Just like that, Kalen DeBoer is gone
Four days after coaching in the national title game, DeBoer is leaving Washington for Alabama. It's a reminder that in college football, even the good guys make cutthroat decisions.
Dan Lanning leveraged the moment for his current program’s gain, announcing via slickly-produced video that he’s staying at Oregon.
Mike Norvell got paid off the Alabama opening, but stayed at Florida State. Steve Sarkisian will get paid, too, to remain at Texas.
Kalen DeBoer?
The silence said it all, didn’t it?
Four days after playing for a national championship, four days after completing one of the most captivating seasons in program history, the Washington Huskies now must replace the coach who helped lead them to college football’s biggest stage.
DeBoer is off to Alabama, replacing the legendary Nick Saban and leaving UW to process an all-time gut punch, just when it appeared the Huskies might be ascending toward national relevance.
In the end, DeBoer won 25 games in 25 months at Washington. Also, a Pac-12 championship and a College Football Playoff semifinal and a slew of national Coach of the Year awards. He pulled Michael Penix Jr. from the transfer portal, convinced key players to stick around, retained his entire assistant staff and positioned the Huskies to enter the Big Ten as a program on the rise.
In so doing, DeBoer also became one of the hottest names in coaching, and an immediate candidate to take over at Alabama upon Saban’s Wednesday retirement.
You will hear that this move isn’t about money, which isn’t entirely true — it just isn’t about DeBoer’s money.