BREAKING: Alabama Negotiating to Hire Kalen DeBoer

The search is potentially over Crimson Tide fans. Alabama is negotiating to hire Washington Huskies head coach Kalen DeBoer per Chris Low of ESPN.

Get our free mobile app

DeBoer and the Huskies lost in the College Football Playoff National Championship against the Michigan Wolverines on January 8. The Huskies previously finished the regular season 13-0 after winning the Pac-12 Championship.

Alabama will hire its 28th head coach in program history, and Alabama would be DeBoer's third Division I head coaching job.

DeBoer's first stop was Fresno State from 2020 to 2021. In his first season, the COVID season, he went 3-3, and in his second went 9-3.

After spending time at Fresno State, DeBoer took the Washington Huskies job in 2022, where he went 11-2 with a win over the Texas Longhorns in the Alamo Bowl. In 2023, Washington improved, going 13-0 in the regular season and winning the Pac-12 in the final season of the conference.

DeBoer's all-time record as a head coach is 104-12.

New Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer is known for his offense. In 2022, the Huskies had the 12th-ranked total offense and were 8th in yards per play with 7.04. They were 12th in yards per game with 462.1.

The 49-year-old from Milbank, South Dakota has some recruiting concerns, with his best recruiting class at the D1 level coming in 2023 with a composite ranking of 26.

DeBoer's next challenge will be hiring a staff. Alabama was already searching for a new defensive coordinator following the retirement of long-time coach Kevin Steele on January 8.

DeBoer will have a tough task ahead of him early in his career at Alabama, with five-star wide receiver Ryan Williams de-committing following the news of former head coach Nick Saban's retirement. Williams had mentioned he loved Alabama still but is testing his options. He has not ruled out re-committing to Alabama.

Isaiah Bond also entered the transfer portal, so DeBoer will have to try to convince the starting wide receiver to return to the capstone as well.

A press conference to introduce DeBoer has not yet been announced, but Crimson Tide fans will be ready to hear from their new head coach as soon as possible.

Tide 100.9 will have full coverage of the hire and the ensuing coaching search for coordinators.