Inside The Huskies

AP Names DeBoer as Coach of the Year, His Third Such Honor

The Husky leader continues to be recognized for his unbeaten and CFP-involved football team.

Dan Raley

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The top awards have been elusive for an unbeaten and College Football Playoff-bound University of Washington football team, with the Heisman Trophy and Biletnikoff Award among those that easily could be on display in Montlake but went elsewhere.

While some of his players might have been short-changed some by reputation, perception or even great marketing campaigns, Kalen DeBoer has not been ignored for a minute.

On Tuesday, the second-year Husky leader was named Associated Press Coach of the Year — his third such honor singling him out as the nation's best at what he does, following honors bestowed on him by The Sporting News and Home Depot.

DeBoer is an obvious choice after leading the UW to a 13-0 season and into the CFP semifinals against Texas on Jan. 1 in the Sugar Bowl. 

He's also one of the most humble coach of the year recipients.

“It’s all about the people around me — this is a team award,” DeBoer said. “When you win, I tell the players this, you win football games, you’re going to get recognized and more awards are going to get shared. I’m fortunate enough to kind of be the figurehead of our team and receive these cool awards. Just really blessed.”

No Husky football coach has received the AP award before, though the late Don James won nearly every other coach of the year honor that was out there while at the UW in 1977, 1984 and 1991. 

DeBoer received 30 of 52 first-place votes and totaled 113 points overall from AP Top 25 poll voters to easily outdistance Florida State’s Mike Norvell (57 points). The only other coaches to receive multiple first-place votes were Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz (38) and Arizona’s Jedd Fisch (28).

With the UW working furiously to sign their successful head man to a contract extension, DeBoer, 49, has proven to be one of the fastest rising coaches anywhere in the college game in recent times.

In two seasons, he's won 24 of 26 games at Washington after inheriting a 4-8 team in which his predecessor, Jimmy Lake, was fired at midseason. Counting his previous coaching stops at Sioux Falls and Fresno State, he's 103-11 in nine seasons. 

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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