Kalen DeBoer knows what job he took. Historically, Alabama football’s head coach either wins national championships or gets fired, without much middle ground.

The Tide’s new head coach took over for Nick Saban in January. He’s already through his first spring practices with UA, and on Thursday, he was asked on The Next Round Live internet show whether a national championship is a fair expectation for the team in his first season.

DeBoer acknowledged the expectation.

“In all honesty, that’s what you come here for,” DeBoer said. “Right? You come here and there’s gonna come a point in time where there’s a lot of pressure going into a week, or going even into a moment in the game. And the thing I’m always gonna remind the guys of is, this is why you came here. And that’s why I came here too, is to be a part of that, having those expectations, and that’s what it’s been and that’s what it needs to be.”

Last season, DeBoer took Washington all the way to the national championship game, where the Huskies fell to Michigan. Alabama also lost to the Wolverines, in the College Football Playoff’s Rose Bowl semifinal.

Starting in 2024, it will be a bit easier to make the CFP, which is expanding to 12 teams. The expansion means teams could lose more than once and still make the field.

That gives Alabama more leeway. However, DeBoer said he’s not thinking that way as the season approaches.

“You gotta keep the pedal down and you gotta make it about getting better every single game and focusing on that moment,” DeBoer said. “And yeah, I get what you’re saying, there is a little bit of that, but if you’re really trying to reach the top, you gotta find the best path to get there.”

Alabama opens the 2024 season on Aug. 31 against Western Kentucky.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WBRC) – The plight of violence in rural communities brought dozens of people to Tuscaloosa this week for a conference that looks at what can be done to better address what’s happening in rural parts of Alabama.

The University of Alabama’s College of Community Health Sciences organizes the conference with a different topic each year.

This year, they looking at violence happening in rural communities in Alabama, including domestic violence and violent crime.

Healthcare professionals, community leaders, researchers, and others are sharing information. Speakers are discussing individual, domestic, and community violence.

Organizers say many times people don’t take action until something bad happens. They hope the people attending the conference can learn something and take it back to their home community where it can be implemented to make a difference.

“Firearms are the number one cause of death in our children,” said Luanne Friend, UA Associate Professor of Family and Rural Medicine. “And Alabama has a very high firearm injury rate, including homicide and suicide.”

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Susan Page with the University of Alabama said they are really focusing on individual, community, and domestic violence.

She said they’re “drilling down into the preparedness, prevention, and recovery in each of those areas.”

The rural violence conference ends Thursday.

They’ll discuss topics including self-defense training and drug facilitated sexual assaults before ending this year’s conference.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – The Alabama House of Representatives recently passed a budget package that includes funds to recruit and retain teachers in the state. The budget is worth more than $9 billion and includes salary increases for teachers, principals, and assistant principals.

Under the new budget, first-year teachers can expect to make a salary of $47,600, making them the highest-paid educators in the southeast. Governor Ivey has been a vocal advocate for this pay increase.

Teachers will also receive a 2% raise, and the budget also allocates funds to hire more principals and assistant principals, which is particularly important for schools in rural areas that cannot afford to pay for an assistant principal. Representative Mary Moore hopes to secure salary increases for other positions within schools as well, from bus drivers, to custodians, to cafeteria workers.

According to Rep. Moore, every staff member in a school has an important role to play in helping children learn and grow. “From the bus driver, to the custodians, to the cafeteria workers, to the teachers, everybody has some contact and a teacher for every child regardless of their career status in that building.”

In addition to the salary increases, the state education superintendent, Dr. Eric Mackey, has requested bonuses for special needs teachers to help recruit and retain them.

“We’ll have about a $1,200 bonus for each of our classroom special education teachers. It’s not everything, but it is something to say we really appreciate our special needs teachers, and we want more of them in the classroom,” says Dr. Mackey.

The education budget has now been sent to the Senate for full approval.

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