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DALLAS — Kalen DeBoer took a cross-country commercial flight here to SEC media days. Yes, a commercial flight.
In fact, he arrived here the night before Alabama’s scheduled day to appear in front of hundreds of media members. He was even spotted walking alone through the lobby of the Omni Hotel on Tuesday night. And he moved around his schedule Wednesday to accommodate more, not fewer, interviews.
None of this would be so surprising or odd if he weren’t the Alabama football coach. But he is, he is the Alabama football coach.
“I love talking about our guys and our team. It’s a lot of fun,” DeBoer said as he maneuvered from one group interview to another. “There are pieces to this that get a little crazy at times, but I enjoy it.”
Fun? Enjoy it? Love talking?
The Alabama football coach is embracing media days in a kind of way that the last man — now a media member himself — never truly did. As DeBoer whirled through his first SEC media days on Wednesday, that man, Nick Saban, listened intently to his replacement talk on the main dais at this event and, later on, interviewed DeBoer himself while on the SEC Network set — an unusual juxtaposition of new and old.
“I’m never going to criticize you,” Saban told DeBoer before gesturing to former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy, on set with the two men. “McElroy,” Saban added, “he thinks he should be calling the plays.”
Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer and Nick Saban chat after appearing on TV at the SEC media days on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)
Six months after Saban retired and DeBoer replaced him, the two men interacted in a rare public exchange — interviewer, Saban, asking questions to interviewee, DeBoer.
Saban asked DeBoer about his biggest area of concern (it’s the loss of seniority in the secondary, he answered). He embraced DeBoer…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/as-alabama-transitions-from-goat-to-promising-replacement-the-differences-are-stark-201157867.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-07-17 20:11:57
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