Kalen DeBoer had to make a tough decision.
He had just taken Washington to the College Football Playoff National Championship in only his second year with the program. Sure, the Huskies lost to the Michigan Wolverines in the title game, but it appeared as if DeBoer had established something special in Seattle.
He was an up-and-comer with star potential as a head coach, and the Huskies were on the verge of joining the Big Ten.
And then, Nick Saban retired.
DeBoer quickly went from up-and-comer to the No. 1 option for Alabama, to hired.
It was a whirlwind, but DeBoer recently revealed on the “Bussin’ With The Boys” podcast that he knew Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne had to make a quick decision.
“I pretty much had to make the decision if I was offered the job and I understand why,” he said (h/t On3). “Just the environment that we’re in with college football, the timing of it. We’re talking the middle of January, retaining a roster. The urgency that it needed to be to keep the program moving forward, I completely understood why Greg Byrne told the team, ‘Give me 72 hours.'”
While DeBoer is happy with his decision, it is interesting to hear him talk about his time at Washington.
It was only two years, but the time was very impactful for both him and his family.
“The timing of everything is what makes it extra hard through all of this because my time at Washington is gonna be, for me and my family, probably the best time of our life,” DeBoer said. “Those two years there and the way we were embraced from the community aspect to the team to just the how much fun it was working with our staff. It was a special time down there.”
DeBoer will now look to recreate the environment he built at Washington in Tuscaloosa, and for what it’s worth, he’s supposedly a much nicer coach that Saban.
We’ll see if that translates to national championships.