Who is Kalen DeBoer? Five things to know about the new Alabama football coach, who’s taking on Wisconsin Saturday
The University of Alabama football team comes to Camp Randall Stadium in Madison on Saturday with a new face leading the way: Kalen DeBoer, the former Washington head coach named to replace coaching legend Nick Saban for the 2024 season.
Here’s what to know about DeBoer, who turns 50 later this month:
Kalen DeBoer has a ridiculous record of 106-12
DeBoer first took a head coaching job at his alma mater of Sioux Falls from 2005 through 2009, then became a coordinator at stops in Southern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Fresno State and Indiana, before returning to Fresno State as head coach in 2020.
He spent only a short time in Washington, in 2022 and 2023, leading the Huskies into last year’s national-championship game. Then, this offseason, he was hired at Alabama.
In nine seasons as a head coach, he has a 104-12 record, and that doesn’t include a 2-0 start at Alabama this year. He went 25-3 during his tenure with the Huskies. In fact, he became the first Washington coach to win 11 or more games in consecutive seasons, going 11-2 in 2022 and 14-1 last year; that was good enough to win Pac-12 coach of the year in both seasons.
At Sioux Falls, his teams appeared in four NAIA championship games and won three of them.
Kalen DeBoer oversaw the development of Michael Penix Jr.
DeBoer was quarterbacks coach at Indiana in 2019, when Michael Penix Jr. burst onto the scene in his redshirt freshman season, throwing for 1,394 yards in six games, shortened by injury.
After four years in the Hoosiers program, Penix transferred to Washington for the 2022 season, where he finally enjoyed fully healthy seasons under his old quarterbacks coach, now head coach for the Huskies. He passed for 4,641 yards as a junior in 13 games with 31 touchdowns and 4,903 as a senior with 36 touchdowns, en route to becoming a top-10 draft pick by th
e Atlanta Falcons.
