Sources: Washington’s DeBoer agrees to grow to be subsequent Alabama coach

Washington’s Kalen DeBoer, who guided the Huskies to a Pac-12 championship and a spot within the School Soccer Playoff Nationwide Championship sport this previous season, has agreed to a deal to grow to be the following head coach at Alabama, sources informed ESPN on Friday.

DeBoer knowledgeable his Washington gamers and workers on Friday he’s leaving for Alabama, sources informed ESPN, and a deal is anticipated to be made official later within the day.

DeBoer, 49, would inherit one of the coveted jobs in faculty soccer — and one of the troublesome — in changing Saban, whose groups received 9 SEC titles and 6 nationwide championships in his 17 seasons on the faculty. Saban, who had a 206-29 document at Alabama, retired Wednesday.

Washington athletic director Troy Dannen made an aggressive pitch to maintain DeBoer, sources informed Thamel, with a brand new contract that might make him one of many 10 highest-paid coaches within the FBS and greater than double his present annual wage of $4.2 million.

DeBoer will owe Washington a $12 million buyout when he leaves. He signed a two-year contract extension via the 2028 season in November.

DeBoer had emerged because the Crimson Tide’s prime goal even earlier than three different potential candidates — Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Florida State’s Mike Norvell and Texas’ Steve Sarkisian — withdrew from the search and affirmed their commitments to their present faculties over the previous two days.

Washington employed DeBoer to resurrect its program after the Huskies went 4-8 in Jimmy Lake’s second season as coach in 2021. With Indiana switch Michael Penix Jr. orchestrating Washington’s high-flying offense, the Huskies greater than doubled their victory complete throughout an 11-2 marketing campaign in 2022.

This previous season, Washington went 12-0 in the course of the common season and defeated rival Oregon for a second time, 34-31 within the Pac-12 championship sport, to achieve the CFP for the second time at school historical past. The Huskies beat Texas 37-31 in a CFP semifinal on the Allstate Sugar Bowl on New 12 months’s Day.

Washington misplaced to No. 1 Michigan 34-13 within the CFP Nationwide Championship introduced by AT&T.

DeBoer’s hiring at Alabama can be the apex of a meteoric rise in teaching over the previous few seasons for him. A record-setting receiver on the College of Sioux Falls, an NAIA program in his dwelling state of South Dakota, DeBoer grew to become head coach of his alma mater in 2005. Over the following 5 seasons, his groups went 67-3 and received three NAIA nationwide championships (in 2006, 2008 and 2009). The Cougars went 17-2 within the NAIA playoffs throughout DeBoer’s tenure.

After working as an offensive coordinator at Southern Illinois, Japanese Michigan, Fresno State and Indiana, DeBoer changed Jeff Tedford as Fresno State’s coach in 2020. The Bulldogs went 3-3 within the COVID-19-delayed season in 2020, then improved to 9-3 in his second season, which included upset wins over nationally ranked UCLA and San Diego State.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Adam Rittenberg contributed to this report.