This is an opinion column.

Shadows can be figurative or literal. Tall or short.

On a surreal Saturday in Tuscaloosa, they were all of the above.

Just consider the scene just after 1 p.m. in Bryant-Denny Stadium’s north end zone event space. Alabama’s whirlwind journey from Nick Saban’s retirement Wednesday through Friday’s hiring of Washington’s Kalen DeBoer culminated in the traditional introductory news conference unlike most that came before.

From the podium, Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne was building to the crescendo of his presentation, DeBoer on deck.

The room had a certain energy, partially because this Crimson Tide football program hadn’t done this in 17 years. Also, the guy they celebrated 6,218 days earlier was front-row, center for the celebration of his successor.

Legs crossed, hands folded and flanked by wife Terry, now former coach Nick Saban joined the standing ovation as Byrne finished his windup. Seconds earlier, multiple people on the same row leaned forward to see Saban’s reaction as the moment occurred.

It was DeBoer’s day, but the shadow of the legend he was replacing was unmistakable.

Seated on a standard wooden chair on the same stadium club floor on which he danced with the bride at his daughter’s wedding nearly nine years earlier, Saban listened intently as DeBoer spoke for nearly 20 minutes.

Outside was the patch of turf Saban went from a celebrated nomad to arguably the greatest in the history of his profession. It was on that field where DeBoer first encountered Saban and got a taste for the monumental task at hand. The date was Sept. 9, 2017, a Saturday after opening the season with a much-hyped 24-7 win over then-No. 3 Florida State when Fresno State came to Tuscaloosa.

Its first-year offensive coordinator was coming off a 66-0 rout of Incarnate Word, but a 42-year-old DeBoer was humbled in Week 2 in what’s his new home. The Bulldogs gained a season-low 287 yards while taking a 41-10 beating from an Alabama team that would go on to win Saban’s fifth of six national titles at Alabama.

“It wasn’t one that I want to remember,” DeBoer said with a grin while meeting with writers after the ceremonial introduction. “It was kind of a long day.”

The ships passing in the early January 2024 night never formally met that day. In fact, their first conversation came Friday morning as Alabama closed in on the hire.

By Saturday, it was DeBoer in the power position at the podium — physically looming over Saban. But the figurative reversal will be the dynamic of interest to follow.

Let’s be honest, coaches are rarely around when their successors take over. Few leave on their terms and without leaving for a different job on their own. Paul “Bear” Bryant died less than a month after coaching his last game in 1982 so his shadow on Ray Perkins was both multidimensional and ultimately, insurmountable.

DeBoer said all the right things Saturday in terms of keeping traditions and welcoming alumni — pitfalls when Perkins followed Bryant.

“He’s the best in the business to ever do it,” DeBoer said from the same podium Saban would use for his annual Nick’s Kids event. “I’m just going to make sure that’s all known, that’s how I feel. And 100% access to everything.

“I would be a fool if that wasn’t the case, I would be a fool,” DeBoer said. “I’m going to ask him that he shows up and make sure he gives me at least one thing every day. I’m sure he’s going to have 10 I’m going to be good with that, but at least one thing that he sees, that we can get better at.”

And that’s where this becomes a delicate dance for both parties. Saban, who moves into a still-undefined role with the school, now has an office in Bryant-Denny Stadium instead of the Mal Moore Athletics Center that houses the football program and key administrators.

That physical separation isn’t a matter of space.

Byrne said he’d let DeBoer and Saban determine how they’ll structure the relationship based on their comfort level.

It’s complicated for obvious reasons.

DeBoer’s right, he’d be a fool to not listen to a seven-time national champion whose Alabama football renaissance reshaped the entire sport for more than a decade.

At the same time, Saban was the center of circulation for everything in that program for 17 years. Regardless of how much he’s mentally prepared for the moment he’s no longer the tip of the spear, riding shotgun in the program he rebuilt into the monster it now is will be unnatural at best.

Offering help rather than grabbing the steering wheel has been a challenge for leaders far less successful or, frankly, authoritarian than Saban.

DeBoer didn’t sound concerned when asked about that dynamic Saturday. “I rang him up this morning.”

“I feel like I’m confident enough in my abilities along with knowing that you have someone who wants this program to be so successful,” DeBoer said. “I firmly and 100% believe that he wants nothing but the best.”

He said some departing leaders would rather be remembered as the legend rather than assist the next in line but “that’s obviously not the case” with Saban.

Still, that shadow is tall even if unintentional.

A moment at the end of Saturday’s ceremony spoke to the dynamic in play moving forward. Closing with DeBoer and Byrne posing for pictures on stage with an Alabama jersey, eyes were focused on the Sabans in the front row.

Emcee Chris Stewart then ended the program and the crowd of dignitaries, administrators and boosters descended on Saban.

DeBoer posed for more pictures with his wife Nicole but the crowd surrounded Nick and Terry. The unofficial receiving line was one of thanks for the obvious.

It lasted a few minutes before they hit the exit, to the waiting car and off into the Saban version of retirement.

DeBoer remained, making the circuit of interviews with local reporters with Saban’s omnipresent shadow framing the conversation.

Day 1 of many in this uniquely challenging job, one that comes with a still-to-be-determined degree of assistance from the legend that built the very mountain DeBoer now trying to scale.

How’s that for a shadow?

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.