University of Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne has reportedly found his man. Kalen DeBoer will replace Nick Saban as the Crimson Tide’s head football coach.

The landscape of college football shifted even more on Friday with the move. DeBoer, who took Washington to a College Football Playoff national title appearance, leaves an emerging Big 10 power for a Southeastern Conference staple. Saban crafted a 17-year legacy with six national titles in Tuscaloosa, giving DeBoer the unenviable task of being the guy to enter the building after the greatest of all time leaves it.

Yet, with a strong track record at varying levels of football, there’s reason to believe DeBoer is the right choice for the job. Here’s what to know about DeBoer, a 48-year-old former wide receiver who just became one of the most powerful people in the state.

Smalltown roots

Saban’s origin story as the son of a West Virginia gas station owner has been well documented. DeBoer is a little different. He grew up in Milbank, South Dakota, a town of roughly 3,500 people, under a single parent, his mother Phylis Waterfall. Playing baseball and football, DeBoer set records at the University of Sioux Falls, batting .520 as a senior and catching 33 touchdowns in his three-year football career.

DeBoer played left field with the Canton Crocodiles, an independent team in the Frontier League, after graduating in 1998, recording 22 hits in 24 games. DeBoer then coached on his former coach Bob Young’s staff for a year, became an assistant at Washington High then returned to Sioux Falls as offensive coordinator.

After three NAIA titles, ‘What more can you do?’

DeBoer took over the Cougars in 2005 and reached the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics semifinals with an 11-win season. He would go undefeated in three of the ensuing four years, capturing three trophies amid a 67-3 run.

“It was almost, ‘What more can you do?’I felt if the right opportunity came along to be at a higher level, that was an opportunity where someday I could be a head coach at a higher level. At the time, the dream was to stick around and be close — maybe one of the [FCS-level] Dakota schools and be a head coach there. But you don’t control the future,’ DeBoer told The Star Tribune in 2018.

Eventually, other schools came calling and DeBoer took his offensive mind to Southern Illinois, then Eastern Michigan, Fresno State, Indiana and Washington. His biggest opportunity would eventually come after a 25-3 start in two seasons with the Huskies, where DeBoer won the Alamo and Sugar Bowls, in addition to the Pac-12 once.

Where DeBoer goes, success follows

The Alabama job isn’t a rebuild, but with Saban leaving lofty expectations and no title since 2020, DeBoer will be tasked with winning fast. Good thing he’s done it before.

He took the Fresno State job after the Bulldogs were coming off a four-win season and after a 3-3 shortened 2020 campaign, Fresno State went 9-3, finishing second in the Mountain West and beating UTEP in the New Mexico Bowl.

Washington was similarly 4-8 under Jimmy Lake before DeBoer arrived. The Huskies won 11 games in 2022 before a nearly-undefeated 2023 season ended in Houston.

A familiar face

DeBoer is represented by CAA superagent Jimmy Sexton, one of the sport’s powerbrokers who also happens to negotiate on behalf of Saban. Cameras spotted Sexton entering the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility on Thursday.

DeBoer reportedly earned $4.2 million in 2023, per USA Today’s coach salary database. That number is 44th-most among Division-I head coaches considered. Huskies athletic director Troy Dannen told podcaster Adam Breneman on Jan. 5 that “we’re in a good place” concerning an extension, promising a deal that would be “breaking new ground” within the University’s history.

Dan Wolken of Yahoo reported that DeBoer hired Sexton during the 2023 season. According to multiple reports, DeBoer was offered an extension from Washington but had yet to sign it.

Family ties

DeBoer is married to his wife, Nicole, and they have two daughters, Alexis and Avery. Alexis DeBoer signed with Washington’s softball program last November after being a top-15 recruit by Extra Innings Softball. She’s an infielder who batted .634 her senior year at Bellevue (Wa.) High.

Alabama softball is coming off a trip to the Women’s College World Series under head coach Patrick Murphy.

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Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].