In a statement Friday evening, Alabama Athletics announced Kalen DeBoer will replace Nick Saban as the head coach of Alabama football.
“One of the things I told our team the other day is we are going to get someone who is not only a great coach with the Xs and Os, but also someone who cares about his players and someone I’d want my sons to play for, just like I would have wanted them to play for Coach Saban,” athletic director Greg Byrne said. “We got that in Coach DeBoer. He is ready to get to work, and we look forward to him leading the Alabama Crimson Tide football program for years to come.”
The decision came less than 48 hours after Saban announced his retirement.
“The tradition-rich history of this [Alabama’s] program is unmatched across the landscape of college athletics, and I look forward to continuing that moving forward,” DeBoer said. “Following Coach Saban is an honor. He has been the standard for college football, and his success is unprecedented. I would not have left Washington for just any school. The chance to lead the football program at The University of Alabama is the opportunity of a lifetime.”
DeBoer is the former head coach of the Washington Huskies, which he coached for two seasons. This past season he took the undefeated Huskies to the national championship as the No. 2 seed in the College Football Playoff, where they lost to Michigan.
In his first season with the Huskies, DeBoer became the first Washington football coach to win a bowl game in his first season, with a win over Texas in the Valero Alamo Bowl. His first season ended 11-2 — the most wins of any first-year coach at Washington — with a 3-0 record against ranked opponents and a 3-0 record against rival Oregon and head coach Dan Lanning.
DeBoer finishes his Washington career 25-3 with several awards, including the 2022 Associated Press Pac-12 Coach of the Year and the first-ever Seattle Sports Leader of the Year Award that same year.
DeBoer has coached for 27 years, including nine seasons as a head coach, with stints at Fresno State and his alma mater Sioux Falls. As a head coach, his record totals 104-12, and he took eight of his nine teams to No. 1 or 2 rankings in their respective conferences. Before becoming a head coach, he was an offensive coordinator who mostly worked with quarterbacks. Most recently, he coached quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who went to New York as a Heisman finalist and led the nation with 4,903 passing yards.
“I am thrilled to welcome Kalen DeBoer as the new leader of the Crimson Tide football program,” UA President Stuart R. Bell said. “With great enthusiasm for the future, we are confident that Coach DeBoer will uphold the proud tradition and standard of excellence synonymous with Alabama Athletics.”
DeBoer follows Saban, who revitalized the Alabama football program in his 17 years as head coach with six national championships, nine SEC championships and a 201-29 record while at the Capstone.
Saban said he intends to stay involved with the Crimson Tide program during his retirement.
“I want to be there for the players, for the coaches, anything I can do to support them during this transition,” Saban told ESPN. “There are a lot of things to clean up, to help as we move forward. I’m still going to have a presence here at the University in some form and trying to figure out all that and how it works. This is a place that will never be too far away from Miss Terry’s and my hearts.”
