Report: Washington’s Kalen DeBoer, Alabama Agree to HC Contract After Nick Saban Exit

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It’s never easy to follow in the footsteps of a legend, but that is exactly what Kalen DeBoer is reportedly going to do.

According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, DeBoer has told Washington officials that he is taking the Alabama job. That comes after ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Chris Low reported DeBoer and Alabama were in contract negotiations.

Low later reported that a deal was done.

According to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, Alabama will owe Washington approximately $12 million to buy out DeBoer’s deal:

Dellenger previously noted Washington recently had an offer on the table of seven years and more than $9 million per season to keep DeBoer.

The Crimson Tide job was vacant because Nick Saban retired on Jan. 10 after 17 incredible years leading the program. His tenure included six national championships, four Heisman Trophy winners and some of the most consistent success in the history of the sport.

Saban wasn’t only the face of Alabama, but also the face of college football as a whole.

His teams won three BCS titles and continued to dominate in the College Football Playoff era with three more championships to go along with three other appearances in the national title game.

In all, Saban went 206-29 at Alabama and finished all of his seasons with double-digit wins except for his first one.

Now DeBoer takes over a program with championship-or-bust expectations every season. That is plenty of pressure even before the realization he will surely be compared to Saban throughout his time with the Crimson Tide regardless of how much success he finds.

And this is a new era of college football with various challenges such as name, image and likeness deals and the transfer portal to contend with while attempting to maintain a dynasty. The 2024 campaign will also be the start of the 12-team playoff, which is both a blessing and a curse for coaches at the top programs in the country.

On the one hand, it is easier than ever to reach the playoff. However, it is also more difficult to navigate one’s way to a national championship with additional rounds and daunting opponents to get through on the sport’s biggest stage.

The expectations aren’t going to change for DeBoer, either.

After all, Alabama is coming off a season that saw it win the SEC title by handing Georgia its first loss since the 2021 campaign. The Crimson Tide reached the CFP and have no shortage of talent after Saban brought in the No. 2 recruiting class in 2024, No. 1 class in 2023 and No. 2 class in 2022, per 247Sports’ composite rankings.

It will now be up to DeBoer to parlay all that talent into the next championship-winning Alabama team.

The task is loaded with pressure, but he led Washington to the CFP national title game in just his second season after taking over the program. The Huskies were 4-8 in 2021 before DeBoer arrived and immediately improved to 11-2 in his first season and one win away from a championship in his second.

However, his only other previous head coaching experience was at Fresno State.

Coaching in the SEC is a different job entirely, and he will be facing far more pressure at Alabama than he did in either of his previous two stops. He proved he can take an underperforming team and elevate it to new heights when he was with the Huskies, but now he will need to take the sport’s premier program and maintain its status.