Kalen DeBoer reveals his surprise at Nick Saban's retirement, whirlwind hiring process

Nick Saban‘s retirement may feel like two months ago but the announcement was exactly two weeks on Wednesday. The college football world was stunned by the news, watching the sport’s most prominent figure retiring not too long after a College Football Playoff appearance. Even his replacement, Kalen DeBoer, was shocked by Saban stepping away.

“I think everyone was surprised,” DeBoer said Wednesday on the Pat McAfee Show. “Coach Saban has done it for so long and has it rolling. And I would say the cupboard is not bare with who is here in this program from a player standpoint. He was relentless every single day. When you see someone give everything they have, you think it’s going to continue on. I think probably just like you, we’re all a little surprised.”

Alabama AD Greg Byrne immediately got to work in finding to program’s next head coach, hiring DeBoer just over 48 hours later. He was coming off a tough loss himself, being less than a week removed from Washington dropping the national championship to Michigan. DeBoer has admitted he was still hurting and thinking about what transpired down in Houston.

But DeBoer was building something special with the Huskies, looking to stay competitive on the national scene — even while transitioning to the Big Ten. DeBoer worked so hard to build the program up in just two seasons following the Jimmy Lake era. Tremendous success followed, winning double-digit games both years while adding a Pac-12 title and a CFP win.

Getting a call from Alabama meant plans were going to change, though. Leaving Seattle was a tough decision for DeBoer but at the end of the day, being the guy to follow Saban and continue the Alabama legacy was something he wanted to do.

“When you invest so much in a program like I did at Washington — and that’s the only way you can do it,” DeBoer said. “Jump all in at a place. Whether it’s building a relationship with the players, the people around the program, the alumni. That’s how it has to be done for it to be successful. It was a hard decision. I felt like there was unfinished business at Washington, coming up short of winning the national championship. Which was our goal.

“But I also saw this as an amazing opportunity that I could just not pass up on. To be the head coach at Alabama.”