Fresno State loses football coach Kalen DeBoer to big opportunity job at Washington

Fresno State coach Kalen DeBoer has turned a chaotic COVID year in 2020 into a 9-win season and a big opportunity at a Pac-12 program with powerhouse potential in 2021.

The Bulldogs coach, with just those two seasons at the helm of an FBS program, agreed to a deal on Monday to be the next coach at Washington, which was looking for and in need of stability in its football program after firing coach Jimmy Lake 13 games into a five-year contract.

Washington athletics director Jennifer Cohen flew to Fresno and met DeBoer at his home where he signed his contract.

DeBoer, who went 67-3 and won three national championships in five seasons at Sioux Falls at the NAIA level, would seem a perfect fit, not only for the way he handled the Bulldogs’ COVID nightmare but his run of successes as an offensive coordinator at Eastern Michigan, Fresno State and Indiana and as a head coach.

“It really comes down to an appreciation for what Kalen has done here,” Fresno State athletics director Terry Tumey said. “He’s not leaving Fresno in terms of being disheartened or anything. I think he does have a love and an appreciation for Fresno and knows what Fresno State is all about.

“But he does have an opportunity to take on a new challenge at Washington. We did everything we could in order to convince him to stay, but it’s just really difficult to compete from that vantage point, with the opportunities that will be given to him at a Power Five institution.”

At Washington, DeBoer will receive a substantial raise. Terms of a contract were not immediately available, but Lake, who was 7-6 coaching the Huskies and had a number of off-field gaffes and an on-field incident with a player that led to a suspension before he was let go, was in the second year of a five-year deal worth $16 million.

Fresno State made a run at keeping its coach and had preliminary discussions with DeBoer and his agent about a contract extension. But the Bulldogs can’t come close to offering a Power Five-level salary or matching the staffing levels, facilities and operating budgets. Washington, according to data submitted to the U.S. Department of Education, invested $34.4 million in its football program in 2019-20. Fresno State spent $13.4 million.

DeBoer, who went 12-6 at Fresno State, was paid $1.35 million and his contract topped out at $1.5 million in 2024, the final year of the deal. Fresno State will receive a $1.5 million buyout.

Fresno State assistant head coach Lee Marks will be the Bulldogs’ interim coach.

The Bulldogs have been preparing for the possibility DeBoer could leave, and the search for a replacement will no doubt focus, initially at least, on Jeff Tedford. The former Bulldogs quarterback, assistant coach and head coach stepped away from football following the 2019 season due to health concerns and to spend time with his family. He had a cardiac ablation procedure in January 2020, and has signaled that he is interested in a return to the sidelines.

Tumey when hiring DeBoer stressed the importance of experience as a head coach and a feel for the Valley and the university, and any outside candidate is unlikely to match Tedford there.

DeBoer got Bulldogs back on winning track

In 14 seasons, 11 at Cal and three at Fresno State, Tedford went 108-71, a .603 winning percentage, and put together an historic turnaround at his alma mater. The Bulldogs were 1-11 in 2016, before Tedford was hired. They went 10-4 in his first season and 12-2 with a Mountain West Conference championship, and no team in FBS history had won just one game and then 10 or more in the next two seasons.

DeBoer at Fresno State inherited a talented roster, but in his first season was not able to hold a spring practice and had no summer conditioning program due to COVID-19 health and safety guidelines. The Bulldogs, running a new defensive scheme, lost their first game under DeBoer to Hawaii, but they reeled off three wins in a row before positive coronavirus tests and contact tracing protocols forced the cancellation of their next two games.

Fresno State returned to the football field with a depleted roster, losing its final two games.

This season the Bulldogs started 4-1, beating No. 13 UCLA at the Rose Bowl and losing at No. 11 Oregon. Fresno State was ranked No. 22 after beating the Bruins and up to No. 18 before an upset loss at Hawaii. It finished 9-3 and 6-2 in the Mountain West and was in the West Division title race in the conference until the final weekend, paced by a high-scoring offense led by quarterback Jake Haener.

Haener, a transfer from Washington, has hit 67.5% of his passes for 3,810 yards with 32 touchdowns and nine interceptions and is ranked second in the Mountain West in passing.

This story was originally published November 29, 2021 at 2:30 PM.