Kalen DeBoer was at the top of the world after the victory Georgia at the start of this season, but found it difficult to follow in the footsteps of Nick Saban over the last few weekends Alabama.

A loss for Vanderbilt and narrowly escaped South Carolina Many have wondered if the Crimson Tide suffered a failure in naming their new coach. As Alabama prepares for a showdown Tennessee In Week 8, Saban joined The Pat McAfee Show on Friday, where he gave DeBoer some incredible advice on how to handle the pressure that comes from his legendary tenure in Tuscaloosa.

“I think whenever you have a successful coach — I felt that a little bit when I was coaching at Michigan State because George Pearls had won the Big Ten championship there. Of course, I was on his staff, you know, as the defensive coordinator at the time, and (he) had a lot of people who really believed in what he was doing, you know, the discipline, the culture that he had created and all of that. When I went there, I was expected to do things almost the same way he did because I was on the staff. But still, over the years I’ve learned some other ways of doing things because of being around them (Bill) Belichick And, you know, some people like that. Sometimes I felt like, ‘Why don’t you do it a certain way?’ But I think this is a difficult transition for Kalen,” Saban told McAfee about DeBoers Challenge.

“Anytime you take over a successful program, I don’t want to judge what they do because I think he has to do what he does his way. You know, he can’t be me, he can’t try to be someone he’s not. I think there is more than one way to skin a cat and I actually think the guy was successful and I think his method will work. I just think it’s an adjustment for a lot of fans and people, but I think he’ll win them over because he’s a good guy and a good coach and he’s got a good system and a good organization and I I’m just trying to support and support him in any way I can so he can make a smooth transition.”

One area that Saban believes has been overlooked is the amount of talent Alabama lost in the transfer portal following his exit. While DeBoer was able to offset some of the exodus with his new additions, the Crimson Tide certainly lost some players.

“I think one thing that goes unacknowledged is the fact that when I retired, 26 players transferred,” Saban added. “You know, Isaiah Bond was a pretty good player. He would be an impact player if he was still at Alabama, especially with some of the players they have now. So then (Kadyn) Proctor goes, then he comes back. Caleb Downs is – I mean, I looked at all the guys in the draft last year because I did the draft. He was a freshman, and if he had been a junior or senior in the draft, he probably would have been the first safety taken in the draft. So that’s a pretty significant player. They really lost a lot and people don’t talk about it.

“Now they have a few people, but I think there will be a transition and he has to get his people in there and he will get the opportunity to recruit them and do it, and I can’t make any predictions about the future , as far as people’s patience goes, but in Alabama they don’t have much patience. You have high expectations. You can’t get caught up in that, you just have to concentrate on what you have to do to make the team play as well as possible. Don’t let all this affect you. That’s one of the things that I think allowed me to not lose my mind during my time there because every time we lost a game we were criticized.”

While the last two weeks have been tough for Kalen DeBoer and Alabama, the Crimson Tide can rejuvenate their fan base with a big win over Tennessee this weekend. Nick Saban fell the last time he brought his team to Knoxville, and righting that wrong could be big in the eyes of Alabama fans for the new man on campus.