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The Alabama football program suffered a rough 24-17 loss to Tennessee on the road on Saturday, their second loss of the season. As the road tot he college football playoffs becomes very slim for the Crimson Tide, Stephen A. Smith took aim at new head coach Kalen DeBoer on ESPN's First Take.
“I'm sort of disgusted from what I've seen from Alabama. I mean the hell with Roll Tide. We can't say Roll Tide,” Stephen A. Smith said, according to Matt Connolly of On3.com. “Listen, Kalen DeBoer doesn't seem like the right man for the job. This is a man that's won at every level. … But this dude is no Nick Savan. Boy do we miss Nick Saban. … If I was Alabama, I'd beg Nick Saban to leave College Football GameDay and come back in the middle of the damn season.”
With a loss to Vanderbilt and now Tennessee, Alabama will likely have to win every game left on the schedule to have a chance at making the playoffs. Falling short of that would be a failure after the tenure that Nick Saban had as head coach of the Alabama football program.
Stephen A. Smith thinks Alabama football should have hired Dan Lanning
While discussing Alabama football's loss, Smith said he believes the school might have hired the wrong coach in DeBoer, saying that Oregon's Dan Lanning should have been the hire.
“I'm so disgusted with what I've seen. … It looks like they hired the wrong guy. They should've went and got Dan Lanning from Oregon,” Smith said, according to Connolly. “The personality, to go from Nick Saban to DeBoer, it just seems like night and day. The level of accountability, the defense, the fluidity. I mean the roughriders, you don't seem to be there.”
It is easy to say now, as Lanning has Oregon ranked No. 1. Back then, DeBoer was fresh off of taking Washington to the National Championship game. Smith is making a case based on personalities.
“Listen, it's bad. Because not only do they have two losses in the last three weeks, they should've lost to South Carolina. They shouldn't lost three straight. I'm very, very disgusted,” Smith said, according to Connolly. “It almost seems like the AD said, ‘You know what, I've been so exhausted dealing with Saban over the years, I need somebody that's a bit more pleasant and ain't going to hold me too accountable' or something. I just don't like what I'm seeing at Alabama right now. I'm very disgusted.”
Only time will tell if Smith is right or wrong. So far, year one of DeBoer has gone downhill after a triumphant win over Georgia a few weeks ago.
