The college football world got some shocking news earlier this week when it was reported that legendary Alabama coach Nick Saban would retire. The greatest college football coach of all time, Saban left a pair of gigantic shoes to fill, as he’s led the Crimson Tide to consistent heights that no one in the country has been able to match ever since he took over in Tuscaloosa.
On Friday, we learned which coach is going to attempt to fill those shoes: Washington’s Kalen DeBoer. According to Mark Schlabach and Chris Low of ESPN, DeBoer entered into negotiations with Alabama over a deal to make him Saban’s successor, and not long after that, Peter Thamel of ESPN reported that DeBoer was on the cusp of getting the most highly-regarded gig on the market this offseason.
Sources: Washington's Kalen DeBoer is on the cusp of getting the Alabama job. Finality expected soon. https://t.co/rfKHLqr8yy
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 12, 2024
Thamel went on to report that Washington pushed to make a major financial commitment to DeBoer if he turned down the Crimson Tide.
Washington made a strong push to keep Kalen DeBoer, attempting to make him one of the country's Top 10 coaches, per sources. They offered to double his current base of $4.2 million (before bonuses). https://t.co/B5D5rDXC5g
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 12, 2024
DeBoer has rocketed into college football coaching superstardom in recent months. While he had remarkable success as the head coach at NAIA school Sioux Falls from 2005-09 — he went 67-3 and won a trio of national titles — he didn’t get his first FBS gig until 2020, when he took over Fresno State. DeBoer went 12-6 at that stop before becoming the head coach of Washington in 2022, where he’s accrued a 25-3 mark. In his career as a head coach across those three stops, DeBoer has accrued a 104-12 record.
Last season, DeBoer led the Huskies to a 14-1 mark, Pac-12 conference championship, and a win in the College Football Playoff semifinals over Texas. While Washington came up short in the national championship game against Michigan, the win in the Sugar Bowl marked the first time the Huskies won a New Year’s 6 bowl since 2000.
Prior to DeBoer getting hired, multiple coaches who were linked with the Alabama job to one extent or another — Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian, Florida State’s Mike Norvell — issued public statements indicating that they would stay at their current schools. It is unclear if this impacted the Crimson Tide’s search for a Saban successor, or if DeBoer was their top option all along.
