When Nick Saban announced his retirement, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne asked the team to give him 72 hours to find a new head coach. He made his promise, then some, and was done in about 48 hours. Karen DeBoer was Byrne’s selectman and selected him to be the next leader of the Crimson Tide.
As DeBoer recently reflected, the entire process went quickly. Byrne didn’t waste much time heading west to meet with the former Washington head coach. A meeting was held on Thursday before a final decision was made on Friday.
“Late Wednesday night, late, I got a call from my agent saying Greg Byrne wanted to meet with me,” DeBoer said. “It was literally the day after the plane arrived. It was so fast. There’s no need to gauge interest other than ‘Are you interested in meeting?’
“It was Wednesday night. Thursday, interview. I got the job offer on Friday, accepted it, and was meeting with the team here Friday night. It was fast.”
While DeBoer only outlined aspects of the coaching search, there was much more to the transition than that. They were just 48 hours away from losing to Michigan in the national championship and ending the 2023 season in Washington. The game was played on Monday, and the Huskies returned to Seattle on Tuesday morning.
Alabama’s season ended about a week ago, on January 1st, with the Rose Bowl against Michigan. Saban was going through a process of rebuilding his coaching staff before announcing his retirement to Byrne and the entire program.
The recruiting process had to wrap up quickly, with eight long months of offseason discussions continuing for the remainder of the offseason. Coach DeBoer was eager to get his team on the field, and since then, Alabama has gotten off to an undefeated start, with three games flying by.
This will give him a classic win early in his tenure when Georgia State comes to Tuscaloosa. Coach Byrne has been using DeBoer for these types of games, and his quick decisions will prove to be very effective on Saturday.