After leading the Washington Huskies to two great seasons, Kalen DeBoer is currently coaching the Alabama Crimson Tide. However, it turned out that leaving his former team was more difficult than he had anticipated.
DeBoer, the Crimson Tide’s new head coach this season, has a remarkable coaching history, making him the ideal candidate to succeed the famous Nick Saban. Before taking over the Alabama team, DeBoer compiled an impressive coaching record of 104-12, including a recent term as head coach of the Washington Huskies, when he concluded the 2022 and 2023 seasons with a combined record of 25–3.
Prior to his tenure at Washington, DeBoer was the head coach at Fresno State from 2020 to 2021, when he led the club to a 12-2 record against top-25 opponents. DeBoer formerly coached at Eastern Michigan, Southern Illinois, and Sioux Falls, where he won three NAIA National Championships.
DeBoer is praised by analyst Joel Klatt as one of college football’s most successful coaches. Klatt feels that DeBoer’s “Tiger Woods-like” capacity to win will translate well to the Alabama program, and he predicts the Crimson Tide to reach the College Football Playoff quarterfinals in 2024, despite a possible “small step back” from their current supremacy.
Kalen DeBoer Admits Tough Call About Leaving Washington Huskies
DeBoer recently featured on an episode of Yote House Media’s Green Light with Chris Long on YouTube, where he discussed his experience in Washington and why leaving the Huskies was difficult.
“It’s the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do as a coach. When it comes to just the decisions and things you have to discuss with people, especially with what we had just gone through for two years, building it from what it was before we got there — it was four and eight, and in two years it was going to be 25 and three. Again, it wasn’t about the wins, but about the connections,” DeBoer explained.
DeBoer, a former Sioux Falls wide receiver and coach, will take over as head football coach at the University of Washington in 2022. Before leaving for Alabama, his 2023 Huskies made it to the national championship game. DeBoer has had a successful coaching career, winning three NAIA national titles in Sioux Falls and a Pac-12 championship at Washington.
Despite making the difficult decision to leave Washington, DeBoer now has the opportunity to take Alabama to the next level as its head coach. If he succeeds, his coaching legacy will undoubtedly rank beside that of the greats.
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