Kalen DeBoer goes in-depth on relationship with Kane Wommack throughout career

Kalen DeBoer and Kane Wommack worked together at Indiana in 2019 — and it’s Wommack that brought him there in the first place.

Tom Allen, who was the Hoosiers’ head coach at the time, tasked Wommack to find the offense that would “drive him the most crazy,” and DeBoers was the one that fit the bill, On3’s Andy Staples revealed. DeBoer says this is true — which proved to be pivotal in their reunion five years later at Alabama.

“That’s where I understood how good of a recruiter [Wommack] is — he recruited the heck out of me,” DeBoer told Staples. “We really drew a strong relationship before I even accepted that opportunity to go there and then working with him and just how compatible he was and how team-first oriented he was. But yet, you know, he was all about making sure he had a good defense on the football field. His way of bringing a staff together, bringing players together — that just was a special year.

“Everything happens for a reason, you know, being here. It’s really cool. To understand the reasons why that was so pivotal, whether it’s other coaches like Nick Sheridan, who’s on our staff as well, as our coordinator. … So there is a lot of great things that came from from that and the experience there was awesome, but Kane Wommack has done a great job. I knew that he’d be doing what he’s doing right now and bringing a staff together, getting the players to buy in. And he’s obviously a great defensive coordinator, a great mind.”

Wommack was one of the first calls DeBoer made after Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne contacted him for the position. He wanted to know about the in-state recruiting scene since Wommack was the head coach at South Alabama for the past three seasons.

“It was just more of the trust I had in him,” DeBoer said of the phone call he made to Wommack. “Understanding, you know, ‘Hey, is this a fit for me?’ Things like that. And just hearing the scoop that he had and the insight he had to help me understand everything about this job. From afar, I knew and understand what Alabama football is all about, but just the details because he’s been in this part of the country for so long.”

Lofty expectations await DeBoer, Wommack and the rest of the new Crimson Tide head coach’s initial staff ahead of the 2024 season. A new era in Alabama football kicks off inside Bryant-Denny Stadium on Aug. 31 against Western Kentucky.