Low: "I Have a Hard Time Seeing DeBoer Be the Coach at Michigan"

On Wednesday evening, reports broke that the Michigan Wolverines had fired head coach Sherrone Moore with cause, following an inappropriate relationship with a staffer in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

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Immediately following the news, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer was linked to the open Michigan head coaching position. DeBoer, a 51-year-old from Milbank, South Dakota, has been at Alabama for two seasons. DeBoer went 9-4 in his first season in Tuscaloosa, and just wrapped up a 10-3 regular season at Alabama with an appearance in the 2025 SEC Championship game. Despite losing the SEC Championship, Alabama made the 12-team College Football Playoff and will face the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman, Oklahoma, in the first round next Friday, December 19.

Despite Alabama's looming matchup with the Sooners, the noise around Kalen DeBoer and Michigan ramped up quickly on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. On Thursday afternoon, national college football reporter Chris Low joined Tide 100.9 and Ryan Fowler on The Game to discuss Kalen DeBoer and the job opening at one of college football's premier programs.

"That's where I would start with all this, that Michigan is, absolutely, interested in Kalen DeBoer," Chris Low told Ryan Fowler and Tide 100.9 on Thursday. "I don't think that's really a secret anywhere. The other thing to remember, too, is this just happened yesterday. ADs typically have a drawer - the old cliché, they have their wishlist in their front drawer - I don't think they were necessarily ready for [Sherrone] Moore to be out, but I think as they pivot now to figuring out who their next head coach is gonna be, that Kalen's right there at the top. I don't think - to his representation or Greg Byrne or him - that it's a huge surprise. But the fact that he's their number one guy, or the guy that they would love to talk to first, doesn't necessarily mean that that feeling is reciprocated.

"In my conversations with people close to him, and with him a few weeks ago, he never had any desire to go to Penn State. I think the third thing I would say is: Are Penn State and Michigan exactly equal? I don't really think so. I think Penn State's a really good football job; I think Michigan's up there, right there near the top. Right now, with the AD and what's gonna happen to him and all the controversies they've had, I don't know how attractive it is now as it would've been a year ago, but it still is a brand. Michigan is a brand and a football program with resources out the wazoo, and tradition that a lot of people would be interested in that job. And I do think it's a tier above Penn State."

Penn State fired James Franklin midway through the 2025 season, and before Alabama's 27-20 victory in the Iron Bowl, Kalen DeBoer was linked to the open position in Happy Valley. DeBoer shut down the Penn State rumors a week ago before the SEC championship game, and the Nittany Lions ended up hiring Iowa State's Matt Campbell.

According to Low in his interview with Fowler, Michigan was interested in DeBoer following Jim Harbaugh's departure to the NFL following the Wolverines' 2023 National Championship season, but the timeline didn't work out. Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban retired on January 10, 2024, and Alabama had DeBoer on a flight from Seattle to Tuscaloosa less than 72 hours later. Harbaugh departed Michigan for the Los Angeles Chargers on January 24.

"So [Alabama] sort of beat Michigan to the punch before Harbaugh was out. I absolutely think if the timing had been different, that [Kalen DeBoer] would have been right there at the top of Michigan's list.

"You look at guys like Lane Kiffin...When you see guys' names like that about, usually they've done a good job, or they're widely respected in the industry. So here's two big-time schools - Penn State and Michigan - that clearly are and were interested in Kalen DeBoer. I understand some of the frustrations with the way last year ended and the way this year started for Alabama, but clearly, when you sit down and talk with football people around the country, Kalen DeBoer is on a list among some of the top coaches in college football. When you're on that list, and big jobs come open, your name is gonna come up. I think that's sort of what's happened these last couple weeks."

Michigan is in a chaotic situation right now, however. The situation involving Sherrone Moore is the third scandal for Michigan under athletic director Warde Manuel, who was the chair of the College Football Playoff committee last season. Former Michigan offensive coordinator Matt Weiss is facing a lawsuit and potentially jail time for hacking the accounts of Michigan student-athletes searching for intimate photos. Weiss was with Michigan in 2021 and 2022. Additionally, the sign-stealing scandal surrounding former Michigan assistant coach Connor Stallions took place as recently as the Wolverines' 2023 national championship season, which included an overtime victory over Alabama in the 2023 Rose Bowl in the College Football Playoff.

"Let's say Warde Manuel is the guy that's doing the hiring. Is he gonna be there? Will he be allowed to make the hire? Is it somebody else? Who's your boss gonna be? You've got controversy stacked on controversy at Michigan over the last few years. From where we sit, it does look to be, maybe not the most stable of places right now.

"And I'll say this for Alabama," Low added, "Alabama has really good alignment right now. From the president to the board, to Greg Byrne, and on down. I think that's one of the most attractive things about being at Alabama, is you've got that. Yes, there's always gonna be scrutiny, and when you come in behind a guy like Nick [Saban] - I mean, everybody talks about his accomplishments. The guy won 100 straight games and didn't lose to an unranked opponent. 100 straight games. I don't know that we'll ever see that kind of consistency again in college football.

"I've had enough conversations with Kalen to know this: He knew what he was signing up for," Low said. "And yet, he still ran to this challenge, which a lot of people didn't want any part of; he ran to this challenge, which I think says a lot about him as a competitor, as a person; and I don't think he's the kind of competitor who's gonna want to run away after two years. Even though it hasn't been perfect, and I don't think anybody thought it would be, I don't think that's who he is.

"It's college football, and you never say never...the timing period makes it very, very difficult to think - with the Tide playing their playoff game next Friday, Michigan's in the market for a head coach. And, if Alabama wins that football game, they're not playing again until New Year's Day, with the portal opening on the second (of January), it'd be really hard to work through all that.

"As I sit back and look at all these things, and I'm not talking for Kalen DeBoer, Greg Byrne, Warde Manuel at Michigan, I just have a hard time believing, right now, that he's gonna be the next head coach at Michigan."

You can listen to Ryan Fowler's full interview with Chris Low here, where they discuss the possibility of Kalen DeBoer going to Michigan and Alabama's upcoming playoff game on December 19 against the Oklahoma Sooners.

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.