Dear Kalen DeBoer,
They say it just means more here, and I’d say they’re right, except that they’re grossly understating the magnitude of college football in the South.
It doesn’t just mean more here. It means everything.
Your initiation to SEC football begins Saturday. Prepare for your life to change.
This conference can make you a legend or recast you as a fool.
You clearly require no education on football X’s and O’s. Heck, you’ve won everywhere you’ve been.
But wherever you’ve been doesn’t have Georgia, LSU and Tennessee as opponents, and wherever you’ve been, the people don’t pin their hopes, dreams and entire sense of self-worth to what happens in the span of three hours on fall Saturdays.
Wherever you’ve been, fans don’t commit felonies after losses.
Here, they do.
Wherever you’ve been, a win was a win, not the pinnacle of life.
Here, it is.
Wherever you’ve been, a loss was a loss, not life and death.
Here, it is.
Marino Casem, a born and raised Southerner who coached at a few schools down this way, once said this about college football in the South:
“In the South, football is a religion, and Saturday is the holy day.”
Service begins at 6:30 Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, and 100,000 members of your flock will be there waving crimson and white pompoms, singing Lynyrd Skynyrd and expecting you to officially baptize this new era of Alabama football.
Look, you crushed it these past eight months since becoming Alabama’s coach. Bravo.
You knew just how to win over Alabama fans. First, you paid respect to the greats, showing humility and honor to be working in the shadow of legends. Rather than bristle at the idea of Nick Saban being strapped into a golden parachute and retaining a presence on campus, you embraced it. And importantly, you showed that Alabama will remain a standard-setter on the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/open-letter-kalen-deboer-alabama-100412042.html
Author : The Tuscaloosa News
Publish date : 2024-09-25 10:04:12
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
