NEW ORLEANS — Kalen DeBoer‘s feet are in New Orleans, and though he hopes to be dancing in Houston in one week, the head coach of the undefeated Washington Huskies has not yet allowed himself to gaze at the horizon and dream what it might be like to win a national championship.
The first step is set today (8:45 p.m. ET, ESPN) in the Sugar Bowl against No. 3 Texas (12-1) in a College Football Playoff semifinal, but DeBoer’s story started nearly 30 years ago at a small NAIA school in South Dakota. He might be labeled today as the hottest new head coach on the Power 5 level, but for those who have known the second-year Washington coach since the big blonde receiver stepped on the campus of Sioux College, his rise to the brink of college football greatness wasn’t all that surprising.
“I never felt like this is something I couldn’t do,” DeBoer said on New Year’s Eve. “It’s just you wonder what that road is gonna look like for you to go from small college football to getting to this point at a Power 5 level.”
Speak to those who worked alongside DeBoer as he traversed the college football landscape, and the terms they use to describe the man tie into humility, service and championships. He broke three school records in the 1990s as a receiver at the University of Sioux Falls, where he won four national championships, including three as head coach and compiled a 67-3 record in five seasons in the late 2000s. He was happy at his alma mater and had no intention of leaving as the school transitioned from NAIA to Division II in 2010, but his boss had other ideas after DeBoer won a third national title in 2009.
“He’s a good, Midwestern young man and a lot of time the Midwestern mentality is, ‘Aww, shucks, I’m happy here, why do I want to leave?'” said Willie Sanchez, USF’s former athletics director and former executive in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. “He had that approach a little bit, but I also knew he was a competitor, so I said, ‘Kalen, I think it’s time for you to get out of here. You should look for another job somewhere.’ That was hard to do, asking a championship coach to leave.”
DeBoer had received interest from other schools but he rarely listened to offers. “I was always about just being in the moment, being where my feet were at and letting life play out,” DeBoer told 247Sports. But with USF set to transition from NAIA to Division II, Sanchez knew the window was open for DeBoer, and one month later Southern Illinois’s Dale Lennon called offered him a job to be the FCS school’s offensive coordinator. He jokingly told DeBoer he would decide for him. “Well, if you don’t call them back, I’m gonna fire you and make you leave.”
“If he wanted to get to the big leagues, he was going to have to move. I told him that. The biggest mistake I ever made in professional baseball was I stayed with the same organization for 12 years when I had opportunities with other organizations,” Sanchez said. “Who knows? I might be somewhere else today.”
DeBoer’s roots in Sioux Falls and at the small Christian college run deep and serve as the touchstone for a philosophy predicated on trust, loyalty and authenticity, which he adopted and adapted from his former coach, NAIA coaching legend Bob Young. Sioux Falls is a haven for championship football, particularly for coaches on Young’s coaching tree. There’s DeBoer with a 103-11 record as a head coach at USF, Fresno State and Washington. Kurtiss Riggs, who broke records throwing passes to DeBoer in the 1990s, was DeBoer’s quarterbacks coach at Sioux Falls and retired this year after winning 11 Indoor Football League national championships as the head coach of the Sioux Falls Storm. Washington defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell played and coached for Young, and has remained by DeBoer’s side for all 114 of his games as a head coach.
Young led Sioux Falls from 1983 to 2004, winning one national championship to go along with winning streaks of 34 and 27 conference games. He is remembered mostly for his leadership and his spiritual guidance with players. He died in January at 83.
“Bob was the most Christian man I’ve ever met in my life,” said Jim Heinitz, Young’s best friend and former rival coach at nearby Augustana in Sioux Falls. “Bob was a very humble servant in everything he did, and I think that humility and sincerity have been a real plus for Kalen.”
“There’s nobody else in the country I’ve ever come across that’s anything close to him,” Morrell said. “He’s 98% about culture and probably 2% about football. So when you look at our culture today, there are so many similarities, and certainly coach DeBoer has his own way of directing a program, but there’s a lot of carry-over from that. And why is Washington here (in the playoff)? I think it’s a big part of going back to those roots at that time and those days.”
MORE WITH LESS IS SUCCESS
DeBoer might be the face of Washington, but the men he brought with him from Sioux Falls are just as crucial to Washington’s success. That includes offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, a late addition to the inner circle, joining Sioux Falls in 2007 as offensive line coach.
His first road trip was an eye-opening experience. Sioux Falls traveled by bus to Nebraska-Weselyan, and for the pregame meal, coaches unpacked sandwiches from coolers under the bus and served players and staff in a park. “I was like, wow, this is intense,” Grubb said.
That’s life in the NAIA, where grit and determination must overcome limitations. Sioux Falls had no more than four full-time coaches on staff during DeBoer’s time leading the program. Coaches filled divots on the field. Morrell, who was practically the co-head coach, put together financial aid packages for players.
“We’re mentors and teachers first,” Grubb said. “And I think that the better you can be at filling in gaps and doing the best with the resources that you have, regardless of where you’re at — if you’re at the New York Jets or Washington or University of Sioux Falls, it doesn’t matter. I think you always want to make the most of what you have and try to do a great job with the resources that are available.”
DeBoer, Grubb and Morrell’s war stories are long. Sioux Falls played 12 of its 14 games on the road in 1996. Reminded of the time Sioux Falls played in a blizzard that resulted in hypothermia and frostbite for some players, DeBoer smiled. “Which one? There’s about six or seven.”
(For the record it was in 1996, and USF ground out an 8-6 win against massive underdog South Dakota School of Mines despite dressing in a locker room without lights and going for it twice on fourth down from inside its own 10-yard line because coaches feared punts would travel backward in the stiff wind.)
Riggs visited Seattle for Washington’s thrilling 36-33 win against Oregon on Oct. 14, and stayed with DeBoer’s family that weekend. “He and I both just laugh at the spread at the team meal that these Division I schools provide,” Riggs said. “If we were lucky at Sioux Falls, maybe we’d go to a buffet place. The guys were getting the bare minimum.”
“They carried that culture that Bob put in them and helped them grow,” said Ken ‘Sid’ Kortemeyer, who served as athletics director and hired DeBoer as head coach at Sioux Falls. “They’re a band of brothers. They’re bonded together; their lives are inextricably linked through blood, sweat and tears.”
MR. TURNAROUND
As much as his friends and colleagues praise DeBoer’s organizational skills and leadership, the coach was equally a masterful schemer as an offensive play-caller at Sioux Falls. It’s what landed him the gig at Southern Illinois and jobs elsewhere in the decade-plus between head-coaching gigs.
He’s constantly tweaking and creative, and it’s why is also so willing to utilize trick plays to pressure defenses and dictate the tempo.
“The expectation was national championship all the time at Sioux Falls, so I think that really drove everybody that was associated with it to an extreme level to be successful,” Morrell said.
The results at every stop for DeBoer are staggering, particularly in how fast his system turned programs around in a short time. He helped a one-win Fresno State team in 2016 jump to 10 wins in 2017. Eastern Michigan improved from a one-win season to a 7-6 record, tying for the biggest turnaround in the FBS in 2016.
Indiana won eight games in 2019 for the first time in 26 years, and his offense ranked third in the Big Ten. Southern Illinois defeated 10 top-25 teams in his four years as coordinator.
And all of this was before he got his first crack as an FBS head coach at Fresno State. He enters the CFP 36-8 in four seasons at Fresno State and Washington. He has yet to lose more than three games as a head coach in nine years.
“By his record you would think he’s this guy that is super hard on everybody, kind of that coaching style, but he’s a super genuine guy and super caring for all his players and staff,” said Washington All-American receiver Rome Odunze. “… It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
Still, it hasn’t been easy. Players didn’t know what to make of him when DeBoer took over Washington. Jimmy Lake had cratered the program less than two years after Chris Petersen, who led them to the playoff in 2016, stepped down as head coach. The Huskies were coming off a 4-8 season that included a loss to FCS Montana in an offensive rock fight in the 2021 season opener.
“A lot of us were going to leave after Lake was dismissed,” said All-American linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio.
The bleeding was mostly slowed by DeBoer and his staff of loyal followers. Together the Sioux Falls Boys convinced the likes of Ulofoshio and Odunze to return to Montlake. Twenty Huskies entered the transfer portal during the 2022 cycle, but only 10 landed at FBS programs.
“That’s the hardest thing about growing up: you gotta trust people, and in a world where you have so many options to make decisions on your own, to trust someone that’s from freaking (South) Dakota and came from Fresno State wasn’t the easiest thing to do but I’m glad I listened,” Ulofoshio said. “I’m glad I trusted my heart.”
Meanwhile, DeBoer was selective in the portal as he rebuilt the roster. He signed only nine players, but quarterback Michael Penix was the game-changing addition. DeBoer coached Penix to a record year at Indiana in 2019, and after a slew of injuries with the Hoosiers, has developed into the nation’s top passer at Washington and was the runner-up in December for the Heisman Trophy.
That successful hit rate continued in 2023 with the addition of Mississippi State running back Dillon Johnson, who was one of only 10 additions from the portal and has sparked the Huskies’ rushing attack with a team-leading 1,113 yards (just short of the total of his three-year career at MSU).
‘THE COU’
In the midst of an undefeated season that has included nine straight games decided by 10 points or less (the longest such stretch in the country) and seven one-possession games, Washington has endured. Pass rusher Zion Tupuola-Fetui played against USC less than one week after his father died and persevered in the face of sadness. He finished with 1.5 sacks and stripped Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams for a fumble in the 52-42 win in the Coliseum. ABC’s cameras caught a private moment between player and coach after the game. As teams streamed down Tupuola-Fetui’s face, he tucked his head into DeBoer’s right shoulder.
“This team loves you,” DeBoer whispered in his ear.
We love you, Z pic.twitter.com/WTuE2fQ2aw
— Washington Football (@UW_Football) November 6, 2023
Love and loyalty. It’s the DeBoer way. Or, as the USF Cougars’ former athletics director calls it, “they have the Cou in them.”
“It’s so refreshing, so stabilizing for those young kids to know they have someone in leadership that has their best interest at heart,” Kortemeyer said. “They weave their magic into their lives, and it’s really a fun thing to see.”
“They came in with a different mentality,” said senior pass rusher Bralen Trice. “I’ve seen coaches in the past — I won’t name names — they seemed like they were out of it. And these coaches were ready to step it up. You’re riding with us, or you’re falling behind or leaving; there’s no middle.”
It’s why Morrell and Grubb have followed DeBoer from pregame sandwiches in Nebraska city parks to the biggest championship stage in college football. Grubb and Morrell have turned down job offers from other programs, too, to remain by his side. Grubb had the gumption to say no to Alabama’s Nick Saban last January after interviewing for the offensive coordinator job in Tuscaloosa.
“You want to be somewhere, No. 1, where you feel like you can make an impact, where you can be yourself,” Grubb said. “And those were things that were important to me. My style of offense and the things I want to accomplish, I didn’t want a bunch of restrictions on that. And I wanted to be able to be more collaborative with the people I was going to be with and have more control of the situation. I feel like I do have a lot of input with what happens with the program.”
They don’t talk about it often, but DeBoer wasn’t the first choice to replace Young as Sioux Falls’ head coach in 2005. The job was first offered to Morrell, but he quickly turned it down and recommended DeBoer, who was then the offensive coordinator.
“I’m the background guy,” Morrell said. “I love the X’s and O’s and I love being in the trenches and doing all the behind-the-scenes things. At that time it didn’t fit my personality. With coach DeBoer, it was an easy thing. He’s great with the media, great out in front of the team and is an unbelievable tactician.
“Coach DeBoer sets the tone, he’s the same guy every day and you know what to expect. You love working for him, and when you’re invested in each other, it creates a special atmosphere that puts you on a different level. … Every coach cares about the performance of all the position groups and finding a way to win, and it doesn’t have to be about my group or my area statistically.
“To me, that’s the secret sauce.”
Washington is the betting underdog against Texas, a fact that reminds Kortemeyer of the DeBoer’s final national championship at Sioux Falls, a 25-22 victory in 2009 against Lindenwood, who was viewed as the favorite against the undefeated Cougars. “Kalen’s kids were never intimidated. I know his players aren’t intimidated today.”
Confidence, trust, love and loyalty have served as the bedrock for Washington’s fast rise to prominence.
“There’s a trust and belief we have in ourselves that we’ll find a way, we’ll get it done,” DeBoer said. “When it comes to those big moments, those big times and we need a touchdown or get a stop, we’ll do it. We have everything it takes to win a championship ourselves.”
Brandon Marcello is a national college football reporter for 247Sports. You can follow him on X (@bmarcello).
