Kalen DeBoer was introduced as Alabama’s 28th head football coach on Saturday in Tuscaloosa.

The former Washington coach spoke for more than 18 minutes, addressing several different topics. Below is a complete transcript:

“This is exciting. This is really exciting for myself and my family.

“First of all, I’ve got a lot of thank yous and people I want to show some appreciation to. But Nicole, Alexis, Avery, this journey that we’re on called life, right, it’s special and special days like this are the ones that we’re never going to forget. I can’t thank them enough for their support, their love. They’re the ones that allow me, to each and every day, leave the house, go to work and give everything I have to our players, our staff, to help us be the best we can be. So I appreciate you guys. I love you guys and thank you.

“I want to thank (Alabama athletics director) Greg Byrne. I know this is happening fast and I just can’t say enough about the trust that you have in me and how much I appreciate that. It means so much. We had never met, and to do your due diligence and all of that and go through the process, I really appreciate it. I’m so excited to lock arms with you as I am the rest of the athletic department, all the head coaches here and to continue to build on the great tradition of Alabama athletics as a whole — so many championships, so many great coaches that I cannot wait to meet. We’re going to continue to strive to make this thing better all together.

“President (Stuart) Bell and Chancellor (Finis) St. John, I appreciate you guys as well. I’m looking forward to building this university together and it’s special. Thanks for this opportunity.

“I could go on and on about the next person I need to thank, show appreciation to, love, and you all know who that is. Coach Saban, we just talked for the first time yesterday and, I’ve been in his ear a couple of times already here. I can just feel in his voice. — you know what I’m talking about, you’ve seen it for many years, this place is special, especially to him, but especially to all of you because of he’s built it up to be. It’s not just about the championships.

“I met with the team last night and heard from them and heard why they came here. A lot of great reasons all tied to the Alabama brand, the education, playing here each and every Saturday and the support that they get. But obviously, there was a major piece of that where they came here because Coach Saban and Ms. Terry, you poured everything into them and they just saw the vision and wanted to be a part of it. It’s a privilege to be chosen, to be in this role is one I don’t take lightly. And I know that coach Saban’s been working hard to make sure that this program is in a great spot for the next person to take over.

“He hasn’t told me this, but I think there’s an intentionality that’s been in place. You kind of figure out — I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but I think you kind of know at some point you don’t know when that point is, but you want to make sure it’s in a great place. And as you can see just from this past season, it’s in a great place.

“Being in a room last night — I saw a team that has stuck together. Greg talked about 72 hours, OK? I want you to put yourself in those guys’ shoes, OK? The legendary coach that they came to play for, and now what’s next? I can’t tell you how much I appreciate them already. I’ve had multiple meetings last night today with them individually, leadership groups. I know how badly they want to continue the tradition, how they want to do it the right way. And them just getting to know me here in just a few hours, it’s been a blast and I can’t wait for the journey that lies ahead.

“But coach Saban, thank you for all you’ve done, for laying the foundation for myself, and the rest of this staff that we hire and these players to continue to build on everything you you’ve done here. So, thank you. He’s the best in the business to ever do it. I’m just going to make sure that’s all known, that’s how I feel. And 100% access to everything. I would be a fool if that wasn’t the case, I would be a fool. I’m going to ask him that he shows up and make sure he gives me at least one thing every day. I’m sure he’s going to have 10 I’m going to be good with that, but at least one thing that he sees, that we can get better at.

“I also think it’s so important to understand that most programs, they don’t even have one legend, that’s in their program or come through the years and we have probably more than two if you really want to talk about it. But, Coach Bryant — and I talked to Coach Saban yesterday, he spoke of that and that just right there told me, just how humble he is and how grateful he has been to follow in someone else’s shoes and continue to build on what we have here at Alabama.

“I have so many mentors that have helped me get to this spot. I’m not going to get into it, but every player or every coach that I’ve sat in a film room with, a staff room when I was an assistant, when I’ve been a head coach, the head coaches I’ve worked for, they just hold such a strong spot in my heart, because they’ve all helped me get to the place where I’m at today.

“I’ll get into the players and what I want to see out of them and how we want them to grow while they’re here at Alabama. But I also want to make sure that the coaches that I continue to have the privilege to work with each and every day, each and every year that they understand the commitment I have to them to help them meet their aspirations and goals. Many of them want to be coordinators, many of them want to be head coaches and I’m looking forward to that journey for them.

“When I think when I think about different words and I’ll have a few here that I’ll bring to you. One of them is ‘embrace’ and I think you get the sense that embracing the tradition and embracing the athletic department, it’s something that’s very special to me. I also want you to know that you as a community, everyone here, I can’t wait for my family and I to embrace you. You feel that same thing back to us, I know that that will be the case. I don’t have to look much past last night when we flew in and the welcome and the reception that was there. It was so awesome. It was not overwhelming, but it was very close to it and I appreciate that.

“I also want to make sure our alumni know that I’ll embrace them and that this will always be their place, this will always be their home. I know that so many have gone through and played for Coach Saban and that should not change as far as how they feel about this place and we need you. The investment hours that have been put in by me compared to what has made this place, what it is for me it’s very little. I want to learn the stories. I want to learn all the great moments. I know many of them I’ve watched from afar, but I know there’s so many behind the scenes and things that are just important to the tradition and the alumni and can’t wait to have you here and hear all your great stories along the way.

“I just want to reiterate my excitement. People ask ‘why would you go to Alabama?’ Well, I think there’s a lot of really obvious answers, right? And I’ve touched on that when it comes to tradition and the history of the program, it’s second to none. And when I look at the places that I want to be, it’s about winning championships. That’s an expectation that I cannot wait and accept as a privilege to try to uphold, winning SEC championships, winning national championships, that’s an expectation and a love and an interest that I’ve always had and a passion that I’ll have and looking forward to carry on with our players, our staff and all of you here.

“As we go through these years ahead, the resources, the facilities, everything that can be here to support our players, our staff, that’s my role as a head coach — to provide that atmosphere, that environment. And when you have resources like we have here in Alabama, it makes my job easier. I’m looking forward to utilizing and showing off these resources to those that want to be wearing the Crimson.

“A belief of mine when it comes to athletics is that it brings people together. Again last night, right? People coming together and in a much bigger fashion in this beautiful stadium here behind you, bringing people together, bringing a community together. I’m learning about the enrollment of the university and how it’s grown, and that’s I know a credit to what the football program has done, but also to everyone else buying into the philosophical beliefs of this great university.

“But when it comes to bringing people together, that is a passion of mine, there’s something special about being a head coach and the investment that goes into trying to make all the different pieces fit, having the right people in those places. These facilities are awesome, but it’s the people that make the place special. It truly is. I felt that and I’ve heard that from Greg as we talk that you here, you all you have made this special and it’s not just about these beautiful resources, these beautiful facilities. So I’m looking forward to getting to know each and every one of you.

“I think alignment is important. So when we’re talking about ‘why Alabama?’, alignment from president on through to Greg to the head coach and on down, I just think that the alignment and just everything that we’re all trying to accomplish together and locking arms fighting the same fight that we all want and knowing that our passions are all the same, that alignment is critical and the programs and universities. All the different sport teams that have success, there’s usually some sort of alignment and we certainly have that here on a very strong level at Alabama. I’m 100% convinced of that.

“When it comes to our goals I shared with you, it’s to win the SEC and a national championship. But how are we going to do that? We’re going to do that with class, we’re going to do with integrity and with academic excellence. This is my job, to make sure we uphold the standard that has been set here in Alabama, and continue to build on that. It’s about winning, but it’s also about a culture and I will share with our guys that, as we already have, a culture that is contagious. You’ll hear me say that many times. I cannot wait to add to that, continue to make it to where you can feel through the TV screen when someone’s watching a game how hard our guys play and how much they love each other and care for each other and how badly they want to win for all of you. The culture will be contagious, and more and more people, just as it’s been, will want to continue to be a part of this.

“And the last piece when it comes to developing players athletically, academically, socially and even spiritually. That being our focus as a staff, we in the end want to make sure that we’re building better men. We want to build better men because someday, football will be over. Someday real life will hit you in the face. And building better men in this time that we’re going, through this phase in their life, it is one of the most influential that they will have. It is a privilege and it is an honor to be someone in a position that can have that influence. I don’t take that lightly and I will surround myself with a staff that will be great husbands, great fathers, great people, provide a template for our great players that come through here to understand what it looks like to be a man. That’s an awesome goal. Our staff will have a lot of attributes and qualities and that will definitely be one of them — developing athletically, academically, socially and spiritually.

“What’s next as we build our team? Last night just got to hear from some guys. There wasn’t a lot of questions, especially as a whole team, but you break off into the little segments and then they start talking. That’s what I want to hear. I want to hear what makes this place special. I want to hear about the traditions that I’m unaware of. I want to hear about all the things that really matter to them and ingrain myself into what’s been special about Alabama football. But it all starts in the relationships and communication, which builds the trust that we must have to step on the football field with great chemistry as you’ve seen years upon years upon years.

“It isn’t just about talent. Talent gets you a long ways, but the championship teams have something special. They have that it factor and the relationships that we will build will help us have an accountability for each other — accountability to ourselves, accountability from coach to coach, coach to player, player to player, player to coach. We’ll also form a brotherhood, a brotherhood that is so tight, that anything that comes our way will not break us. It will be tough.

“We call, these our three non-negotiables that we will stand by and the toughness piece is not just physical guys, which is what Alabama football prides itself on. It will always be mental, mental toughness, understanding how to handle adversity because we understand the challenge that it takes to win a national championship. We understand that it’s not easy. It never is, but anything worth anything at all is hard. We’re looking forward to that journey and to those challenges when it comes to a style of football. I don’t know what you’ve seen about how we’ve played, but obviously playing hard, is a big piece of it. But what we try to do, it’s always going to be around our personnel. Yes, we’re going to recruit the best, the highest-character guys, but we’re going to be able to  have concepts and systems that are able to be adjusted to what we have and what our strengths are. As much as we have great players in every position, there are some positions that are stronger than others from year-to-year and we will be explosive. I can promise you that we will be aggressive, we will attack.

“We understand that the game was meant to be played one way still, and that’s to be physical and dominating the line of scrimmage and control it from both sides of the ball will always be a staple of our program. As we go through utilizing our personnel and having a dominant offense and defense along with fundamental special teams, I hope you guys enjoy coming to games and seeing how we play and wanting to, to come in and cheer on and understand the guys that are wearing those helmets, they have a lot of talent but they’re really special people and pouring everything they can into it.

“When it comes to recruiting — and I can go on and on about how we will recruit. I understand it’s the lifeblood of our program and we can have great coaches, but the guys on the field are the ones that make the plays. A relentless attitude starting, with first and foremost, myself and then leading to our staff is what it’s going to take to be the best of the best here with tough competition here in the SEC and to win a national championship. I’m looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and going to work.

“I want to say one more thing, because this is something that’s very important to me. I wanted to say it last, because I knew I might get emotional I’m not sure. I need to thank some people back at Washington and it’s a special place to me. It really is.

And this was one of the few places, maybe the only place, that I would ever left to come to. So I understand what Alabama football is all about. And those guys that I sat in front of a room yesterday, I know what they’re going through because I saw the same thing less than 24 hours ago. I just want to tell everyone because I know they’re watching, I just want to tell you guys, I love you, I will miss you, and I want nothing but the best for everyone back there. The journey of the last two years has been special and I’m looking forward to the new journey that lies ahead. I’m looking forward to those new challenges here. I cannot wait, like I said, to roll up my sleeves with all of you, with our team and go to battle each and every day, each and every week, each and every year.

“So thank you and Roll Tide.”