The SEC Media Days have wrapped up, but Paul Finebaum is still not over calling out an SEC head coach. The ESPN broadcaster didn’t like what he heard from Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer.

“What Kalen DeBoer did here yesterday was almost deflect the national championship question,” Finebaum told Trevor Denton of WAAY TV on July 23. “He had a line saying, ‘I know what I’ve signed up for.’ We’ve heard that line a 100 times from your coach.”

“We want to hear you show some respect to the program that you were hired to take over, and that respect is you win a title. You do not survive at Alabama unless you win a title, and they were closer to winning a national championship when he first got there than they are this year.”

During his appearance at SEC Media Days, the Alabama head coach discussed the standards expected of him in Tuscaloosa. However, at the same time, DeBoer also stressed that he is not consumed by the championship-or-bust question.

“I’m focused on just helping our program be the best and trying to bring out best and raise the level of everyone around me, from coaching staff to our players; trying to maximize what we’re capable every single day,” DeBoer said.

Alabama is no doubt the most successful team in terms of the number of championships it has won. In total, when a program has 18 national titles, criticism is inevitable if the head coach is not meeting the program’s potential. The Tide showed confidence in DeBoer after the 2025 season, giving him a seven-year, $87 million contract extention.

However, the head coach is yet to show that the program made a right decision in choosing him as the successor to Nick Saban. Alabama’s 2025 season ended with a brutal 38-3 loss to Indiana. Before that, the Tide was embarrassed by Georgia in the SEC Championship game.

At any other program, a 20-8 record and a playoff appearance would be seen as a success. But Alabama fans are used to different standards. While it’s understandable that DeBoer would go for a standard head-coach response to a question about a national championship, it can affect the momentum around the program.

As things stand, Kalen DeBoer’s team is nowhere near the national championship conversations. The likes of Texas, Indiana, Ohio State, and Oregon are getting hype. It’s not a bad thing in itself. According to Nick Saban, flying under the radar can bring dividends for DeBoer’s team. Before the 2025 season, no one was seeing Indiana as the national title favorite. Those expectations have changed now.

For the 2026 season, DeBoer has yet to decide between Austin Mack and Keelon Russell for his QB1. The Alabama roster is also relatively younger compared to the 2025 season. And despite facing media criticism, DeBoer has remained calm.

“We’ve got to go out, and we’ve got to get the job done. We signed up for that,” he said.