Kalen DeBoer Most Qualified Bama Football Coach On Arrival Since Bear - Excluding Saban Of Course; DeBoer Has Press Conference In Tuscaloosa Saturday

Last Friday, he was preparing for his first major college national championship game as No. 2 Washington's coach against No. 1 Michigan.

Seven days later, he took the most major college football coaching job in the nation at the University of Alabama.

On Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m., he will be introduced at a press conference in Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. OutKick will be there.

Kalen DeBoer, you've come a long way from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Your mission, that you've chosen to accept. Replace Nick Saban.

Good luck.

You'll need it.

That and a lot of recruits, especially at quarterback.

"The tradition-rich history of this program is unmatched across the landscape of college athletics," DeBoer said Friday night in an Alabama release. "And I look forward to continuing that moving forward. Following coach Saban is an honor. He has been the standard for college football, and his success is unprecedented."

Kalen DeBoer leads his Washington Huskies against Michigan in the College Football Playoff national championship game last Monday in Houston. Michigan won, 34-13. (Getty Images)

Could Saban make an appearance at the press conference? We shall see.

DeBoer came across as a very nice guy at the College Football Playoff semifinal two weeks ago in New Orleans and last week at the national championship game in Houston. That's great, but at Alabama, he will also need a thicker skin than he has ever had. Thicker than the smoke on Saturday game days at Dreamland Barbecue, just off Jug Factory Road in Tuscaloosa.

"I would not have left Washington for just any school," DeBoer, 49, said. "The chance to lead the football program at the University of Alabama is the opportunity of a lifetime."

And he will face the pressure of his middle-aged life.

There couldn't have been much pressure at NAIA Sioux Falls (enrollment 1,325) as a wide receiver from 1993-96. Or as head coach there from 2005-09 when you won a Saban-like three national championships in five years with a runner-up finish.

Alabama Coach Kalen DeBoer Has Won In Saban-Like Fashion

And you weren't at any other place long enough to really feel any significant pressure - Fresno State offensive coordinator (2017-18), Indiana offensive coordinator (2019), Fresno State head coach (2020-21) and Washington head coach (2022-23).

And you've turned around major programs and won - a 4-8 team at Fresno into 3-3 in the COVID 2020 season and to 9-3 in '21. You took another 4-8 team at Washington and made it 11-2 in your first season in 2022. Then you got Washington to explode to a 14-0 in 2023 before falling to Michigan, 34-13, Monday night in the national championship game.

Not too shabby. In fact, DeBoer has the best coaching resume to arrive at Alabama (other than Saban himself) as a head football coach since Bear Bryant left Texas A&M for Alabama before the 1958 season. Bryant drastically turned around losing programs at Maryland, Kentucky and Texas A&M before doing the same at Alabama, where he won six national titles from 1961-79.

But before you start wearing all the Crimson, know this. You kind of have to win almost every game at Alabama, or close to it. You'll get used to that, or you won't, and will be somewhere else.

Alabama moves fast. It hired DeBoer just 48 hours after Saban informed Alabama he was retiring. Athletic director Greg Byrne displayed a much better two-minute offense with his world at stake much better than the Tide's last offense.

"We look forward to him leading the Alabama Crimson Tide for years to come," Byrne said.

New Alabama Coach Kalen DeBoer Won Big Quick

As far as the best college coaches who would come to Alabama without making a lateral move (Michigan's Jim Harbaugh and Georgia's Kirby Smart would have made lateral moves.), Kalen DeBoer is the cream of the crop. Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin and Texas' Steve Sarkisian would have been excellent choices with strong Tide ties. But each have a tad too much baggage for the always staid and a smidgen stuffy Alabama.

Florida State's Mike Norvell, 42, would have been impressive as well, but DeBoer is more experienced. Sarkisian and Norvell just got new contracts possibly for Alabama's interest in them, but those may have come anyway as well.

Yes, part of DeBoer's coaching history was at Sioux Falls, but there's something cool about winning on that level and gradually moving up in class.

DeBoer is from Milbank, South Dakota - population 3,353 and the birthplace of American Legion baseball. Also cool. Saban's Monongah, West Virginia, stomping grounds? Population was about 1,300 in the 1960s when Saban was growing up. Towns like that can help create tremendous work ethics.

From Sioux Falls, To Fresno State, To Big Time At Washington

Plus, DeBoer is basically a Father Flanagan in a golf shirt. Nothing remotely shady. Nothing NCAA investigatory.

Kalen DeBoer (left) with Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh at a press conference the day before Monday's national championship game in Houston. (Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports)

But the main thing is, Kalen DeBoer is a proven winner on three levels - NAIA, mid-major and major.

"He has done an incredible job as a head coach at each of his stops," Byrne said.

Very smart hire by Byrne, who didn't fall into the ridiculous trap of insisting on someone with ties to the school or to Saban, which fans tend to obsess over. Never mind that tends to be extremely cosmetic.

Saban, for example, had absolutely no ties to LSU or Alabama, and won big and quick at both places, and never stopped winning big at Alabama over 17 years.

DeBoer is the first Alabama hire with no southern roots since Washington State's Mike Price in 2003, though he didn't make it to opening day because of some extremely highly publicized off field issues.

Alabama Tried To Hire Best Candidate, Regardless Of Ties

This is a welcome non-parochial approach from Byrne as he did in getting basketball coach Nate Oats from Buffalo - another excellent hire. There was a time at Alabama in the years and decades after Bryant finished coaching in 1982 and died on Jan. 26, 1983, that anyone other than someone who played for the Bear coaching Alabama was sacrilegious.

Ray Perkins (1983-86), Gene Stallings (1990-97), Mike DuBose (1998-2000) all played for Bryant. Stallings played for him at Texas A&M, but he coached under him at Alabama. Mike Shula (2003-06) played at Alabama for Perkins, so that was good enough, too.

Some said Alabama fans could handle the Price hire from the Pacific Northwest at first because at least he looked a little like Bryant. Strange.

Perkins and Stallings did very well. Stallings won a national title in the 1992 season and got close in 1994. But it wasn't necessarily because they played for Bryant. They were accomplished coaches before becoming Alabama's head coach. DuBose's best qualification was that he played for Bryant. But that did not help him as a head coach through two losing seasons out of four.

Shula should never have gotten the job, but they needed someone quick after the Price disaster. He looked the part, and his dad was Don Shula. But he had the brook trout look for all four seasons with two losing campaigns and a .500 mark.

Bill Curry (1987-89) went 7-5, 9-3 and 10-2 with an SEC title, but he never beat Auburn. And fans couldn't get over the fact that he was not one of Bear's boys. Never mind that he was one of Vince Lombardi's boys, and that players he recruited helped Alabama win that '92 national title.

Dennis Franchione (2001-02) had no ties to Alabama, but quickly turned around DuBose's horrid, NCAA investigated, 3-8 program. He went 7-5 in 2001 and 10-3 in 2002 despite inheriting an NCAA investigation that led to major sanctions in 2002, including a bowl ban. He actually left Alabama on his own for Texas A&M mainly because of the sanctions.

Former Alabama coach Nick Saban leaves a very large trophy case to fill for new coach Kalen DeBoer, formerly of Washington. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)

With the hiring of Saban by Mal Moore after the 2006 season, Alabama finally departed its incestuous pattern of seeking Alabama/Bear Men. Byrne has continued that well. In fact, he didn't even fall for a Saban Man.

Some of those have failed as well - Jimbo Fisher, Will Muschamp and Derek Dooley, to name a few.

Byrne did something very simple. He simply went out and got the most qualified, spotless coach still young enough to leave a major mark.

And Alabama's tradition has a way of making bad coaches average, average coaches good, good coaches very good and very good coaches great. And it can make great coaches like Saban and Bryant on arrival - legends.

DeBoer is in the very good stage at the moment. He could be great before long. Then again, if he wins two national championships by the time he's 55, he'll only be halfway to Saban and Bryant.