The Alabama football coaching search really couldn't have worked out much better for the Crimson Tide . Seriously.
That's not looking at the glass half full. It's just the fact of the matter. Kalen DeBoer was the best realistic option at that moment in time. Just look at his resume at Washington alone.
DeBoer beat Oregon three times over two seasons at Washington. DeBoer beat Texas twice in the postseason, in back-to-back years. DeBoer reached the College Football Playoff in only his second season and made the national championship game, falling to No. 1 Michigan . Overall, DeBoer finished 25-3 at Washington. That's a winning percentage of 89.3%.
Alabama wasn't going to find a better option than that, outside of Kirby Smart. And he wasn't about to leave his alma mater.
Let's take a look at all the resumes of coaches the past two seasons who were either legitimate candidates or perceived candidates for the Alabama opening (names are left out for now to provide as objective a look as possible):
Coach 1:Made two bowl games, lost one in the College Football Playoff, a semifinal. One CFP appearance. Has 74% winning percentage.
Coach 2:Made two bowl games, lost one. No CFP appearances. Has 74% winning percentage.
Coach 3:Made two bowl games, lost one. No CFP appearances. Has 73% winning percentage.
Coach 4:Made two bowl games, won both. No CFP appearances. Has 81.5% winning percentage.
Coach 5:Made two bowl games, won one. No CFP appearances. Has 85% winning percentage.
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See a resume on that list better than DeBoer's the past two seasons? Nope, you didn't. Not one of those five coaches won a College Football Playoff game, and none has a better winning percentage than DeBoer the past two seasons.
Those coaches listed were: No. 1 Texas' Steve Sarkisian, No. 2 Clemson's Dabo Swinney, No. 3 Ole Miss ' Lane Kiffin, No. 4 Oregon's Dan Lanning and No. 5 Florida State's Mike Norvell.
The Alabama coaching search and each of these names became a topic of discussion again this week after an ESPN article was published breaking down the entire search from start to finish. ESPN reported that "neither Swinney nor Kiffin was seriously in the mix." As for Sarkisian, "Alabama's leadership knew Sarkisian wasn't going to leave Texas." Meanwhile, Lanning squashed any rumors of him being a candidate for the job quickly the Thursday on which Alabama interviewed DeBoer.
Norvell, however, was a serious candidate alongside DeBoer, something ESPN confirmed Wednesday and The Tuscaloosa News reported i n January. You'll notice Norvell had the best winning percentage of anyone on that list the past two seasons outside DeBoer.
But instead of Norvell, Alabama landed the coach with a better winning percentage and one who had coached in the national championship game.
And why hire Lanning when you can hire the guy who beat him three times over two seasons? Why hire Sarkisian when you can hire the guy who has beat him twice in the postseason?
Sure, both Sarkisian and Lanning would have been strong hires, but DeBoer was an even better option.
As for Swinney, he never made much sense as a true candidate in today's day and age. While he would have been the top candidate had Nick Saban retired a few years ago, Swinney's success winning national championships hasn't yet translated to the NIL era. Plus, Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne often likes to hire coaches who are on the rise; Swinney has already accomplished a good bit and made a lot of money.
Then there's Kiffin. He hasn't reached the same level of success as a head coach as DeBoer. And if Alabama really thought he would be the right option to lead the football program, it probably would have pursued him harder. Few programs know him better than the one in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide wouldn't have needed to call references; Alabama has plenty of first-hand knowledge of what it's like to employ Kiffin considering he was there from 2014 to 2016.
Smart would have been the only one with a better resume the past two seasons than DeBoer, but that wasn't happening. As a result, DeBoer was the best hire Alabama could make based on recent success/accomplishments.
That's not Byrne settling. That's Byrne closing.
Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men's basketball. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter .
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Kalen DeBoer was always better option than Lane Kiffin, Dabo Swinney
