Unlike Montlake, It's Hard Being Kalen DeBoer At Alabama

Had he not been swept off his feet by the whirlwind advances of Alabama, Kalen DeBoer would be preparing for his fifth season as the University of Washington football coach.

He no doubt would have plenty of program momentum, with no glaring break in the talent level such as his successor Jedd Fisch has had to overcome.

DeBoer, with maybe 6-foot-6, 232-pound Austin Mack installed as his starting quarterback, might have had a UW team seriously challenging for the Big Ten championship and been prepared to add to its College Football Playoff resume this season.

Instead, DeBoer walked into SEC Media Days thsi week in Tampa, Florida, with the insinuation that nobody cared. No buzz around him or his program whatsoever. No, it was actually worse than that.

Kalen Deboer speaks during SEC Football Kickoff Media Day at the Tampa Marriott. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, one of those talking heads who was not laid off this week by the network, suggested that Alabama should buy out his contract.

This is the problem of being Kalen DeBoer.

Nice guy, Deceptively good football coach. Maybe sometimes too conservative for his own good.

Four and a half years ago, DeBoer was introduced at a news conference at Washington as the successor to the fired Jimmy Lake. From Fresno State. Not a lot of fanfare. Sort of a laidback personality.

In fact, as I listened to him speak, my initial impression was he might be a little too Midwest for Montlake, too South Dakota for South Lake Union, that players such as Rome Odunze or Troy Fautanu might not relate to him at all.

It was just the opposite.

Huskies coach Kalen DeBoer checks his play sheet during the 2024 College Football Playoff national championship game against Michigan. | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

After the somewhat disjointed two years of Lake and his impulsive manner, the Huskies wanted someone grounded, organized and, as DeBoer showed them the way, a winner.

While it's hard to say no to a place like Alabama should you be a competitive football coach, sometimes you have to realize when you have a good fit that might he hard to top in terms of your sanity, popularity and job security.

Don James realized that.

Once he got it going with the Huskies, both Ohio State and the Seattle Seahawks made a run at him.

He was from Ohio. The NFL was in his backyard. Natural avenues to take.

Yet James determined that the UW was the place for him and his career, that he didn't need more attention or, for that matter, pressure.

It doesn't matter that DeBoer took the Crimson Tide to the playoffs last season or that he's been rebuilding the program in a football environment nationally that has begun to even out the competitive landscape in ways that a long-time loser such as Indiana could go unbeaten in 15 games and win everything.

No buzz, no juice. Just boring Alabama at SEC media days.

How the mighty have fallen.https://t.co/dDtALTMJNg
— Matt Hayes (@MattHayesCFB) July 23, 2026

Consider that DeBoer was asked whether he will be defined by winning a national championship and the media didn't iike his answer.

DeBoer said he wasn't focused on that in a single-minded fashion, rather he was out to raise the level of the program in terms of being competitive.

That wasn't good enough for some of his listeners who say it's unfair to compare DeBoer to predecessor Nick Saban and then proceed to hold him up against Saban, Bear Bryant and everyone else who has held a clipboard in Tuscaloosa.

"C'mon Kalen, you're not at Washington anymore," wrote Yahoo's Dan Wolken, taking a shot at DeBoer and the Huskies all at once. "This isn't a 'try hard and let the chips fall where they may' kind of job. It's Ala-freaking-bama. Even for a fan base that largely understands the Saban era was a once-in-a-lifetime anomaly, any coach who tap dances around the expectations will eventually find the metal toe hovering over his neck."

DeBoer, consider yourself warned.

While expectations are high for every Power 4 program, and getting elevated more and more with NIL money and transfer portal options, DeBoer, had he stayed, might have saved himself from the unrealistic and often arrogant expectations that come with Alabama and not Washington.

Consider that DeBoer was asked if Alabama might be overlooked this season, which for some was a truly blasphemous consideration.

Hearing this, USA Today's Matt Hayes had the following indignant response, "Saban, the Death Star himself sitting on the ESPN set in the back of the ballroom, must have puked."

Montlake might look pretty good to DeBoer during moments such as this.

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