Washington AD Troy Dannen: UW offered Kalen DeBoer 'Big Ten package' in contract talks

As Kalen DeBoer became a top target for the Alabama head coach position to replace Nick Saban, Washington attempted to keep him. In fact, according to UW athletic director Troy Dannen, the school pulled out all the stops.

DeBoer previously received a two-year contract extension from Washington in November through the 2028 season, which would’ve increased his salary from his $3.1 million base. However, there were no specifics in that announcement.

Once Alabama ramped up its pursuit, though, Dannen brought a new offer to the table — one fit for a program preparing to switch conferences.

“We put numbers in front of him that were, quite frankly, unprecedented for this university,” Dannen said, via the Seattle Times’ Mike Vorel. “We put a Big Ten package in front of Kalen, not a Pac-12 package. …

“When it wasn’t signed, Kalen said the right things publicly, and I said the right things publicly … but it gives you pause.”

Dannen then confirmed the figure that came up around Thanksgiving was nearly $8.7 million, and that increased to $9.4 million after the Sugar Bowl against Texas. The latter figure would’ve made him the eighth-highest paid coach in the country based on 2023 salaries, according to the On3 Coach Salaries Index.

Dannen — who took over as Washington’s athletic director in October after Jen Cohen left for USC — also confided in former Washington coach Chris Petersen during the conversations once Alabama’s interest grew. That was part of the process to eventually land on Jedd Fisch, the former Arizona coach introduced as Kalen DeBoer’s replacement earlier this week.

“We had an $8.7 million annual contract in front of Kalen at Thanksgiving,” Dannen said. “After the Sugar Bowl we had a $9.4 [million annual offer] on the table, which would have put him in the top eight in the country. When that didn’t get signed, I started talking to [Petersen], just in case. ‘Hey, who do you like? Who have you run across?’

“When Alabama called me last Thursday [to interview DeBoer], I had Chris in my office the day before, running through a list of people — my list. Who did he like? Who did he not like? Who were the people that were not on my list? Then I took Chris out of it. I still used him, but I didn’t have him in my daily meetings. I didn’t have him in the interviews. But I talked to him every day.”