Kalen DeBoer on if he had nerves taking Alabama job: 'Not at all'

A job like the head football one at Alabama doesn’t come around for just anyone every day. It didn’t faze Kalen DeBoer during the hiring process, though, because of his circumstances and the approach he took to it all.

DeBoer spoke about any nerves he had from taking the job with the Tide on ‘Bussin’ With The Boys’. He said that he wasn’t tense about any of it because a return to his program at Washington was there for him too.

“No. Not at all because I had a great place where I was at,” DeBoer said this week.

“In all honesty? No because I was at a great place. So, you know, it was just a matter of really thinking it through,” said DeBoer.

It was a lot to consider in a short time for DeBoer. The Huskies were just coming off a national championship loss to end what was an undefeated year on January 8th. It also ended the sport’s season before the official retirement of Nick Saban came two days later. Alabama then hired DeBoer two more days after that on January 12th.

That’s a ton to take in over the course of one week. That’s why DeBoer had to take a breath and think about the decision from a grounded spot rather than an emotional one that could’ve come from the whirlwind of that week.

“I think the piece that I truly tried to make sure of was that I wasn’t getting caught up in the emotions of the ups and downs of what we’d just been through with the season and trying to really take a step back in a short amount of time and have some perspective on everything,” DeBoer said. “We had had such an amazing year and, you know, on a Monday night in the national championship, the wind is taken out of your sails. You’re trying to support your team and your staff.”

From that spot, DeBoer then assessed the opportunity and decided it was the one for him.

“You know, really, it was more about making sure that this was going to be a good fit. That this was going to be a place I could see myself being successful. People that I was going to be enjoying the journey with, from Greg Byrne others here in the athletic department at the university,” said DeBoer.

You don’t take a job like being the head football coach at Alabama lightly. It’s a gig that comes with too much for any candidate to do so.

Still, DeBoer didn’t discount that weight because of how he stepped into the process to begin with.

“I just wanted to make sure I didn’t get caught up in that,” said DeBoer. “Taking a step back as much as I could in the moment was important.”