Kalen DeBoer reflects on what he would tell his 18-year-old self now

The sheer speed of the rise of Kalen DeBoer to the top of the college football world is enough to make you blush, and DeBoer is included among those shocked by how quickly his stature has grown.

Just 14 years ago he was the head coach at NAIA Sioux Falls. Now he’s the coach of one of the most storied programs in college basketball history.

His teenage self could have never seen this coming.

“Yeah, he would have never thought anything like this was ever possible,” Kalen DeBoer said on Saturday at an introductory press conference at Alabama. “And you know, I think that’s what I love about my journey, is that it was never about getting to a place like Alabama. It’s always been about enjoying the moment and just loving football, loving the pureness of the game, loving being a teammate. And so, if I went back to those days, it would have never been in my mind.”

DeBoer certainly doesn’t have credentials on paper that scream ‘Alabama hire.’ He spent only two years at Washington, preceded by one year as head coach at Fresno State.

But success has followed everywhere he has gone. You might call him a natural.

“I mean, coaching, I think is something I knew I wanted to do,” Kalen DeBoer said, reflecting back on his childhood. “And I loved high school coaching, I did for two years. I thought I saw myself doing that forever. I got sucked into the college football world and here we are. But you know, it’s just special.”

Special indeed.

Alabama is hoping DeBoer is special enough as a coach to not only keep what Nick Saban built from collapsing, but to keep it thriving.

From his standpoint, DeBoer is humbled by what it means to be hired by Alabama in these circumstances.

“It means a lot that people entrust trust me with the players, their lives,” Kalen DeBoer said. “Like Greg (Byrne) said, I hope that parents are seeing myself and this staff as people who they want their sons to play for because that’s the way I look at them.

“You saw, my daughter’s 18 going to be going to college next year. And I think when you have kids of your own, you have a perspective that is kind of focused on all of that and I can’t wait to provide an environment where these guys are having one of the greatest times of their lives.”