Alabama hires Washington's Kalen DeBoer as next head football coach

Alabama has found its replacement for Nick Saban, who retired on Wednesday.

The Crimson Tide is hiring Kalen DeBoer from Washington as its next head football coach, per multiple reports. DeBoer interviewed for the position with Alabama director of athletics Greg Byrne on Thursday and entered contract negotiations Friday before agreeing to a deal.

DeBoer finished his second season as the head coach of the Huskies and led them to a berth in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. Washington completed an unbeaten regular season, defeated Oregon (for a second time) in the final Pac-12 Championship Game and topped Texas in the Sugar Bowl semifinal before losing its first game of the season to No. 1 Michigan in the CFP National Championship Game this week.

The Huskies, led by quarterback Michael Penix Jr., had one of the nation’s top offenses last season, capping the calendar with the country’s second-best passing offense (343.7 yards per game). Washington also finished the 2023-24 campaign ranked inside the 15 nationally in both total offense (462.1 ypg, 12th) and scoring offense (36.0 points per game, 13th).

In two seasons in Seattle, Wash., DeBoer led the Huskies to a 25-3 (16-2 Pac-12) record and a pair of bowl wins (Alamo in 2022 and Sugar in 2023). The year before DeBoer was brought in as the head coach, Washington finished the 2021 season with a 4-8 overall record.

UW was DeBoer’s third stint as a collegiate head coach. He came to Washington in 2022 after two years at Fresno State. From 2020-21, he led the Bulldogs to a 12-6 (9-5 Mountain West) record, including a 9-5 mark in his final season. That fall, Fresno State had the No. 9 passing offense among FBS schools (326.7 ypg) and was 14th in total offense (463.8 ypg).

DeBoer spent the 2010-19 seasons as an offensive coordinator at four different schools. He coached wide receivers and led the offense at Southern Illinois from 2010-13 before serving as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Eastern Michigan (2014-16), Fresno State (2017-18) and Indiana (2019). The Hoosiers were 15th in passing offense in 2019.

Prior to his streak of assistant jobs, DeBoer spent 10 years at his alma mater, Sioux Falls. First as the offensive coordinator from 2000-04 and then as the head coach from 2005-09. He tallied an impressive mark of 67-3, including a 49-1 conference record, in his five years as the coach and led Sioux Falls to four straight NAIA championship game appearances. The Cougars won three NAIA championships, in 2006, 2008 and 2009, under DeBoer’s watch.

In nine seasons as a head coach, Deboer has won 104 games compared to 12 losses.

A 1998 graduate of Sioux Falls, DeBoer played wide receiver for the Cougars from 1993-96. His college career stats included 234 receptions, 3,400 receiving yards and 33 touchdowns.

DeBoer is represented by Jimmy Sexton, who is also Saban’s agent, as well as several of the other top college coaches. DeBoer’s buyout at Washington is worth $12 million, per ESPN.

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