Kalen DeBoer took over a chaotic situation at Washington. Jimmy Lake’s two-year tenure with the Huskies had been largely unsuccessful, and ended with his firing in November of 2021 after he shoved a player.

Enter DeBoer, who took the head job at Alabama to replace Nick Saban last month, in his first Power Five coaching job, after a two-year stint at Fresno State. According to former UW offensive lineman Roger Rosengarten, DeBoer was a steadying presence on Montlake.

“The first thing I noticed is just how well he commanded the room,” Rosengarten said Wednesday in Mobile at the Senior Bowl.

DeBoer ran a tight ship. He had a standard, but it wasn’t just for the players.

According to Rosengarten, DeBoer coached his assistants just as hard.

“There’s no loose-leaf cutting corners because that’s when you get into trouble with certain things,” the formerstarting right tackle for the Huskies said.

DeBoer was an instant success at Washington. He helped the Huskies to an 11-win season in 2022, elevating a roster that had gone 4-8 the previous year.

In 2023, things got even better. Washington ran through the year undefeated, beating Oregon in both the regular season and in the Pac-12 championship game to earn a playoff spot. After beating Texas in the Sugar Bowl semifinal, the Huskies earned a chance to play in the national championship game, where they fell to Michigan.

DeBoer, alongside offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, helped develop quarterback Michael Penix Jr. into one of the best signal-callers in college football and a Heisman Trophy finalist.

Penix, who transferred to Washington after DeBoer was his offensive coordinator at Indiana in 2019, gave the coach his full endorsement.

“A winner, first and foremost a winner,” Penix said of the coach, who stopped by Senior Bowl practice on Wednesday to see his former players. “You see he’s done it each and every place that he’s been. He’s always found ways to win, it didn’t matter where he’s at. So that’s the main (Alabama is) gonna get, is a winner.”

DeBoer came up as an offensive coach, with coordinator jobs at Indiana, Fresno State, Southern Illinois and Eastern Michigan. He’ll have a new defensive coordinator with the Crimson Tide, with former South Alabama head coach Kane Wommack making the move to Tuscaloosa.

He didn’t neglect his defensive players though. One of them, linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio, another player who stayed at UW through the transition to DeBoer, praised how well the coach brought the Huskies together..

“It’s just about buying in,” Ulofoshio said. “Having people that trust each other upstairs. I think that’s very important for a central staff that your assistant coaches, your nutritionist, your admin, they all support you, they all respect you. Honestly, there’s a relentlessness to winning that comes with that.”

The linebacker said DeBoer did a good job emphasizing how difficult it can be to win games.

“Yeah, you’re gonna be talented,” he said. “Talent can only win you eight games max. There’s gonna be four that you have to grit out. It doesn’t matter if it’s gonna be No. 3 Auburn one time or its gonna be freaking Troy. It doesn’t matter. There’s gonna be some game we’re just gonna have to gut it out. That’s how DeBoer’s gonna make sure those boys gut it out.”