Kalen DeBoer opens up on his challenge of adjusting to life in the South

When Alabama decided to hire Kalen DeBoer, questions instantly popped up about the location of his previous jobs. DeBoer has never worked in the South, mainly coaching out West — most recently with the Washington Huskies. Whether he could adapt to the SEC environment was going to be a test he needed to pass.

Turns out, Tuscaloosa is as close to home as DeBoer has felt in his coaching career. He is originally from South Dakota and while there is no coastline anywhere near Milbank, SD, the DeBoer family is seemingly adapting well to living in Alabama.

“I love my home state, I love the part of the country I’m from,” DeBoer said. “This feels as close to any place I’ve ever lived to being back in South Dakota. I mean that in the best way. We don’t have the beaches you get on the South side of the state but there’s a lot of really cool things that are here in Alabama.”

The main concern with DeBoer’s previous job’s locations was recruiting. People would assume DeBoer has never been in the South to recruit elite players — or any players at all. But being at a few places in the Midwest, there were a few trips made to states Alabama considers crucial recruiting grounds.

While there were not great relationships built with those high schools, some familiarity in the past has helped turn them good since DeBoer accepted the Alabama job.

“In the end, no matter where you’re at, when it comes to recruiting, it does come to relationships,” DeBoer said. “And just how much you pour into it and how important it is. It takes time, you’re starting behind when moving here in January and trying to establish. There’s acquaintances but not on a regular basis.

“I was at Eastern Michigan, we recruited in Florida. I was at Bloomington and there’s a lot of visits around the Southeast that you took with guys. When I was at Southern Illinois, we recruited Tennessee and made some trips down here in Alabama and Mississippi, even Atlanta.”

DeBoer and his staff are off to a great start on the recruiting trail, currently having the No. 3 class in the 2025 cycle per the On3 Industry Team Rankings. If there was ever a time he was playing catch up in the past, the relationships sure seem like they are paying off in a big way.