Nick Saban shocked the college football world with his seemingly sudden decision to retire from coaching.
Due to recruiting – high school players, transfers, as well as the current Tide players – it was clear as day that Alabama had to hire their next coach in an extremely timely matter.
Sure enough, they pin-pointed Washington Huskies head coach Kalen DeBoer as their guy … He’s since been introduced and parade around Tuscaloosa.
A true “football man” who has grinded at every single level of the sport, the DeBoer hire was received in a very positive fashion in Tide Nation.
New Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer addresses the crowd at Missouri game. “Alabama is the standard” pic.twitter.com/HcXlsughGt
— Nick Kelly (@_NickKelly) January 17, 2024
But what about his old team who he had just miraculously guided to the national championship game?
Yes, the Huskies may have had their doors blown off against Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines – but the Huskies were a very tight-knit team, and it was clear that they loved their coach.
In a leaked video clip, we got to hear DeBoer informing the team of his decision to leave them for the Alabama job.
Such conversations are always tough to have, but DeBoer did his best to deliver the news as smooth as possible.
“I hope that you guys can just understand that someday, I don’t expect you to understand right now, and if you do I appreciate it, but I hope that you can understand it at some point,” DeBoer can be heard saying in the leaked audio.
“The last thing I’ll say is that great programs are bigger than any one person. It’s bigger than any one player. It’s bigger than any coach,” he added.
Coaches leaving, especially for bigger programs, are just a part of life in college football.
Even though they made the national title game, there’s no denying that there’s a significant separation between Alabama and Washington.
Alabama might be the most pressure-packed job in the country – but it also may be the best one as well.
Now, DeBoer’s attention turns to convincing current players to stay, as well as incoming recruits to keep their commitments.
Unfortunately, Alabama has seen several key players already decide to transfer…
Kalen DeBoer giving the pregame speech before A-Day. https://t.co/1IQx1HSZLg pic.twitter.com/9WH4YUYjop
— Bobo SZN 🔴⚫️ (@TyWilli02913866) January 17, 2024
Many current players who have met with DeBoer have spoken very highly of him.
Having said that, he knows he has his work cut out for him – especially with the SEC about to be as tough as ever with the additions of Texas and Oklahoma next season.
Alabama guard Tyler Booker on new HC Kalen DeBoer: @abc3340
"Coach DeBoer is very family oriented and that was one of the first things he said to us was like one of the things non negotiable was family. We have to become a family, we have to play for one another." pic.twitter.com/5Dri3PjNj2
— Chris McCulley (@ChrisMcCulleyTV) January 19, 2024
The 49-year-old DeBoer brings a wealth of coaching experience from his previous stints at Fresno State, Eastern Michigan, Sioux Falls, Southern Illinois, Indiana and Washington.
Alabama fans will be the reason that Kalen DeBoer doesn't work out@BFW @BarstoolAlabama pic.twitter.com/A22nfu3L5p
— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) January 18, 2024
How do you think his Washington players took the news of him leaving?
The modern-day player should understand the situation better than anyone. After all, we’ve seen well over 1,000 (!!!) players enter the transfer portal this year.
Movement, for better or worse, is as high as ever.
But no matter how you look at it, you’d be crazy to blame DeBoer for taking the ALABAMA head coaching job … That’s truly a once in a lifetime gig.
There a lot of words I’d use to describe Kalen DeBoer, genuine is not one of them. He left UW high and dry, players found out on TV, he was interviewing for job instead of preparing for title game, told the few players who showed up to exit speech they weren’t good enough. https://t.co/ygWkjvjS1O
— Kris (@HuskiesFan19) January 14, 2024
In the big picture, what’s your thoughts on the DeBoer hire?
Will he live up to the hype?
He doesn’t exactly have an “SEC personality” – but hey, as long as you win, your personality doesn’t mean a damn thing.
Will he live up to the ultra-high expectations at Alabama???
Things will turn for Alabama & you may meet a different Kalen DeBoer once they do pic.twitter.com/p5jXihgNqs
— Josh Pate (@LateKickJosh) January 19, 2024