Ducks Digest

Washington Hires Fresno State's Kalen DeBoer as New Head Coach

The Huskies have found their replacement for Jimmy Lake, heading to the Mountain West to tab DeBoer.

Dylan Reubenking

The Washington Huskies officially named Kalen DeBoer their new head coach Monday. DeBoer replaces Jimmy Lake, who was fired on Nov. 14 and went 7-6 in his short tenure in Seattle.

DeBoer leaves Fresno State after two seasons with the program, going 12-6 and leading the Bulldogs to their first nine-win season since 2018. Prior to his head coaching tenure, he spent time as an offensive coordinator at Indiana, Fresno State, Eastern Michigan, and Southern Illinois.

DeBoer came from the NAIA and high school ranks, coaching Sioux Falls to three NAIA national championships and a 67-3 record in five seasons. He also had stints at the South Dakota school as its offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach, on the bookends of a stint as assistant coach at Washington High School in Sioux Falls.

DeBoer, 47, will be the 30th head coach at Washington and the ninth in the past 20 years. He will bring an offensive-minded approach to a program that hasn't been productive on offense in years. The Huskies finished with the 17th-worst offense in the FBS, collecting just 323.4 yards of offense per game.

Washington hasn't finished in the top three in the Pac-12 in total offense since 2013. DeBoer helped Fresno State to the ninth-best passing offense in the FBS this season as well as the 15th-best total offense. The Bulldogs ranked fifth and 17th in those categories, respectively, in his first season in 2020.

One of DeBoer's first moves as head coach in Seattle will be to find a new offensive coordinator, as the team let go of John Donovan following its loss to Oregon. Whoever the new offensive coordinator will be in 2022 will be the Huskies' fourth offensive coordinator in six seasons.

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Dylan Reubenking
DYLAN REUBENKING

Dylan Reubenking is a graduate of the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. He was a sports reporter for Duck TV Sports and a broadcaster for KWVA Sports 88.1 FM. He has dabbled in news and sports reporting, copyediting, graphic design, video production, podcasting, layout design, and more. Dylan is also the co-founder and publisher of The Transfer Portal CFB, a multimedia college football platform that launched in August 2021.

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