Alabama

DeBoer on championship expectations: ‘That’s what you come here for’

Published

2 years ago

April 18, 2024

DeBoer on championship expectations: ‘That’s what you come here for’

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.

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Alabama

Lawmakers question need and purpose of Alabama Beverage Control as costs rise

Published

2 hours ago

November 10, 2025

Press Room

Lawmakers question need and purpose of Alabama Beverage Control as costs rise

The Alabama Beverage Control Board, established in 1937 to regulate alcohol sales, is facing criticism from state officials over recent decisions impacting liquor pricing. State Rep. Juandalynn Givan expressed concerns about the board’s role, stating, “I don’t care how you look at it but it is monopolizing a process or the sale of alcohol right here in Alabama for which at some point, that board was created not to do.”

A recent increase in bailment fees from 72 cents to a dollar (which comes out to about a 2 cent increase per bottle) has sparked debate, with Givan and other lawmakers questioning the board’s ability to make fee changes. “Maybe the regulations need to be a little different or at best we need to find out are they authorized by law to be able to make these modifications because this is a serious increase,” she said.

Alabama ranks among the top three states for liquor taxes, prompting concerns that consumers may seek alternatives. “People also drive over to Georgia because you can go to Georgia right next door so you have to look at that and I suspect after a while it will be just like with the lottery ticket. People will start going back to Georgia,” Givan noted.

State Sen. Arthur Orr advocates for Alabama to exit the retail alcohol market, citing competition between about 600 private retailers and 170 state (ABC) stores. “It makes no sense conceptually why we still have this two system operation when it comes to the sale of alcohol we need to get out of the retail sales and then eventually get out of the distribution,” Orr said. He had previously seen estimates for potential state savings around $110 to $120 million annually over a decade if the state exits retail sales.

A price comparison reveals that liquor in Alabama is about 8% more expensive pre-tax than in Georgia, where liquor taxes are approximately 83.4% lower. Orr, who has previously sponsored bills for change in the ABC, suggests legislative action may be delayed until a new governor takes office due to Gov. Kay Ivey’s stance on the ABC.

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Alabama

The lingering St. John’s reminder after disappointing Alabama loss

Published

20 hours ago

November 9, 2025

Press Room

The lingering St. John’s reminder after disappointing Alabama loss

At this time last year, in what turned out to be the best St. John’s season since the 1999-2000 campaign, the Red Storm trailed Quinnipiac at halftime at Carnesecca Arena.

A few weeks later, they went 1-2 during a disappointing trip to the Bahamas that featured late-game shortcomings.

Why the history lesson, you may ask?

Consider it a reminder for those who forgot: Last season wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine. There were issues that really weren’t ironed out until January. St. John’s wasn’t a lockdown defensive team in November, despite the revisionist history I’ve seen on social media. Kadary Richmond, the big transfer portal addition, didn’t find his game until the new year.

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Alabama

Alabama-LSU football rivalry still great, but won’t ever be the same again | Goodbread

Published

2 days ago

November 9, 2025

Press Room

Alabama-LSU football rivalry still great, but won’t ever be the same again | Goodbread

An era came to an end on Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium, and it’s hard to say the next era is an improvement.

Hard, but not impossible.

Alabama football handled important business at home in beating LSU 20-9 as coach Kalen DeBoer ran his two-year home record to 12-0. Outside the stadium, it felt very much like the fiery rivalry it’s become; well-captured for posterity by intrepid beat reporter Colin Gay. Inside the stadium, only LSU’s broken season − the Tigers entered with three losses and an interim coach after Brian Kelly’s firing − made it seem anything less.

It was still the passion-filled, hard-hitting affair that it’s always been.

But it also marked the last year of the SEC’s commitment to pit these two programs annually. They’ll play only twice over the next four years, then the league will re-evaluate its new scheduling format that increased league games to nine per team. It’s just not going to be the same going forward, and no, it’s not really a rivalry anymore, because it can’t be circled on every calendar.

So it’s with a lump in the throat that this goodbye must be said, but the alternative would’ve been more like a lump on the head. The SEC assigned Auburn, Tennessee and Mississippi State to Alabama as its three annual opponents over the four-year schedule cycle from 2026-2029, and of course, Auburn and Tennessee were the right two rivalries to keep. They just mean more to the fan base, and for the SEC, they mean more for television ratings. As for the decision to include Mississippi State, that comports with the league’s effort to maintain some balance in the difficulty of each school’s three annual foes, as well as a parallel goal of geographical proximity.

Of course, the 2025 season by itself makes a poor argument that Tennessee, Auburn and LSU would’ve been too tough an annual trio to saddle Alabama or anyone else with. Tennessee’s not bad, Auburn’s not good, and LSU’s not anything special. But across time, those are three programs that have proven they’ll invest the resources necessary to be a dangerous foe in any given year, and that’s not something that can be said about Mississippi State.

Speaking of programs with resources, Alabama will catch Texas twice in the same four-year cycle, not coincidentally in the two years that it won’t face LSU. In other words, the TV monster will be well-fed regardless, and navigating an SEC schedule won’t be a picnic for anyone. That’s to be expected when the deepest league in the sport adds two helmets like Texas and Oklahoma.

The Alabama-LSU breakup was the right thing to do, but it be strange absence from the schedule. The 2027 season will mark the first year it won’t be played in my lifetime, and I’m 54. The last time it wasn’t played (1963), BeatleMania swept the UK and a gallon of gas set people back 30 cents.

And boy have there been some big ones.

LSU’s 9-6 overtime win in 2011 was truly epic. A defensive struggle for the ages with future NFL players all over the field. Rightly billed as the Game of the Century, it might’ve been the last truly great defensive game, at least played by a pair of national powers at the time, before RPO offenses changed everything. Celebrities from LeBron James to Shaq to dignitaries like Condoleezza Rice lined the sideline. The whole scene belongs in a museum.

There have been some marvelous finishes, too.

Just a year after the 9-6 game, AJ McCarron hit T.J. Yeldon with a screen pass for a 28-yard touchdown in the final minute for a 21-17 win.

Former Alabama LB Marvin Constant stuffed Josh Booty at the goal line on the final play of the 1999 game to preserve a 23-17 Alabama win, and it all but cost him his career. Constant blew out multiple knee ligaments on the play, and was never quite the same player again.

It’s been a long and memorable marriage.

But with the advent of the nine-game schedule, it’s a marriage that’s run its course.

Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.

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