Reflection is encouraged during the holidays and the new year. The Rose Bowl game versus Michigan on the first day of 2024, which would ultimately be Nick Saban’s final game as head coach of the Crimson Tide, kicked off an incredible year for the Alabama Athletics. A few days later, he would declare his retirement, and on January 12, Greg Byrne hired Kalen DeBoer.
In a pivotal matchup with Georgia, then ranked No. 2, inside Bryant-Denny Stadium on September 28, DeBoer recorded his first signature victory. After defeating No. 3 Tennessee in the Super Regionals, softball returned to the Women’s College World Series. On November 1, women’s cross country took home the SEC championship. Later that month, Doris Lemngole won an NCAA cross-country individual championship.
The men’s basketball team’s victory over Clemson in the Elite Eight on March 8 to advance to the program’s first-ever Final Four, however, was the highlight of the year. The program had long been capped at the Elite Eight, and actually the Sweet 16 as well, but the Crimson Tide finally made an impression in Nate Oats’ fifth season as head coach.