When the going is going good, everyone is happy. But when it's not going so good, as is the case with Alabama football right now, that leaves a lot of unhappy people.
After a 31-17 season-opening loss to Florida State on Saturday, in which the Seminoles decisively beat down the Crimson Tide, some have taken to social media to express their desire to see second-year head coach Kalen DeBoer fired. Others have taken a different tack, including former national championship-winning Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy, who is trying to look on the bright side, while still delivering damning criticism of the Week 1 performance.
“Here's the biggest problem, though, with the performance from Alabama this weekend, and it can get addressed. That's the beauty — is all these things can be fixed,” McElroy said on the ‘Always College Football' podcast. “There has to be more effort at a few different spots… There were times in the game in which a guy was not running with 100% effort to a ball carrier. There was a time or two or three or five where the wide receiver is not running the route at full speed. There were times when guys were kind of gliding out of their break. Ty [Simpson] thinks it's going to be there, and a guy doesn't get his head around because he's not going through it at 100%.
“So, I think that they need to — whether they were fatigued or they were tired from camp or whatever, or maybe they just felt slow, whatever the day was, they didn't wake up on the right side of the bed, whatever it was — there needs to be a little bit better finish, I think, from wide receivers and DBs, in particular, as they're moving forward in the season.”
Regardless of the reason for the letdown, there certainly will not be a lot of sympathy from Alabama football fans, who are reeling from the loss, as well as the disappointing 9-4 campaign last season in DeBoer's first year in Tuscaloosa. Paul Finebaum said after the FSU loss, he had heard from “longtime” Crimson Tide fans who want DeBoer to be fired.
While that seems unlikely in the immediate future, DeBoer's dismissal is theoretically possible as the season progresses (or at season's end) if more losses follow. It would cost Alabama about $60 million, though, which is among the highest buyouts in the country. Additionally, it would be the second-highest amount owed to a coach in college football history, only behind Jimbo Fisher, to whom Texas A&M paid nearly $78 million to oust in November 2023.
Alabama hosts Louisiana-Monroe this weekend.
