Former Huskies coach Kalen DeBoer finds himself in hot seat after disappointing loss

Kalen DeBoer made himself public enemy number one in Seattle when he left Washington after an appearance in the National Championship to go coach at Alabama when Nick Saban retired — and now he might be public enemy number one in Tuscaloosa after a stretch of disappointing results for the Crimson Tide.

It started last season when Alabama lost to a historically bad Vanderbilt program in a campaign that saw the Tide go 9-4 — their most amount of losses since 2007.

DeBoer finds himself in hot water again to start the 2025 season, as he took the No. 8 ranked Crimson Tide on the road to Tallahassee as 13.5-point favorites against Florida State — only to lose by 14 in a game that was never really in their control.

Coincidentally, two former Huskies players were Alabama's biggest stars in the losing effort: Germie Bernard had eight receptions for 146 yards, and Josh Cuevas caught one of the two Tide touchdowns in the game.

That loss made it DeBoer’s fourth when favorited by two or more touchdowns during his Alabama tenure, with college football writer Chris Vannini posting this insane stat on X:

Those four losses all came to unranked teams, which again, is fascinating considering DeBoer is a perfect 6-0 in his career against Dan Lanning's Oregon Ducks, Steve Sarkisian's Texas Longhorns, and Kirby Smart's Georgia Bulldogs. It's also Alabama's third loss in its last four games (spanning back to last season), and fifth lost in its last six games away from Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Crimson Tide fans expressed their displeasure with DeBoer throughout and after the game Saturday, with the noise only getting louder after it was rumored that Alabama players were seen at 1-2 AM in the team hotel getting DoorDash deliveries the night before the game. An awkward moment with Tuscaloosa's media during his Monday press conference didn't help either.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out for Alabama and DeBoer, as it is unlikely DeBoer gets fired this early — he signed a 8-year, $87 million contract in 2024, making his buyout hefty to say the least.

Although DeBoer still has plenty of time to get things back on track, it's safe to say Husky fans are delighted to see their old coach that left town struggle to continue success for one of the most successful college football programs of all time.

Alabama should be able to rebound nicely with home games against Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday, and Wisconsin the week after that, but then they take on Georgia on the road September 27 in a matchup that is set up to be an uphill battle in this moment of time.