Greg Byrne uses Nick Saban quote to show importance of NIL and transfer portal in coach hire

The last three years have seen a wave of change across college football, most notably with NIL and the transfer portal. Nick Saban saw the landscape transform and, as he did, adapted with the times — although he called out some of the problems along the way.

Now, Saban is on his way out the door, announcing his retirement earlier this week. That meant Greg Byrne needed to find a replacement who embraced the many changes, and he found his man in Kalen DeBoer. He turned Washington around in short order, taking over a Huskies team that went 4-8 in 2021 and taking them to the national championship this past season. Notable transfers such as Michael Penix Jr. and Dillon Johnson led the way.

While looking for Saban’s replacement, which was no small feat, Byrne said the ability to adapt was important. In fact, he used a classic Saban quote to illustrate his point.

“Coach Saban had a great line that he said over the years: ‘The dinosaurs didn’t adapt, so you’d better not be a dinosaur,'” Byrne said. “And whether you like something, you don’t like something, you need to face reality in what you do, and that was my approach. You’d better have a coach that doesn’t want to deny the realities of what we’re dealing with, and that goes across the board in whatever you do.”

Alabama started its NIL efforts right away before DeBoer officially took over as head coach. The school’s primary NIL collective, Yea Alabama, asked fans to help DeBoer by “supporting the thing he needs most: NIL” in a Friday night post on X. As of Saturday morning, the collective said more than 500 people joined as he started his first day on the job.

Greg Byrne: Alabama got ‘someone I’d want my sons to play for’ in Kalen DeBoer

DeBoer’s resume is impressive. Over his nine years as a head coach — four at NAIA Sioux Falls from 2005-09, two at Fresno State from 2020-21 and two at Washington from 2022-23 — he has a 104-12 career record. That includes a 25-3 record with the Huskies, and he took the program to its first-ever national championship game, where they fell to Michigan Monday night in Houston.

DeBoer is also known as an impressive offensive mind, spending most of his career as an offensive coordinator before becoming a head coach. Now, he’s gearing up to replace Saban — which will not be an easy task.

“We are excited to welcome Kalen and Nicole DeBoer, and their daughters, Alexis and Avery, to The University of Alabama,” Greg Byrne said in a statement. “Coach DeBoer has proven he is a winner and has done an incredible job as a head coach at each of his stops. 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. We got that in Coach DeBoer.

“He is ready to get to work, and we look forward to him leading the Alabama Crimson Tide football program for years to come. We are grateful to our leadership in President Stuart Bell, Chancellor Finis St. John and The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees for their support during this process.”