UPDATE: How Kalen DeBoer’s first season compares to other Alabama football coaches…..

Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer lost some bad games in his first season with the program, but it was far from the worst first season by a Crimson Tide coach.

After a 19-13 loss to Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, Alabama finished 9-4. That’s a .69 win percentage for DeBoer, which ranks fourth for coaches in the past century behind Frank Thomas (9-1), Wallace Wade (7-2-1) and Red Drew (8-3).

Thomas went 9-1 in 1931, Wade went 7-2-1 in 1923 and Drew went 8-3 in 1947.

Nick Saban finished 7-6 (.54) in his first season. Paul W. “Bear” Bryant went 5-4-1 (.55).

Although DeBoer’s season wasn’t the worst first year for a Crimson Tide coach, it snapped a streak of 10-win seasons. Alabama had won at least 10 games for 16 straight seasons. The last time the Crimson Tide didn’t win 10 games was in 2007, Saban’s first year.

DeBoer had several strong wins, such as victories over Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri and LSU. But he also had some bad losses in 2024 such as Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and Michigan, which was without many of its best players because they opted out.

“They did a great job,” captain Tyler Booker said of the job DeBoer and the staff did in 2024. “I feel like the coaching staff did a great job. People are probably going to laugh at me when I say that, but you’ve got to understand that their first active duty when they got here was retaining a team. Especially in an era of NIL and a bunch of guys left. But we also got a bunch of guys to come in. To do all that, to have a great recruiting class that they just recruited in, to go out here and really battle in the SEC for the first time, I think they did a great job. Obviously there’s things we could have done better as players. Obviously there’s things they could have done better as coaches. There’s always going to be room for improvement. Top to bottom. They’ll be the first ones to tell you that. I’m just very blessed to have had this coaching staff and I’m glad Coach DeBoer came here. Shoutout to him. It takes a certain amount of pride and confidence in oneself to come follow up the greatest coach of all time.”

Alabama football coaches: First season winning percentage (past century)

1. Frank Thomas: 9-1 (.90)
   2. Wallace Wade: 7-2-1 (.75)
   3. Red Drew: 8-3 (.73)
   4. Kalen DeBoer: 9-4 (.69)
   5. Ray Perkins: 8-4 (.67)
   6. Bill Curry: 7-5 (.58)
   Dennis Franchione: 7-5 (.58)
   Gene Stallings: 7-5 (.58)
   9. Bear Bryant: 5-4-1 (.55)
   10. Nick Saban: 7-6 (.54)
   11. Mike DuBose: 4-7 (.36)
   12. Mike Shula: 4-9 (.31)
   13. JB Whitworth: 0-10 (0)