| FTBL Kalen DeBoer explains what has changed—and what hasn’t—in his new world at Alabama.
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What has (and hasn't) changed for Kalen DeBoer at Alabama
DeBoer’s notoriety — and salary — have grown in his new gig, but the new Crimson Tide coach feels like some key things remain the same.
theathletic.com
In Kalen DeBoer, Alabama landed perhaps the ideal coach to replace Nick Saban. DeBoer took over a 4-8 team at Washington and, without a big roster overhaul, promptly went 25-3 over two seasons and 10-1 against Top 25 teams. His career record as a head coach is an absurd 104-12. Few coaches are as respected by their peers as DeBoer, whose teams play fearlessly and thrive in tight games. But the job DeBoer just accepted, going into the SEC and replacing the greatest college coach of all time, is a different animal.
On Wednesday, DeBoer was a guest on The Audible for a wide-ranging conversation. One of the things we broached was something former Washington coach Chris Petersen said about his own coaching career’s transition from Boise State, where he was known as an aggressive trick-play artist, to Washington, where he took the Huskies to the Playoff in 2016.
“It’s just such a corrupting process in this arena that he’s in — to be able to create space from your job,” Petersen said a few weeks before the national title game and before DeBoer became the new Alabama coach. “To just not be Kalen DeBoer the coach, 24/7/365 into every room that he goes into. That is exhausting. You talk about your identity of coaching is not who I am, it’s what I do. But everywhere you go, it’s, ‘That’s the coach!’”
One of DeBoer’s biggest challenges will be staying the same as who he was along the way now that so much around him has changed.
“There are a lot of thoughts that go through my mind as you’re talking there,” DeBoer said. “I think a lot of it is you just have to enjoy what you’re doing, with the people you’re with, and then that leads to the perspective of when every day you enjoy going to work, and enjoy the people you’re with, and you trust and believe in them, it allows you to not have to put on this face. You’re still the leader of the crew, and you’re providing that guidance and organization and helping the program really uphold the standards that you have set — and you have people like Chris Petersen that you can really count on to give you that perspective. He was really a great example of someone who over the last two years, you could either pick up the phone or see him from time to time on campus, and just really kind of reels you back in, not that you were going a certain direction or whatever, but just really get that mindset dialed in.
“There’s also that peace where just knowing that the way you do things, it’s been effective. It’s got the job done, and to trust that you don’t need to go necessarily prove something. You’re just out to make the place you’re at the best it can be and enjoy the moments that come along with it, and the journey and the growth and development of, whether it be staff or players, just everyone that surrounds you, just helping them become the best they can be. And when you keep the main thing, that’s all you can ask. Coach Pete gave me something, where he said the No. 1 ask of your team is to bring your best attitude each and every day. We always tied it into energy and effort as well. That’s all I ask of our players. That’s all I ask of my staff, and really that’s all they can ask of me.”
DeBoer’s notoriety — and salary — have grown in his new gig, but the biggest change is that there are more people involved in his process. Still, the coach said he thinks most people who knew him 15 years ago when he was coaching at NAIA Sioux Falls would say that he is really no different now than he was back then.
Among the other topics we touched on in the show:
• How impressive the locker room DeBoer inherited at Alabama is and how well the players have pivoted to embrace the new system:
“When you have a program like Alabama, there’s just a belief that the guys have that the program’s gonna hire the right people, the resources are still gonna be there in place and what they need to continue to grow and develop, and there’s great talent around,” he said. “As long as they stuck together and were patient and stayed the course, everything would work out. There’s been so much that these guys have embraced from our new staff coming in that I can’t explain just how appreciative I am of their mindset and the way they’ve stayed together and given us a chance.”
• Explaining his offensive scheme, which took Washington from No. 113 in yards per play the year before he arrived to back-to-back top 10 rankings, and how it will work at Alabama:
“The foundation is the same thing; same system,” DeBoer said. “Maybe 80 percent of the play calls (are the same as) what we ran at Indiana. If those guys came to Alabama, they’d probably be able to line up in those formations with those motions and the shifts. What you really saw at Washington was a staff and a couple of players with Michael Penix already having been in the system for three years, the year I was there and two years after with Nick Sheridan as the coordinator. We hit the ground running to keep the offense moving. We didn’t really have to grow it at a pace like I had to at Indiana when I was the only new coach coming in trying to coach the coaches and teach the players. That spring ball, guys were executing at a high level.”
• How he would describe his scheme:
“We’re a pro spread with a lot of pro feel to it with the tight end that’s involved and moving around. We’re really not a lot of 10 personnel, four wide receivers. We can do that at times, depending on situations, but I think having the ability to both run and pass is key to us. We use a lot of the movement to really challenge eye discipline with the defense. I think every snap we really tried to put something on the defense’s shoulders and make that coordinator worried that the ball could be going down the field, and that every guy has the potential to score on any play. That doesn’t mean it always has to be through the air. It means the threat of down the field throws and things like that open up a great run game, where our physicality can shine. You saw that all really come together, especially this last year, the last part of the season at Washington.
“It should be simple to us and complex to our opponent just because the window dressing that we use changes from week to week and by Weeks 5, 6, 7, 8, there’s a lot of film that the opponents go through, and really them trying to figure out where to start with trying to teach their guys the tendencies and things like that. I could see it being really tough.”
• DeBoer’s first impressions of Alabama’s star quarterback Jalen Milroe:
“First of all, you got to look at Jalen as a person. Man, he’s got a huge heart. I think there are some moments during the season last year where he really both lead by example and did some things where he put himself out there to pull the team together. And now he’s had an offseason where he’s continued to just keep working. He is in the building super early, by at least 4 a.m., whether it’s rehab, or just different type of work physically, or mentally. He’s just all-in.
“Our team recognizes how important this is to him and how important the team is to him as well. This is a guy who is hungry, looking for more things to be coached up on. He’s been great, just listening, trying the things that are little tweaks here and there that we think he can improve on. This would probably be at least his third offense or different version of a coordinator.
“He’s open to re-learning. He was as quick as anyone with understanding some of the basic concepts when we were installing them because he was putting in the work. Physically, he’s got tools, both with his arm and his legs. That showed up already in the first three practices where he’s making throws down the field or with some zip from one hash to the opposite sideline. And then the mobility, whether it’s keeping plays alive, or really hitting home runs, where he escapes, or maybe even a designed quarterback run. He’s just got a lot of tools that are gonna be fun to be a part of.”
