Washington offered Kalen DeBoer desperation package to keep him from leaving

The last two years have transformed Kalen DeBoer from a great college football coach into being firmly a top-10 one in the country. DeBoer guided the Washington Huskies to back-to-back double-digit win seasons during his two years in Seattle. This include a College Football Playoff berth and a national championship game appearance in year two as well. It just was not enough to keep him...

Once the Alabama job became available upon news of Nick Saban's retirement, DeBoer quickly shot up to the front of the line to be his successor. Clearly, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne wanted to go with an outside hire to replace a living legend in Tuscaloosa. It was going to take a perfect storm to get DeBoer to leave a great place like Washington, but opportunity only comes knocking so often.

Washington athletic director Troy Dannen revealed to Mike Vorel of The Seattle Times the financials of what was supposedly going into a competitive package to keep DeBoer from ever leaving U-Dub.

“We put numbers in front of him that were, quite frankly, unprecedented for this university. We put a Big Ten package in front of Kalen, not a Pac-12 package. … “When it wasn’t signed, Kalen said the right things publicly, and I said the right things publicly … but it gives you pause.”

A Big Ten package should have been a minimum requirement, as this is the new league Washington will be playing in going forward. However, having DeBoer getting paid top-eight money in the country may have been enough to keep even the most ambitious head coaches at bay for the time being.

“We had an $8.7 million annual contract in front of Kalen at Thanksgiving. After the Sugar Bowl we had a $9.4 [million annual offer] on the table, which would have put him in the top eight in the country. When that didn’t get signed, I started talking to [Petersen], just in case. ‘Hey, who do you like? Who have you run across?’"

Throughout the entire coaching transition process, Dannen had former Washington head coach Chris Petersen in his ear pretty much the entire time. He did not sit in on any of the meetings, but he may have played a part in Dannen hiring DeBoer's successor in former Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch. This was the right hire for Washington to make, as they landed another coach on the rise.

“When Alabama called me last Thursday [to interview DeBoer], I had Chris in my office the day before, running through a list of people — my list. Who did he like? Who did he not like? Who were the people that were not on my list? Then I took Chris out of it. I still used him, but I didn’t have him in my daily meetings. I didn’t have him in the interviews. But I talked to him every day.”

Even though Washington came up short in being able to retain DeBoer, Husky fans should not feel crestfallen. The financial willingness to try and keep DeBoer around signifies to the rest of major college football that the Huskies are here to stay and that this is no longer a stepping stone job.

Washington would have given Kalen DeBoer whatever he wanted to stay

When I mentioned this was a perfect storm for DeBoer to leave Seattle in the first place, I wasn't kidding. Saban needed to retire, Washington needed to be a playoff team and Byrne needed to want a complete outside hire. Although Byrne could have easily poached former Alabama assistants like Lane Kiffin, Dan Lanning or Steve Sarkisian if he wanted to, it came down to two other top candidates.

We may never know the truth on if DeBoer really was Byrne's first choice to replace Saban. Odds are that he will take that notion to his grave. This is because I think the other top candidate for the job in Florida State head coach Mike Norvell would have been a better fit. He already recruits at an SEC level and has recruiting ties in the southeast dating back to his previous employer over at Memphis.

However, a potential ACC exit and Florida State offensive coordinator Alex Atkins getting the program in a bit of hot water over trying to poach offenisve tackle Amarius Mims away from Georgia may have placed some doubt in Byrne's mind over potentially hiring Norvell. Regardless, DeBoer is finally being paid like a top-eight coach in the country. The question is if he will remain that now leading Alabama.

With the amount of money the Big Ten and SEC will bring in, there are no excuses to ever get outbid.