Everything Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said on The Dan Patrick Show

New Alabama head football coach Kalen DeBoer joined The Dan Patrick Show on Thursday morning. Below is a full transcript of everything DeBoer said during the 8-minute interview.

DeBoer on if his accent has changed after two weeks…

“(Laughs) No, it hasn’t it. Still got that Midwest kind of feel to it, I think, and it probably always will. But it’s great to be on your show, Dan. I appreciate you having me on.”

DeBoer on where he is at right now…

“We’re in Alabama, just making our rounds and on the recruiting trail. It’s going great. When you said two weeks, it kind of hit me about how fast time has been flying by. We’re making the most of every minute, the coaching staff is coming together nice and just really proud of how far we’ve come in a short amount of time.”

DeBoer on the No. 1 thing he had to do as soon as he landed in Tuscaloosa…

“Meeting with the team and really trying to get in front of them and just the craziness of college athletics and, in particular, the portal and just trying to make sure that they got a feel for who I was in the moment. As soon as I landed, got in front of them. But the next four days or so, trying to be with them individually, in groups. You’re trying to build a staff at the same time and showing them the vision and feeling the personalities of those that will be coming into the program to coach them. So that balance right there kept me busy for those four or five days, and now it’s kind of reaching out and getting to the recruiting that’s been done, whether it’s guys that have signed and just trying to continue to impress on them their importance in our program and how I’m excited to have them join us. And of course, the classes in the future, the ‘25s, the ‘26s and so forth.”

DeBoer on re-recruiting players… 

“Absolutely. That’s a big part of it. I think that’s probably some of the best recruiting our coaches have done so far is really recruiting our own roster. And it’s crazy to say that but I think that’s the case no matter what, but I think it’s even at another level now just with everything. So I’m really proud of the way our guys – when I say our guys, our team – have been receptive and embraced our coaching staff and myself. I think we’ve done a great job of retaining the core, the nucleus of who’s in this program. There’s so many great players and they want this place to be great. It certainly caught them by surprise, and it hits you pretty hard when Coach Saban retired and that’s a big piece of why they came here. But they also came here to wear those Alabama colors, and they’ve really, again, been receptive to myself and holding one another and wanting to carry on the legacy of this great place.” 

DeBoer on if he gets Nick Saban’s old office…

“(Laughs) Yeah, I do. I do. I think about all the people that have been in there. (Wait, he cleaned it out? Did he leave anything for you in his office?) I haven’t found it on it yet. There’s probably a few things that we’ll talk about and articles and things like that. But yeah, he’s gonna be certainly around the campus, and excited to have him around. So much institutional knowledge and just everything that I can draw upon. I’ve said it many times. I’ll say it again, be pretty foolish not to use him as a great resource. I know he wants his program to continue to be great in the future.”

DeBoer on if he had a moment where he sat back and realized he’s the Alabama coach…

“Yeah, it’s certainly a special place, and Coach Saban’s made it that way. I think that piece of it was intriguing and exciting to me when going through this process of looking to be the head coach. He’s made it an amazing job, as have others that come before him, too. And so, yeah, the legacy he leaves, you can’t help but notice it, and carrying on that tradition, that’s my goal.”

DeBoer on if he heard from Michigan prior to taking this job…

“No, no. This was all about Alabama here. (No, this is prior to you taking that. I know Michigan had a wishlist there of in case Jim Harbaugh was going to go back to the NFL, and your name was on that from what I was told. So I was curious if they ever reached out to you prior to taking Alabama.) Yeah, no. That would never have been anything that I’ve been aware of. I think when you think about the timeline of how quickly things happen from a national championship game and two days later, Coach Saban retiring and the next day an interview and then hired, there just wasn’t a lot of time for anything. It’s been a whirlwind and excited to be the head coach at Alabama.”

DeBoer on what he did with his Washington gear…

“(Laughs) I don’t know yet. I haven’t been back since I took the job. So it’s it’s probably sitting there in the closet somewhere. But we’ll get back there and get the family moved down here and figure that out. (Isn’t that strange? You’ve got to get up and go and hit the ground running and your family is still back there.) Yeah, it happens fast. And that’s probably the unfortunate thing of all this is how quickly it happens. I probably spent literally five to 10 minutes packing a bag and forgot a lot of things and just enough to get through a few days. And actually, that carries on through a few weeks. But there’s no great way to be able to talk to the fan base and your team. I’ll get to that here as things settle down and make sure everyone truly understands how much I appreciate them. When you’re the head coach, you invest a lot of time into it and as well as people investing in you, and certainly, that place has got a special place in my heart and always will. But those players there are so special, and again, it happens fast. It’s the unfortunate part of just the business and how things go.” 

DeBoer on if he got a chance to say goodbye to everyone…

“I got a chance to be in front of the team and even not all of those guys just with how quickly it happens were able to get the message and be there. And that’s, again, very unfortunate, not the way you want to have it happen. But within 10 minutes, you’re sending out a message to the team after I accepted the job. I was on campus and met with the staff briefly and told them how much I appreciate him and met with the team and literally had to fly down here and get to work and meet the team and all the things that we talked about earlier about recruiting the roster and thinking about getting this organization rolling as quick as we can.”

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