New Alabama Head Coach Kalen DeBoer is a Die-Hard Minnesota Sports Fan
Did you hear, Alabama Crimson Tide legendary head football coach Nick Saban has retired from his post in Tuscaloosa and it didn’t take the program very long to find his replacement, Washington Huskies head coach Kalen DeBoer, a hire that hit the newswaves on Friday.
Sources: Kalen DeBoer has informed Washington officials he's taking the job at Alabama. He's expected to tell his team soon.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 12, 2024
Kalen DeBoer: Die-Hard Minnesota Sports Fan
DeBoer grew up in Milbank, South Dakota, just 15 minutes from the western border of Minnesota. And, fun fact, he grew up and remains a big Minnesota sports fan.
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Back in 2018, when he was the Fresno State offensive coordinator, Coach DeBoer talked to Randy Johnson (Star Tribune) about the time he spent in the Metrodome as a kid rooting for the Vikings, Twins and Gophers.
A die-hard Vikings fan, DeBoer followed the Gophers, too. That wasn’t always easy when he was young, because his family lived outside of Milbank and didn’t have cable TV.
“We had an antenna hooked up, and about all we got to watch was the six [over-the-air] stations we had. I spent a lot of time at the Metrodome, watching the Vikings and Twins.”
Star Tribune – September 6, 2018
So while the Alabama Crimson Tide may not have hired ‘one of us’ as their new head football coach, you can’t get much closer than a South Dakota kid who grew up a hop, skip and a jump away from the MN border and a big time Minnesota sports fan.
More About:Minnesota Gophers Football Minnesota Twins Minnesota Vikings
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