Alabama won the national championship, and that's a long time for them. DeBoer wants to get the Crimson Tide back to the top of the college football world.

Kalen DeBoer has already been hard at work since taking the Alabama football job, and he made a couple of big coaching moves this week to continue to get ready for the 2024 season. DeBoer is keeping both Freddie Roach and Robert Gillespie on the staff, and he is also promoting both of them.

“After meeting both of these guys, it was very clear to me that keeping Freddie and G as part of the staff was going to be important to our success,” DeBoer said, according to an article from rolltide.com. “These guys have great relationships with our players, are outstanding recruiters and have proven to be some of the best coaches in the country.”

Freddie Roach will be in his fifth season at Alabama and he has been coaching the defensive line. Now, with his promotion, he will also have associate head coach under his name.

Robert Gillespie has been with the Crimson Tide for one less year than Roach as the 2024 season will be his fourth. He will continue to coach the running backs, but he will also have assistant head coach as part of his title.

This was a good move from DeBoer. The Alabama coaching staff was put together by Nick Saban who is one of the best football coaches of all time. These guys learned a lot from him, and they also have been around the players. Keeping the staff together is huge for DeBoer.

Next season is going to be an exciting one for Alabama. It's year one of a new era in Tuscaloosa, and year one of a new era in college football in general. With conference realignment and the College Football Playoff expanding to 12 teams, everything is going to be different next year. It's going to be fun to watch.