The Alabama Crimson Tide football team has gotten off to a 2-1 start to their 2025 campaign. Their first week loss to then unranked Florida State sparked a debate among college football fans, whether Kalen DeBoer is the right man to lead the program. Contributors Jake Aimone and Carolina Martinez debated whether DeBoer’s job should be on the line if the Tide miss the College Football Playoff for the second straight season.
Yes
By Jake Aimone
Since the inception of the College Football Playoffs in 2014, Alabama has missed the postseason only three times in those 11 years. The most recent was under Kalen DeBoer in the inaugural 12-team format last season.
Entering his second season at the helm, DeBoer looks to avoid missing the playoffs in back-to-back seasons. If this were to occur, he would tie Nick Saban’s two years of playoff absences in as many years, raising questions about DeBoer’s ability to fill the humongous shoes left by Saban’s career.
Alabama fans have come to expect their beloved Crimson Tide to be synonymous with the CFP. This storied program has Everest-level standards and the championships prove it.
If DeBoer isn’t fulfilling the demands the Alabama faithful are looking for, then maybe it’s time to look elsewhere to reestablish themselves among the elite in college football.
No
By Carolina Martinez
Alabama is not firing Kalen DeBoer, and here’s why: DeBoer currently sits at the second-highest buyout in college football, next to Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart.
That second-highest buyout is nearly $70 million. Now, one might say a school like Alabama can afford that and be done, but that doesn’t include the additional $21 million for the salary cap across the board, NIL payments flowing through, paying for a new head coach, and creating their contract. There’s too much at stake, and strategically, it’s a bad move to payout and distribute all that money.
At the beginning of 2024, DeBoer and Alabama secured an eight-year contract worth $87 million. If Alabama fired DeBoer without cause (meaning no major violation of the NCAA), they would owe him 90 percent of his contract. As of September 2025, should Alabama choose to terminate Kalen DeBoer within the next couple of weeks, his buyout would be approximately $63-$70 million. This wouldn’t be all in one lump sum, but in monthly payments to DeBoer until 2031 (when his contract would end).
