Paul Finebaum drops bold verdict on Kalen DeBoer’s future at Alabama following disappointing season

The Alabama Crimson Tide had a disappointing first season under new coach Kalen DeBoer. Following in the footsteps of the legendary coach Saban was not easy, but DeBoer did not even make the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff. However, this was partly due to the way the teams were given berths.

DeBoer's first season was not the best when compared to what the Crimson Tide were able to do under Saban, but should he be already on the hot seat?

College football analyst Paul Finebaum thinks so. On his weekly appearance on "The Matt Barrie Show" on Sunday, he said:

“I believe very firmly Kalen DeBoer is on a scorching hot seat. Now, you can say, ‘What does that mean?’ I’ll tell you what I think it means. It means he is under a microscope. It was playoff or bust this year, and he went bust."

If one holds DeBoer to the same standards as Finebaum does, then his job is already in doubt. Alabama was expected to make the College Football Playoff and potentially challenge for the SEC title. On paper, they were a talented team that should be fighting with the best teams.

However, this didn't happen. DeBoer led Alabama to a 9-3 run and a No. 11 ranking in the regular season. That was nearly enough to make the playoff.

But when one considers that one of those three losses was the infamous defeat to the Vanderbilt Commodores (plus a late-season loss to unranked Oklahoma) and that a 10-2 record would have likely put Alabama into the CFP, likely at the expense of SMU or Indiana, Finebaum's comment may be justified.

The ReliaQuest Bowl defeat is another reason why DeBoer is on the hot seat

If the regular season wasn't disappointing enough for Alabama, it lost 19-13 in the ReliaQuest Bowl on New Year's Eve to the unranked Michigan Wolverines to finish 9-4.

The teams met on the first day of 2024 in completely different circumstances.

However, be it the Rose Bowl (last year's CFP semifinal) or the ReliaQuest Bowl, the result was the same. The Michigan Wolverines were victorious. Finebaum credited the bowl loss as another reason why DeBoer is on the hot seat.

"The only way to scrap that all away was to win a bowl game against a lousy team, which Michigan was all but one game this season, and he couldn’t do it,” Finebaum said.

The game was a disaster for the Crimson Tide. Thanks to heavy rainfall during the game, the Alabama offense struggled with quarterback Jalen Milroe fumbling on numerous occasions. The Wolverines (8-5) were able to capitalize on all of these mistakes and record a win.