SAD NEWS: Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer announced his intention to retire. Because of…

Alabama’s Tuscaloosa (AP) — Bryant-Denny Stadium was packed with Alabama supporters eager to see their team win a national championship during Nick Saban’s debut spring game.

Seventeen years later, Kalen DeBoer finds himself in a very different circumstance. Only a few months into the chore of trying to retain the momentum Saban built while navigating a very different world of NIL and the transfer portal, DeBoer finished up his first spring with the Crimson Tide on Saturday.

An announced crowd of 72,358 attended his unofficial debut at Bryant-Denny Stadium for the A-Day game, which was roughly 2,000 higher than the capacity of Husky Stadium in Washington. The attendance shows the level of interest, as well as possibly some intrigue and worry, even if the scrimmage was not a reliable indicator of how Alabama will appear in DeBoer’s first season.

Owner of a season ticket, Todd Eddleman, 58, of Cullman, said of Saban, “He developed something.” He was also present at the team’s inaugural spring game. He also doesn’t want to see it fail. He takes pride in his creations. This person right here, I have no doubts about his ability to stay there. He’s a terrific coach and recruiter, in my opinion. He did a fantastic job, in my opinion, and it’s not an easy task.

“I believe he will react similarly like Coach Saban did: when Saban arrived and saw 100,000 fans, he turned to his assistant coaches and said, ‘I think we came to the perfect area.'”