How Kalen DeBoer Wants to Build His Alabama Coaching Staff
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — As of Friday afternoon, outside of Kalen DeBoer as head coach, the "football coaching staff" tab on Alabama athletic's official website is completely blank.
Less than 24 hours after being named Alabama's next head football coach, there are a lot of things DeBoer has at the top of his priority list, but filling out his coaching staff is one of them.
"Certainly have a strong feeling of what I'd like to do," DeBoer said on Friday. "I want to be very thorough. The fine line with that is that as players are being sought after on our own roster, there's less people to get in front of them. I'm working tirelessly to manage who we have here."
DeBoer said poaching of Alabama's roster from other programs because of the coaching transition is "real strong," so he wants to get a staff in place quickly to help him retain the players the Crimson Tide currently has while also bringing in some new players from the portal as part of the roster turnover.
There will be a "touch of Washington" on the staff according to DeBoer. But he also plans to heed Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne's advice of having someone on your staff that knows what sweet tea and grits are. All of DeBoer's coaching stops have taken place in the Midwest or West Coast.
"I understand there needs to be some SEC ties, some Southeast ties to help bridge the gap of my experiences here," DeBoer said. "There are experiences having been recruiting West Coast and Indiana, but I don't want to lead you on that there's not every coach's phone number in my phone right now. I've got to put myself in a spot with the right people around me."
One of those pieces DeBoer is for sure bringing with him from Washington is his general manager/director of player personnel Courtney Morgan, who will be coming with him to Alabama in some capacity.
There has already been some turnover among Alabama's coaching staff both before and after Nick Saban's retirement. Coleman Hutzler took a job at Mississippi State, Kevin Steele retired and Travaris Robinson was hired at Georgia Friday morning.
