The University of Alabama wasted no time locking down their future head football coach this week after legendary coach Nick Saban announced on Wednesday that he was retiring.
The Crimson Tide hired Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer, 49, on Friday after he led his team to this year’s national championship game in only his second year leading the program.
Replacing the greatest college football coach of all-time will not be an easy task as weekly competition in the SEC is tougher than in the PAC-12 and expectations will be higher for him at Alabama than Washington.
DeBoer led the Washington Huskies to a 25-3 record in his two years at the program, a drastic turnaround from their abysmal 4-8 record in 2021.
“Coach DeBoer has proven he is a winner and has done an incredible job as a head coach at each of his stops,” said Director of Athletics Greg Byrne. “One of the things I told our team the other day is we are going to get someone who is not only a great coach with the Xs and Os, but also someone who cares about his players and someone I’d want my sons to play for, just like I would have wanted them to play for Coach Saban.”
DeBoer said in a statement that he has always he tremendous respect for the Alabama football program, noting that its “tradition-rich history” was “unmatched across the landscape of college athletics.”
“Following Coach Saban is an honor. He has been the standard for college football, and his success is unprecedented,” he said. “I would not have left Washington for just any school. The chance to lead the football program at The University of Alabama is the opportunity of a lifetime.”
In his nine seasons as a head coach, DeBoer has gone 104-12; including going 67-3 at the University of Sioux Falls over five seasons and 12-6 during two seasons at Fresno State.