Roll Tide! Just days after Nick Saban announced his retirement as head football coach at the University of Alabama, the Crimson Tide have found a replacement – Kalen DeBoer. Multiple national sources reported the news on Friday with negotiations being finalized.
DeBoer, a native of South Dakota, who played high school ball at Milbank and college ball at the University of Sioux Falls, is one of the hottest names in college football at the present time. Just last week, his Washington Huskies squad played for a National Championship against the University of Michigan in New Orleans.
In just two years as head coach at Washington, he turned a four-win team into a national championship contender. DeBoer also earned numerous coaching awards during his two-year stint in Seattle – including two Pac-12 coach of the year awards and national coach of the year awards as well.
DeBoer will join Aberdeen, South Dakota native Josh Heupel as South Dakotans actively coaching in the SEC. Heupel currently coaches the Tennessee Volunteers, who a few weeks ago defeated Iowa in the Citrus Bowl.
After winning the NAIA Division II National Championship as a player for the USF Cougars in 1996, DeBoer decided to get into coaching. His first job was as an assistant coach for the Sioux Falls Washington Warriors, who at the time were head coached by Kim Nelson.
After a couple seasons in the high school ranks, he returned to USF to be an offensive coordinator on Bob Young’s staff. DeBoer was named head coach in 2005 after Young retired, and he led the Cougars to NAIA National Championships in 2006, 2008, and 2009.
From 2010-2019, DeBoer spent time as a coordinator for Southern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Fresno State, and Indiana. He returned to Fresno State in 2020 as head coach, where he spent two seasons, and then moved up to the University of Washington, where he now also spent two seasons.
In his career as a head coach, which includes USF, Fresno State, and Washington, he has a career record of 104-12. DeBoer will replace Nick Saban, who won six National Championships in his hall of fame career, as Alabama’s 28th head football coach.
