Casagrande: What’s been going on with Kalen DeBoer lately?

This is an opinion column.

Kalen DeBoer is a nice guy.

He’s a football coach, so in this context, DeBoer’s behavior is a definite exception.

Listing the differences between him and his predecessor, this might be the first.

DeBoer isn’t one to stir the pot from a podium or near a microphone, while Nick Saban has clearly thrived on it.

We say this to note a recent slight but notable change in Alabama’s second-year head football coach.

He shows a little more courage – some personality and maybe even some edge.

All in the most polite way possible.

As Alabama approaches the SEC Championship on Saturday, DeBoer faced some questions about his team’s playoff record. The debate around the Crimson Tide is lively to the extent that they cede Atlanta, previously conquered, to the Georgia Bulldogs.

DeBoer, not traditionally the politician type, came prepared for press opportunities for such investigations.

On Thursday, you heard DeBoer come closest to being spicy when asked if Alabama needs a win Saturday to make the 12-team playoff.

“I mean, it kind of blows my mind,” DeBoer said, “those are the exact words I used before, that we’re actually having this debate.”

In the nicest way possible.

“I don’t say that arrogantly,” DeBoer said, as if he accidentally touched the hot stove that Alabama fans want him to throw gasoline on, “because I understand there are a lot of good football teams out there.”

Saban was the ultimate salesman in times when Alabama was in a playoff bubble. It’s unclear how much he helped in 2017, when he sat in on interviews after losing the Iron Bowl, but Alabama made the four-team playoff that it ultimately won.

Sometimes it’s about appearances and showing your team and fans that you’re fighting for them.

DeBoer does it his way.

“Every A4 team we played, except Wisconsin this season, before, during or after us was ranked,” DeBoer said Thursday. “Again, 7-1, two points shy of 8-0, 4-0 on the road in the second, that stands out to me. That’s tough to do in environments. Our guys have been tested.”

On Sunday, he pointed out that Alabama was 4-0 in away conference play and “has won 10 of our last 11 games.”

Sorry, but that last note might not be the strongest. Using a sample that includes every game except the one they lost by two touchdowns to a Florida State team that finished 5-7 is no game.

Thanks for the effort, though.

I will never discourage a little showmanship.

As a reporter who covered Saban starting in 2009, it’s hard not to miss the entertainment value he brought to any press meeting. So what if he wasn’t as downright friendly to the dotcom wretches as DeBoer?

It’s okay if he yells at you every now and then on live TV.

It was never boring.

DeBoer, if we’re honest, was.

He is truly himself and it has worked for him. So there is no shadow. Some coaches talk too much for their own good, so DeBoer should play his game.

And tell a joke or two.

Like the one he made after a bold move on 4th and 2 late in the Iron Bowl.

“I thought it was 29 yards shorter than the last time we needed a touchdown here,” DeBoer said Saturday in a nod to the moment in the 2023 Iron Bowl forever known as 4th-and-31. “The percentages were probably a lot more in our favor.”

And this?

DeBoer, who is known for avoiding swear words, probably won’t be mentioning the tin horns or whatever runs through them anytime soon.

There won’t be any highlights of his best press conference moments like the last guy.

Still, it’s fun to hear a bit of personality from the nice guy who also lit up when asked about the rumors surrounding his future. A manager known for his cautious response came out swinging like he knew the fastball was coming.

Penn State?

“Yes, we are extremely happy in Alabama,” DeBoer said. “This is the first time I’ve been asked that. I appreciate you… We’re extremely happy here. I love the challenge, I love the job, I love this place. There was never a connection, there was never a conversation, there was never an interest anyway. I’m happy we can put this aside now.”

All this in a week’s work of Alabama’s non-starting, possibly funny, postseason-confident head coach.

DeBoer may not be the Saban phrase generator, but maybe he found a voice last week.

I’ll take this.