Alabama HC Kalen DeBoer shares his reaction to Dijon Lee’s game-ending personal foul against the Georgia Bulldogs
The Alabama Crimson Tide had one final shot at a stop against the Georgia Bulldogs before a personal foul ended the night. Kalen DeBoer’s reaction on the sideline and at the podium said plenty about where this team is headed.
The Alabama Crimson Tide had the Georgia Bulldogs right where they wanted them. It was third down, and a stop would have given Alabama the ball back with a chance to go down the field and win the game. Instead, the night ended on one of the worst lapses in judgment you will see in a game of this magnitude.
Defensive back Dijon Lee threw a punch at a Georgia player’s face. The Georgia player went down, Alabama was flagged for a personal foul, and that was it. Georgia kneeled out the clock, and the Crimson Tide walked off the field with a loss.
The penalty itself will get plenty of airtime. To me, Kalen DeBoer’s response was the bigger story.
Kalen DeBoer lit into Dijon Lee on the sideline
DeBoer ripped into Lee as he came off the field, and it was unlike anything I have seen from him since he arrived in Tuscaloosa. Lee didn’t seem eager to face the music at first. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix stepped in and told him to look at DeBoer and listen to what his coach had to say, which deserves a shout-out of its own.
It was reminiscent of what Nick Saban used to do when he was the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. DeBoer showed the same fire on the sideline. Then, once the emotions of the moment had passed, he carried the same message to the podium in a calmer setting.
DeBoer didn’t dance around what happened during his postgame press conference.
“Would have never expected that to happen. You’ve got to give yourself a chance. A year ago it happened the other way, the same situation, same time in the game, the opposite way. Emotional maturity is what it comes down to. We didn’t respond the right way,” DeBoer said, via the Alabama YouTube channel.
Why DeBoer’s message matters for Alabama
I love that answer from DeBoer because that is accountability. That is coaching. He reprimanded the player on the field, went to the podium, and didn’t make a single excuse for him. He also took responsibility himself as the head coach. That is exactly what Saban would have done.
The part that stood out even more is how he handled the officiating. As bad as it was, and some of those calls were awful, DeBoer never pointed the finger at the officials.
There was the non-call on what looked like pass interference against Rico Scott. There was the overturn on what should have been an interception by QB Reese. And then there was the non-call on what should have been targeting on Ryan Coleman-Williams. Plenty of coaches would have stood at the podium and spent 10 minutes picking those calls apart.
DeBoer didn’t. He said Alabama shouldn’t have put the officials in a position where a call decided the outcome of the game. That is accountability, that is good coaching, and that is leadership.
Alabama and Georgia could meet again
Nobody in Tuscaloosa is happy about this loss, and they shouldn’t be. Alabama had a real chance to beat Georgia and gave it away at the worst possible moment.
But the way a head coach handles a loss like this shapes the rest of a season. DeBoer held his player accountable, held his team accountable, and held himself accountable without hiding behind the officiating. That tone tends to trickle down through a locker room.
The way I see it, there is a good chance the Crimson Tide see Georgia again before the season is over. When they do, I expect Alabama to be more prepared and even hungrier after the way this one ended.
The Tide lost the game, but DeBoer’s response told me a lot about this team. Kalen DeBoer and Alabama are going places.
