Alabama to reportedly hire Washington’s Kalen DeBoer to replace Nick Saban
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Alabama to reportedly hire Washington’s Kalen DeBoer to replace Nick Saban

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Welcome to Tuscaloosa, Kalen DeBoer.

The University of Alabama is reportedly set to hire DeBoer from Washington to run the Crimson Tide football program, taking over for the legendary Nick Saban, who retired on Wednesday.

The initial report comes from ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Chris Low. According to multiple outlets, DeBoer is meeting with players at Washington’s campus this afternoon to inform them of his move.

DeBoer will be the 28th head coach in Alabama history.

DeBoer, 49, has no SEC coaching experience but is coming off a 14-1 year with the Huskies, winning the Pac-12 Championship and defeating Texas in the College Football Playoff semifinal before losing to Michigan. DeBoer won three NAIA titles in four years with the University of Sioux Falls from 2005-09, where he played as a wide reciever in the 1990s.

DeBoer is immediately the biggest hire in the career of UA athletic director Greg Byrne, who promised the fanbase he wouldn’t be heard from publically until he found Saban’s successor. While Byrne has yet to confirm the news, multiple outlets have reported that DeBoer is expected to be named within the “72-hour” timeframe given to the players at a team meeting.

DeBoer’s buyout is a reported $12 million. His agent, Jimmy Sexton, also represents Saban, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian and Penn State’s James Franklin, among others. DeBoer earned $4.2 million last fall, seventh in the Pac-12. Saban was the sport’s highest-paid coach at $11.4 million.

DeBoer was born and raised in Milbank, South Dakota, a home of roughly 3,500 people per recent U.S. Census data. He played football and baseball at Sioux Falls, setting school records in both. He eventually joined his former coach and longtime NAIA figurehead Bob Young to coach wide receivers at Sioux Falls in 1997. After two seasons at Washington (S.D.) High, DeBoer returned as offensive coordinator.

DeBoer went 67-3 at Sioux Falls, producing 25 first-team All-Americans during his time as head coach. DeBoer then bounced around to Southern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Fresno State and Indiana, eventually taking his first FBS head coaching gig with Fresno State in 2020. After a 12-6 run in a season-and-a-half with the Bulldogs, Washington identified DeBoer and offered him a five-year contract.

The Huskies, which have changed athletic directors to Troy Dannen since DeBoer’s hire, agreed to an extension with DeBoer in 2022, increasing his buyout. Speaking to Adam Breneman’s “Next Up” podcast on Jan. 5, Dannen spoke about potentially keeping him in the northwest.

“We’ve talked, gotten to a place where probably could’ve done something a month ago had he been motivated to get it done at the time. … We’re breaking new ground and I look forward to getting it done so people stop asking me about it. A lot of people say, ‘We should extend him.’ Yeah, we should. The market is what the market is.”

On Friday morning, DeBoer canceled a radio show appearance in Seattle as rumors of an extension and meeting with Dannen continued. Coincidentally, Saban interviewed DeBoer’s offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb for UA’s opening a year ago, which was eventually filled by Tommy Rees of Notre Dame.

Now, DeBoer may need to figure out Rees’ place on staff, along with other key coaches while bringing in his own pieces.

This post will be updated.