People Are Noticing: DeBoer Lands in Top 10 Coaching List

The Husky football leader's reputation continues to grow.
In this story:

Twenty-one months ago, University of Washington football was an unadulterated mess, dealing with a miserable 4-8 season, the Huskies' fewest amount of victories since a totally inept Tyrone Willingham team went 0-for-2008.

Enter Kalen DeBoer from Fresno State in the Mountain West Conference, deep South Dakota roots and a conservative background that seemed to run counter to the Hollywood coaching hires of Lincoln Riley at USC and Dan Lanning at Oregon.

Thirteen games later, DeBoer has proven to be a perfect fit in Montlake. The players love him for his genuine, straight-shooter personality. His assistant coaches rally around him because he wins and wants to attack at all times on offense and defense.

If anything, DeBoer has shown how a coaching reputation can be built overnight when matched with the right platform and has immediate results. 

College Football Blues Bloods, a somewhat obscure web entity, has ranked the top 10 coaches currently in college football and DeBoer sneaks into this list at No. 10.

What's interesting when looking over this collection of coaching talent is this: while it's topped by SEC coaches in Georgia's Kirby Smart and Alabama's Nick Saban, it's dominated by current and future Big Ten sideline leaders.

DeBoer is one of six who will call the Big Ten home in 2024, falling in line behind USC's Lincoln Riley, Ohio State's Ryan Day, Michigan's Jim Harbaugh, Penn State's James Franklin and Wisconsin's Luke Frickel.

That should make for a most interesting league race for everyone involved from Seattle to Ann Arbor when it gets all put together.

For now, DeBoer will take 14 returning starters and a bunch of new pieces to try and build on an 11-2 debut season that counted victories over Michigan State, Oregon and Texas. 

Watching DeBoer in action over the past week, it's amazing how he makes the practice rounds over a two- and-a-half-hour workout — he'll spend as much time chatting up walk-on wide receiver Jackson Girouard as he does engaging with Husky starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. 

The players certainly like this coach, but DeBoer makes sure they hold themselves accountable to UW program demands. 

He recently didn't hesitate to suspend highly regarded running back Tybo Rogers for some unspecified team rules violation, let alone linebackers Daniel Heimuli and Ruperake Fuvai and defensive tackle Kuao Peihopa before that, with the latter three leaving the program and probably encouraged to do so.

In just 21 months on the job, DeBoer already has become an unforgettable character in UW football annals.

His 11 victories in 13 outings made him the most successful new coach in Husky history and he'll be known as the guy who guided the program during its final season in the Pac-12. 

The Big Ten best be advised not to underestimate this conference newcomer once he arrives next year. He's a Midwest native who grew up in the middle of the land of the Buckeyes, Wolverines, Hawkeyes and Gophers.  DeBoer certainly knows what he's getting into.


Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3

Have a question, direct message me on Facebook or Twitter.


Published
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.