What Kalen DeBoer Said About CFP Expansion, New Documentary, 2025 Season

Alabama football has had quite the last 400 or so days, as in that span, legendary head coach Nick Saban retired, former Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer was named the successor roughly 48 hours later, many players transferred out or decommitted, the Crimson Tide started the 2024 season undefeated, including a win over then-No. 1 Georgia, but proceeded to fall to Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Oklahoma to miss the College Football Playoff under its 12-team format.

One could say it makes for an excellent documentary and FOX Nation created a series called “The Tides That Bind: Inside Alabama Football” that followed Alabama’s 2024 season, as it includes player and coach interviews and inside access to the culture of the Crimson Tide football program.

On Wednesday, DeBoer joined FOX News Channel’s The Will Cain Show to discuss the documentary and other topics surrounding the Crimson Tide and the current state of college football.

Here’s the full transcript:

CAIN: Today, officials at the SEC and the Big Ten are meeting to talk about expanding the college football playoff to 14 or possibly 16 teams. This would be a big change. You have already been through one, moving to a 12-team playoff. But this would be a change. Reports suggest that the SEC would get four teams, the Big Ten would get four teams, two perhaps for the SEC — the ACC and the Big 12, rounding it out Notre Dame and the Group of Five. What do you think about yet again expanding the playoff?

DEBOER:  Yes, I mean, I understand that they’re meeting. From my vantage point, I mean, there’s not much that I’m in control of when it comes to that. I’m just disappointed that we didn’t do what we needed to do to get in this last year. And that’s what we’re focused on taking care of here in this off-season, is to make sure we do what we’re supposed to do to get in, no matter how many teams are in it.

CAIN:  Yes, you would have been then. You probably would have been had it been expanded to 14 or 16.

DEBOER:  Yes, probably more than likely. But, again, there’s things that we can control and things we can’t. And that’s what we’re focused on. And we will let the people that get to decide those things take care of the things that they’re working on right now.

CAIN:  Well, people are expecting a good season from you next season. I think you’re among the coaches, by the way, who are considered to have the best chance to win their first national title in 2025. USA Today has a list out. They have my Texas Longhorns and Steve Sarkisian at number one. You come in at number four as first-time champion if you pull it off this year at Alabama. I know your goal isn’t to make a 14-team playoff. Your goal is to end up there at the top of that list.

DEBOER:  Yes, other than we want to — we need to be that championship program. And that just means you got to prepare at a championship level. And, again, everything we’re doing, and this is the time you build your team, is in the off-season. And really proud of the way our guys continue to take everything we have learned, continue to grow. We’re a year into it now, and it just feels completely different. You know, a year ago at this time, we were trying to hire about three more coaches this week with spring ball starting less than two weeks from now. So we’re in a much better position. It really means nothing. It’s still about the work, but I like where we’re headed. And, hopefully, what you’re talking about there is what it looks like at the end of this next college football season.

CAIN:  Well, this FOX Nation series that goes behind the scenes with your team, it does focus in on what happened, that period a year ago. I mean, that had to have been an incredible time for you as a human being. You had about 49 hours between Nick Saban retiring and you being hired at Alabama. And, as a man, I mean, that’s a tough — that is a tough situation to step into, to replace who many consider to be the greatest of all time.

DEBOER:  Yes, it certainly was. It happened fast for everyone, whether you’re at Alabama or myself, our players, just a lot of moving parts, and trying to take everything that was hitting our guys and come in and trying to do weather the storm early on was probably the biggest adversity that we went through. But I’m really proud of the way our coaching staff and our players took it, came together. And, again, we have come a long ways from that time a year ago.

CAIN:  I think that’s highlighted in episode four of this new series, this big transition for you. It goes through several different angles through your team throughout the season. So, before I let you go, Coach, I do want to ask you a question from one of our viewers, if you wouldn’t mind. Graham writes in and he asks, if there is anyone out there that you can learn from in this brand-new era of NIL, who can you learn from? Coach, everybody’s a pioneer, so where do you look for lessons on how to deal with this new era of NIL?

DEBOER:  Yes, I mean, that’s a great question. You try to understand what everyone else is doing. And you got to focus on the way that you want it built, the way that best fits your university here at Alabama, obviously. There is no — there is no book that’s been written. It’s — it’s fluid. I think that’s one of the best words you could probably use. It’s going to continue to evolve, continue to change sooner than later. And so you just try to every day come to work and make the most of what you can do, what you can control, and keep the main thing the main thing. And that’s pouring into these guys, pouring into our staff and team just to provide the great environment, atmosphere that helps them be the best they can be.

CAIN:  All right, Coach Kalen DeBoer, big job. Big honor to have you on the show today. Thank you so much, Coach.

DEBOER:  Yes, thank you, Will. Roll Tide.