If you move to the South and haven’t lived there before, you’ll get noticed because of it.

Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne, tasked with bringing some of the best coaches in college sports to Tuscaloosa, realized it’s a key, but not the sole factor in success within Southeastern Conference to have someone with a knowledge of the region on staff, or, as he put it, someone who “gets” sweet tea and grits.

He said it to Nate Oats (men’s basketball) and Rob Vaughn (baseball). And yesterday, Byrne said it to new UA football coach Kalen DeBoer.

“That’s the case here. I think we’ll be seeing that as time goes on. He’s had a successful staff that he’s worked with and I want to be very respectful of that, but the guy’s very smart,” Byrne said.

Byrne and DeBoer, who replaces Nick Saban after 17 years, six national titles and nearly 50 NFL Draft first-rounders, were asked about DeBoer’s background as he was introduced as UA’s 28th head football coach on Saturday.

“Certainly have a strong feeling of what I like to do. Don’t want to get too much into that. I think it’ll happen, in some capacity, quicker here in the next day or so, the next 24 hours,” DeBoer said when asked about filling out his staff. “I want to be very thorough and the fine line with that is as players are being sought after on our own roster there’s less people to get in front of them. Working tirelessly to manage who we have here.”

DeBoer said his new staff will have a “touch of Washington.” His offense was led by Ryan Grubb, who has been rumored to be a candidate to take over at UW. DeBoer also retained linebackers coach William Inge, safeties coach Chuck Morrell, special teams coordinator Eric Schmidt, and cornerbacks coach Julius Brown from either Sioux Falls or Fresno State, DeBoer’s two prior head coaching stops.

The departures have been swift following Alabama’s Rose Bowl loss on Jan. 1 and Saban’s retirement on Wednesday. In addition to Saban’s departure, defensive coordinator Kevin Steele retired, special teams coach Coleman Hutzler left for Mississippi State and wide reciever coach Holmon Wiggins went to Texas A&M.

The big blow came on Saturday morning when defensive backs coach and elite recruiter Travaris Robinson left for Kirby Smart and Georgia. In addition to the coaching turnover, DeBoer is also working on retaining as much as he can from Alabama’s roster.

“I understand there needs to be some SEC ties, some southeast ties that can help bridge the gap of maybe my experiences here. There are experiences, having been West Coast and Indiana and some of the recruiting. But it’s not, I don’t want to lead you on that there’s not every coach’s phone number in my phone right now. Just gotta put myself where the right people are around me,” DeBoer said.

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