DeBoer Confirms He Will Coach Indiana in Gator Bowl
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — It was never Kalen DeBoer's plan to only stay one year in Bloomington. Frankly, he was sick of moving, especially after coaching at four different schools in six-plus years. The whole family was tired of it.
He's moving again, but not before he coaches Indiana in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl on Jan. 2, 2020 in Jacksonville, Fla.
DeBoer confirmed to Sports Illustrated Indiana Thursday morning that he will indeed coach in the game before leaving for good for Fresno.
"That's what we are planning,'' DeBoer said by text. "This team, program and season are so special, and I want to do everything I can to finish it off in a great way!''
DeBoer was hired Tuesday as the head coach at Fresno State. He the offensive coordinator there for two years in 2017 and 2018, and performed so well that he was in high demand a year ago when Tom Allen decided to hire him as his offensive coordinator at Indiana.
He was so good that Indiana paid him $800,000, the third-highest salary in the Big Ten for an offensive coordinator. And he did great things here.
He was, frankly, too good. Demand was high again.
So when Jeff Tedford retired at Fresno for medical reasons, it was obvious that DeBoer was going to be their first choice. And as much as he loved his year working at Indiana, you just don't say no to head coaching jobs, especially at a place where you've already had success.
So just as quickly as he got here, DeBoer is gone.
"I really appreciate all he's done for our program, him coming here, and doing such a great job,'' Allen said. "He's such a first-class person, husband and father. He's very much worthy of being a head coach at the Division I level. I really want to thank him and wish him nothing but the best.''
There's never good timing with coaching moves, and the timing here stinks too, because Indiana has a huge Gator Bowl matchup with Tennessee on Jan. 2 in Jacksonville, Fla. And as much as DeBoer would love to dive head-long into his new job, he feels a responsibility to finish what he started here at Indiana, this magical 8-4 season that isn't over yet.
That bowl game matters, because it's a potential ninth win for Indiana, something that's only been done twice in school history. It's worth staying for.
Most guys wouldn't do that. DeBoer is not "most guys.''
"We've talked, and our goal is for him to call the offense during the bowl game. That's the intent for us to make that work,'' Allen said Wednesday afternoon. "There are things we have to work through to get to that point. We've talked to both administrations with that, trying to make sure we can coordinate that, do our best to allow him to do the job he needs to do there, but also be able to finish strong here.
"It's been a special season. He wants to finish that out.''
The search for a new coordinator
Because Indiana was so successful on offense this year, there are going to be a lot of talented people who would want this job. "My phone is already blowing up,'' Allen said.
That's no surprise.
What's also not a surprise is that Allen really doesn't want to change offenses again.
The idea of a third new offense in three years doesn't excite him, nor should it. DeBoer's offense was tailored perfectly for the skill set here at Indiana. There were a lot of quick throws by two talented quarterbacks — Michael Penix Jr. and Peyton Ramsey — and they got skill guys open in space. There was always a nice rhythm to their attack, and to his play-calling.
"I believe in what we're doing offensively. We have a system in place that our guys have bought into, and have executed at a high level,'' Allen said. "We've got a very young football team, and a lot of our offensive guys are going to be back for next year, a vast majority.
"To me, without going any further into (a coaching search), I'll just say I do want to keep the same system. I think that's very important. I feel like I don't want to have a new system, because it would be the third one in three years for our quarterbacks. I don't think that's in our best interest. To be able to stay true to that is really, to me from a system perspective, going to be the key.''
None of the current Indiana offensive assistants — running backs coach Mike Hart, receivers coach Grant Heard, tight ends coach Nick Sheridan or offensive line coach Darren Hiller — have called plays before, but they've all been very involved in DeBoer's offense this year.
They've learned it all, too. And bought in, in a big way. Can one of them run it the same way? There's never really been a need for that discussion before. There is now.
"We do have some guys on staff that can do a great job,'' Allen said. "At the same time, to me it's more about being able to be consistent conceptually so that we don't have dramatic changes.''
Success breeds success all the time
No one is surprised that DeBoer is getting this coaching opportunity, especially Allen. He was on the same path from position coach to coordinator to head coach, so he gets it.
"When you have success at a high level, people are going to want your guys. That's a compliment to what you're doing,'' said Allen, who's won more games (18) in his first three years than any coach in Indiana history. "We've got a talented coaching staff. Those guys are going to have opportunities to move forward. There will be others in the future. That's OK. You just have to be ready for that.''
The announcement coming right before signing day wasn't ideal, but it didn't affect Indiana's recruiting class in any way.
"Obviously timing was not ideal, but at the same time I understood why they did it, because they needed to move forward with their program,'' Allen said. "That's understandable. That's part of what you have to deal with. It definitely creates some uncertainty for guys. You have to be proactive with that, be open and honest with them.
"We talked about that to our recruits, guys that hadn't signed yet, but getting ready to sign. I don't think any one of them wavered. We made those phone calls, made sure they heard from us, knew they were committed.''
There are certainly no guarantees in this business, and recruits always need to know that, too. It helps Allen a ton that he's got a new seven-year contracts, so recruits know there's stability at the top at Indiana.
"I get these questions a lot in recruiting, 'Coach, how long are they going to be here?' Everybody wants to know. I say the key is the head coach. If the head coach changes, everything changes. To me, having every single position coach and coordinator, in your four or five years here be the exact same guy is probably not realistic in terms of how this game works. Guys get opportunity.''
Allen called all the recruits when the DeBoer news broke. No one blinked.
"We do make those phone calls, to be very proactive about that. We were up front and honest with them,'' Allen said. " I was the one to talk to those guys. My whole thing was that I wanted to make sure they knew, first of all, that's the path that I was on. I was an assistant. Assistants want a chance to have coordinators. Coordinators want to have a chance to be head coaches.''
And now everyone will move forward. But first, there's the matter of Tennessee.
All hands on deck. And that's a good thing.
