DeBoer Addresses Delay in Getting Contract Extension Done

The postseason and recruiting have gotten in the way of negotiations.

Amid the lengthy discussion on Wednesday about various 18-year-olds signing their football lives away to the University of Washington, Kalen DeBoer was asked about his contract extension now in negotiation.

While rubbing his eye at his news conference, the Husky football coach could have acted annoyed and turned the conversation about his personal finances in another direction.

Instead, DeBoer laughed easily and in general addressed his interaction with UW athletic director Troy Dannen, who's barely been on the job for two months now and likely won't have much of a future in Montlake if he doesn't get a deal done with his overly successful football coach.

"I can't say enough about how I feel Troy and the university are making me a priority," the coach said. "It's been good. It might feel it's being elongated, but that pressure should not be put on them. Right now we're in the moment and working good faith with each other."

With the Huskies 13-0, on a 20-game win streak and part of the College Football Playoff in just DeBoer's second season in Montlake, everyone realizes these are extraordinary times that need to be rewarded.

Unsubstantiated numbers currently circulating among alums indicate the Huskies' 30th football coach could command a deal of roughly seven years and $70 million. With an extension a year ago, DeBoer now makes $4.2 million annually through 2028. 

While people wonder why a new deal hasn't been completed yet, the complication to it all is trying to finalize everything with the Huskies getting ready to make a serious run at a national championship.

"You're so focused on the recruiting and so focused on the game-planning, I'm not saying it's not typical but I think a lot of times these things like this are done before or after the season, or in the offseason," DeBoer said. "Right now, we're in the moment."

DeBoer has become such a hot coaching property in such a short amount of time — the Huskies are 24-2 in his two seasons and already three-time winners over Oregon for that matter — he's won every national coach of the year award offered this month.

The UW needs to lock him up financially because it previously has faced stiff competition to retain its top coaches and DeBoer as the face of a college football program looks attractive to just about everyone right now.

Ohio State once made a serious bid for the services of the legendary Don James, the Ohio native and the UW's winningest football coach, while Texas A&M tried to pry away Jim Owens, who was a former Aggies assistant coach and had taken the Huskies to three Rose Bowls in five seasons.

A school such as all-powerful Michigan might decide to offer DeBoer, the Midwest native, half of Lake Michigan and all of its beachfront properties to go with it — in other words, a rich offer — to relocate to Ann Arbor if the school ever parted ways with Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh, who appears to be living dangerously with the rules and has drawn two suspensions this season.

DeBoer seems genuinely happy in Seattle and the city couldn't be more enthused about him. A deal likely comes shortly after the CFP plays out.

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