Sources: Washington’s DeBoer agrees to become next Alabama coach

Washington's Kalen DeBoer, who guided the Huskies to a Pac-12 championship and a berth in the College Football Playoff national championship game last season, has agreed to a deal to become Alabama's next head coach, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel on Friday. .

DeBoer informed the Huskies Friday that he was leaving for Alabama, sources said, and a deal is expected to be made official later in the day.

DeBoer, 49, would inherit one of the most coveted jobs in college football — and one of the toughest — replacing Saban, whose teams won nine SEC titles and six national championships during his 17 seasons at school. Saban, who had a 206-29 record at Alabama, retired Wednesday.

Washington athletic director Troy Dannen has made an aggressive pitch to keep DeBoer, sources tell ESPN's Pete Thamel, with a new contract that would make him one of the 10 highest-paid coaches in the FBS and counting double his current annual salary of $4.2 million. .

DeBoer would owe Washington a $12 million buyout if he left. He signed a two-year contract extension through the 2028 season in November.

DeBoer had become the Crimson Tide's top target even before three other possible candidates, Oregon's Dan Lanning, Florida State's Mike Norvell and Texas' Steve Sarkisian, withdrew from the search and affirmed their commitments to their current schools over the past two days.

Washington hired DeBoer to resurrect its program after the Huskies went 4-8 in Jimmy Lake's second season as coach in 2021. With Indiana transfer Michael Penix Jr. orchestrating the Washington's high-flying offense, the Huskies more than doubled their win total during an 11-2 campaign in 2022.

Last season, Washington went 12-0 in the regular season and defeated rival Oregon for the second time, 34-31 in the Pac-12 championship game, to reach the CFP for the second time of the history of the school. The Huskies defeated Texas 37-31 in the CFP semifinals at the Allstate Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day.

Washington lost to No. 1 Michigan 34-13 in the CFP National Championship presented by AT&T.

DeBoer's hiring at Alabama would be the culmination of a meteoric rise as a coach for him over the past few seasons. A record-setting receiver at the University of Sioux Falls, an NAIA program in his home state of South Dakota, DeBoer became head coach at his alma mater in 2005. Over the next five seasons, his teams had a 67 record -3 and have three NAIA victories. national championships (in 2006, 2008 and 2009). The Cougars went 17-2 in the NAIA playoffs during DeBoer's tenure.

After working as an offensive coordinator at Southern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Fresno State and Indiana, DeBoer replaced Jeff Tedford as Fresno State's coach in 2020. The Bulldogs got a 3-3 record in the COVID-19-delayed season in 2020, then improved to 9.-3 in his sophomore season, which included upset wins over ranked UCLA and San Diego State on a national level.

ESPN's Pete Thamel contributed to this report.