Losing isn’t something Kalen DeBoer has done much of during his career as a college football head coach, yet it still eats at him.
The new Crimson Tide coach is 104-12 in nine seasons as a college head coach, including 25-3 in two seasons at Washington before being hired in Tuscaloosa this past January. During a visit to the SEC Network set during SEC Media Days on Wednesday, DeBoer was asked “how crazy does it drive you” during those rare occasions his teams have come out on the short end of a particular game.
DeBoer noted that Nick Saban — his predecessor at Alabama and now an ESPN commentator — has been “in the same boat” during recent seasons with the Crimson Tide, which was in national championship contention nearly every year for the last decade-plus. But he also said he can remember his losses down to the smallest detail.
“It drives you nuts and it’s the ones you relive,” DeBoer said. “I can pretty much remember most of the games, but the ones I really remember are the 12 losses. I had someone ask me a year ago, the 11 (losses) at the time, I remember doing the interview and I could remember exactly what the point differential was. I could remember the key moments. Those are the ones that drive you crazy.”
For the record, DeBoer went 67-3 with three NAIA national championships in five seasons at Sioux Falls, then 12-6 in two years at Fresno State (one of them limited to six games by the COVID pandemic in 2020). He lost two games his first season at Washington, then only one last year, the College Football Playoff National Championship Game vs. Michigan.
DeBoer said he has such little practice with losing that it’s often difficult to figure out what to say to his team in the post-game locker room.
“I think those are the hardest talks, because you don’t really think in that way, you don’t think about what that talk needs to be, (the) anticipation of losing a game,” DeBoer said. “And just understanding that everything happens [for a reason), and it’s your ability to respond that always matters. That will be important for us because … 99% of the teams across the country are going to go through some adversity in some form or fashion, if not 100% of them.
“So it might not be things that you see on Saturdays, it might be behind the scenes. We’ve got to continue to build that resiliency, that toughness that, that togetherness that’s important for us to win at a high level.”
DeBoer and Alabama open the season Aug. 31 at home vs. Western Kentucky.