Kalen DeBoer opens up on what led to his recent success over Texas' Steve Sarkisian

Kalen DeBoer has to measure up to other coaches in the SEC, which includes Texas coach Steve Sarkisian. The two have some history, dating back to the CFP semifinals a couple of years ago when DeBoer’s Washington squad beat Sarkisian and Texas.

DeBoer had the leg up then, but Sarkisian has made a nice adjustment to the SEC, getting Texas to the conference title game and the CFP semifinals for a second straight year. DeBoer, meanwhile, went 9-4 in his first year at Alabama.

The two coaches aren’t slated to face off this season unless they meet in the SEC Championship or College Football Playoff. But the respect is evident from DeBoer.

“I mean, your players make plays, right? They make plays when you needed it most,” DeBoer said at SEC Media Days. “It might be scoring, it might be knocking the ball down, it might be, you know, getting the big stop. Coach Sark is an elite football mind. He’s an elite football coach. He’s been doing it as a coordinator, as a head coach on a high level, and so going into those games had nothing but the (utmost) respect, walking out of it … And so, you know, it showed just even in his transition to the SEC last year, you know that he evolved and made those adjustments and did the things he had to do to put himself in a spot to not just be playing for a championship but also in the playoffs.”

Sarkisian previously evaluated DeBoer; his comments from January of 2024, ahead of the CFP semifinals, were pretty telling. If DeBoer’s offense really gets rolling at Alabama, like it did at Washington, the SEC will be put on notice.

“I’d call Coach DeBoer a good coach,” Sarkisian said. “Let’s start with that. Excellent, excellent schemes and they tax you a lot of ways, from the run game to the precision-passing game to the play-action pass down on the field shots to the trick plays. And I think that’s a sign of a really good coach that he’s got versatility to their scheme. And they keep you on your toes. You have to defend all of that.

“And I think, like I said, that’s a good sign of a really good offensive football team. That’s a sign of a really good coach, which Coach DeBoer is and he has been throughout his career. And it definitely shows up with this team at Washington. They have got the scheme, and they have got the players to execute it. And put those two things together, that’s why they’re a very dangerous team.”