Alabama fans give new coach Kalen DeBoer rock-star greeting at Tuscaloosa airport

Greetings like this are generally reserved for returning national champions — or The Beatles.

At Alabama, earning the title of head football coach is cause enough for mass celebration, as the Friday night scene at the Tuscaloosa airport demonstrated.

Alabama hired Kalen DeBoer away from Washington Friday afternoon to replace the recently retired Nick Saban. DeBoer arrived in Tuscaloosa Friday night via private jet. A throng of enthusiastic Crimson Tide fans lined up by the tarmac to greet him.

They carried signs reading "DeBoer says Roll Tide," "Welcome home coach" and "Are you my new daddy?" When DeBoer stepped off the airplane in his first public appearance as the Alabama coach, fans roared in approval. He then slapped high fives through a chain-link fence with his newfound faithful.

It was a rock-star greeting the likes of which DeBoer surely never sniffed in his two seasons in Seattle — and a sign of the pressure he'll face while replacing a legend.

Expectations are high at Alabama — perhaps higher than at any other program in college sports. DeBoer's taking over for the man who set those expectations into overdrive by claiming six national championships in his 17 years as Alabama's head coach.

His job won't be easy. And history suggests that he'll struggle. But if DeBoer succeeds, the rewards will be great.