Kalen DeBoer is a proven coach. He’s an SEC outsider, though, making relationship-building key.No infallible choice existed for Alabama to replace Nick Saban, but Kalen DeBoer checks a lot of boxes.Nick Saban will remain a presence, but Kalen DeBoer is accomplished enough to avoid looking over his shoulder.
Alabama football hates losing. Kalen DeBoer almost never loses. That’s the groundwork for a good union.
Alabama is closing in on hiring DeBoer as Nick Saban’s replacement, sources told USA TODAY. If you read my column Wednesday evening in which I stumped for DeBoer, you already know what I think of this hire. I like it. I really like it.
No perfect candidate existed, but DeBoer checks a lot of boxes after an incredible two-year run at Washington and a career of nonstop winning that stretched to Fresno State and NAIA Sioux Falls.
At age 49, he’s young enough to keep winning for a long time but experienced enough to have developed self-assurance, confidence and poise as he accepts the assignment of replacing the greatest of all time. Saban will retain an office in the building, but DeBoer shouldn’t look over his shoulder. He’s proven he can win big.
He hasn’t proven he can win in the SEC. A South Dakota native, he’s never worked in the South. Like I said, no perfect candidate existed.
DeBoer’s first assignment ought to be obvious: Relationships. He must build strong connections in his new terrain – relationships that will help him on the recruiting trail and in NIL fundraising that’s oh-so-important in a time when acquiring talent is more transactional than ever. And, yes, he must foster unwavering support from Saban, who will cast the world’s largest shadow.
I view SEC experience as a bonus, not a requirement, for succeeding in this conference. Saban and Urban Meyer are the SEC’s two best coaches from the past 25 years. Saban had never coached in the SEC before LSU hired him. Meyer had never worked in the SEC before going from Utah to Florida. Oh, and Alabama’s popular basketball coach, Nate Oats, wasn’t from around these parts, either.
But, as an outsider, DeBoer will encounter headwinds. Folks on the Plains will trumpet the idea that DeBoer is the second coming of Bryan Harsin. Already, Auburn fans dubbed DeBoer as “Husky Harsin.”
Such comparisons are as predictable as they are misguided. Harsin never had guided a Power Five program until Auburn hired him to replace Gus Malzahn. In contrast, DeBoer won the Pac-12, won a College Football Playoff semifinal and kept Washington competitive into the fourth quarter of Monday’s national championship game against undefeated Michigan. He’s 5-0 all-time against Dan Lanning and Steve Sarkisian.
He’s much more accomplished than Harsin. Also, my left boot exudes more personality than Harsin, whose warp-speed ouster stemmed in part from a failure to build relationships. Instate coaches described Harsin as a ghost on the recruiting trail, and he fractured Auburn’s locker room. He never had a chance with Auburn boosters.
DeBoer can avoid those pitfalls.
Kalen DeBoer’s first task at Alabama? Relationships
First up for DeBoer, he must win over Saban’s leftovers. Players who examine his past ought to be intrigued about their new coach, but the transfer portal becomes a siren’s call for any player navigating a coaching transition.
DeBoer also must galvanize those holding Alabama’s purse strings. Money matters in recruiting like never before.
DeBoer’s recruiting reputation doesn’t equal some of his peers, like Sarkisian and Lanning, whom he beats on the field. Recruiting to Alabama’s brand is a trump card, but he must navigate shark-filled waters.
Kirby Smart is the nation’s most prolific recruiter. Hugh Freeze and Mike Norvell are awfully good at it, too. DeBoer will have ground to make up. He’d be smart to include a few recruiting dynamos with deep relationships in the SEC footprint on his inaugural Alabama staff.
Cozying up to the press a bit wouldn’t be a bad idea, either. By the end of Saban’s career, Alabama’s press corps ate from his palm, but those same sycophants can become vultures at the first sign of trouble from the heir. Once again, Harsin is a convenient guide for what not to do. He hardly endeared himself to the press. He reeked of an arrogance that he didn’t earn.
Kalen DeBoer can coach. Nick Saban’s wit went beyond X’s and O’s
Coaching intellect only told a partial account of Saban’s genius. His unrelenting ability to attract talent became his secret sauce. He aligned everyone at Alabama behind him. He fostered a common goal of greatness among 5-star athletes with personal ambitions.
DeBoer’s X’s and O’s acumen is apparent. Someone with polydactyly could count his career losses on two hands. The Huskies won four games the season before he arrived. They won 14 games in DeBoer’s second year. He took a Pac-12 team to the national championship for the first time since the playoff’s first year.
DeBoer knows ball. His challenge will be fostering the recruiting, relationships and alignment to succeed in the daunting task of replacing the irreplaceable.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s SEC Columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.