Kalen DeBoer has perfected the recipe for instant improvement.
The proof is in the process.
Before arriving at Washington this offseason, DeBoer’s previous three stops — as Fresno State’s head coach in 2020, Indiana’s offensive coordinator in 2019 and Fresno State’s offensive coordinator in 2017 — sustained a combined record of 10-26 in the seasons immediately prior to his appointment.
In the next full season, that record skyrocketed to 28-12.
Fresno State
2019 (Before DeBoer): 4-8
2020 (During DeBoer, shortened season): 3-3
2021 (During DeBoer, full season): 10-3
Indiana
2018 (Before DeBoer): 5-7
2019: (During DeBoer): 8-5
Fresno State
2016 (Before DeBoer): 1-11
2017 (During DeBoer): 10-4
So how did this happen (and happen, and happen)? And after UW finished 4-8 in 2021, can DeBoer replicate the recipe at a fourth consecutive stop?
“The No. 1 thing is belief that you can do it, and then having the expectations,” DeBoer said at Pac-12 media day in July when asked those very questions. “It’s OK to have those expectations and not the fear of failure, and just go after it.
“Aside from the scheme, to me, when I think back over the years, it’s just togetherness — backs to the wall, chip on your shoulder, and challenging players to realize you can do this. How bad do you want it? It’s in a way where they feel like: ‘Hey, we want the same thing. I’m fighting the same fight you are.’
“That’s what makes it fun. That’s what I’ve loved about those different jobs, those different stops, is the process.”
In truth, these instantaneous turnarounds aren’t magic; they’re method. There’s a science to the art.
So, after speaking with players and coaches from Fresno State, Indiana and Washington, let’s dissect that science — distilling DeBoer’s improvement process into four essential steps.
Step 1: Understand the standard
In other words: what is the objective? How high is the bar for this program — players and coaches included — to clear?
“That was one of their main things, really, setting the standard and understanding the tradition that comes along with Bulldog football and really making sure you know the history behind the school you’re playing for,” said running back Ronnie Rivers, who amassed 4,838 total yards and 51 touchdowns in five seasons at Fresno State (2017-21). “You set those standards you’re supposed to live up to every practice and every day.”
At UW, DeBoer asked director of player development Justin Glenn and assistant athletic director for athletic communications Jeff Bechthold to present the history of the program — including video highlights and information on All-Americans and notable bowl wins. A parade of former players have addressed the team during meetings and after practices as well.
“We need to know where we came from and who we’re playing for and who did it before us and the blood, sweat and tears that were all laid out on this field,” DeBoer said, standing in Husky Stadium’s west end zone last month. “We want to make it a better place, just like they did, for those that come after us.”
That’s only possible, of course, with individual production — and DeBoer sets more specific standards as well. Tennessee Titans wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, who logged 42 catches for 572 yards and five touchdowns as a redshirt senior at Indiana in 2019, said DeBoer “did a good job of requesting and almost requiring the best of everybody — setting a standard that was really high, and holding everybody to that standard. I felt like that was really good for the culture of the team and the offense specifically.”
These aren’t arbitrary expectations, either.
“Once somebody makes a play, he tells you, ‘Well now that you’ve done that, that’s what I expect all the time,’” Westbrook-Ikhine continued. “He does a good job of watching film and understanding guys’ skillsets and how they play and the standard that they’re used to playing to, and trying to elevate that.
“He’s not a big yelling, screaming kind of coach, and I feel like sometimes that’s more impactful. Because you know it really comes from a place of care and love when he is correcting you.”
Step 2: Build a belief
OK, so now you see the bar.
Are you capable of clearing it?
Evidence breeds confidence — and DeBoer has done it again and again.
“It’s lightning in a bottle,” said UW co-defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell, who played and coached with DeBoer at the University of Sioux Falls before reuniting as Fresno State’s safeties coach in 2020. “He’s had it for the 30 years that I’ve known him. Everything that he gets involved with is successful. That creates belief in the staff. Belief in the staff trickles down to the players.”
That belief is built with unwavering consistency — through galvanizing wins and gutting losses, injuries and adversity. The vision doesn’t change. The voice doesn’t change. The head coach is a constant.
In the uncompromising climb to the summit, there is no panic — only process.
“We’ve been wired the same way, in that I see the tenacity he has,” said UW offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, who previously worked with DeBoer at Fresno State (2020-21), Eastern Michigan (2014-16) and Sioux Falls (2007-09). “Kalen has this quiet tenacity about him, where he’s going to show up and be the same guy and work the same way. It can be Sunday. It can be Tuesday. It can be offseason. He’s going to be consistent. When you get guys to follow suit with that — operating at a really high level consistently — you get all of these people paying attention to details and the next thing you know you’re winning ball games.”
Nick Sheridan has seen it. UW’s tight ends coach served in the same position at Indiana in 2019, when DeBoer’s offense ranked No. 3 in the Big Ten — matching the program’s highest win total (8) in 26 seasons.
“Mentally tough people are the same every day, and that’s what he is,” said Sheridan, who inherited DeBoer’s offensive coordinator duties in 2020. “The people underneath him reflect that. It gives you confidence in your leader and it creates confidence in yourself, because you just know what you’re going to get and you know what you’re focused on. You’re not as concerned with the results as you are the process and how you’re going about it.
Evidence breeds confidence — and DeBoer’s daily effort is always on display.
“At the end of the day, man, the guy goes to work and really works hard at it — whether it’s recruiting, game planning, player development,” said UW edge coach Eric Schmidt, who oversaw Fresno State’s defensive line in 2020 and 2021. “There’s not a stone unturned when it comes to, where are we going to eat? What are we going to eat? Do we need to change up a drill?
“When he says, ‘Hey man, I want this to be the best experience of your life to this point,’ he truly believes that and he wants to make that happen for those guys. He’s just on a mission, you know what I mean? He’s on a mission every day to make sure those aren’t just words on a wall in our room here. It’s part of our culture.”
Step 3: Foster a team-wide togetherness
Speaking of that culture: It’s comprehensive.
Not fractured, positional, conditional camaraderie.
DeBoer purposefully connects both sides of the ball.
“He’s really focused all the time on the chemistry of the entire team,” said Morrell, Montana Tech’s head coach from 2011 to 2019. “The recognition is that, if you’ll treat the guy across from you as your brother, you’ll play your butt off for him every single day.”
Added sixth-year senior left tackle Jaxson Kirkland, who previously played for Chris Petersen and Jimmy Lake: “Camaraderie has been emphasized so much. Not that that was ever an issue, but it’s been taken to even more of an extreme now. The team activities we do together are all about getting closer to your brother.
“After practice he says: ‘Everyone [on offense] grab a guy on defense and give him a handshake. Tell him great job today.’ We’ll shout each other out if someone has a great day. One guy from offense shouts out a guy on defense. Little things like that go a long way, because it takes out [the idea] that we’re adversaries all the time.”
It’s unsurprising, then, that Atlanta Falcons wide receiver KeeSean Johnson — Fresno State’s all-time leader in career receptions (275) and receiving yards (3,463) — said the 2017 season “was probably the most connected our team was, ever. Everything we did, we did together.”
Echoed current UW safety Alex Cook: “From a coaching standpoint, what [DeBoer] is building, this is probably the closest team we’ve had since I’ve been here.”
Camaraderie comes first.
Accountability comes next.
With the end goal being a player-led program.
“[DeBoer] really knows, in my opinion, how to press guys, how to make them strain, but at the same time lend an ear to what they have to say,” Morrell said. “I think that’s important in this day and age of college football. Your players are going to be a voice on your squad.”
Added Johnson, who recorded 172 catches, 2,353 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns under DeBoer in 2017 and 2018: “We’d have conversations with the coaches on what we think they could do better, what we think our groups need to work on more. Each position group had a leader and we would tell the coaches ourselves after we watched film, ‘I think we need to do more of this.’”
Of course, ego is the enemy of collaboration.
Which is why “team-wide togetherness” must also extend to the staff.
“Your position group is not going to do it by themselves,” Grubb said. “If you’re a selfish position coach, you’re going to have a selfish room and you don’t learn how to be a team.
“Honestly, that’s the starting point, understanding that you have to have the right kind of people in the right roles. When you have that, everything else will follow suit.”
Step 4: Install an adaptable offense
Still, to win, you have to score.
DeBoer’s offenses have done that at each successive stop — averaging 27.1 points per game in 2017, 34.6 in 2018, 31.8 in 2019, 32.8 in 2020 and 33.4 in 2021.
Regardless of injuries, personnel issues or other unforeseen obstacles.
“Our system is adjustable to whoever our personnel are,” DeBoer said at Pac-12 media day. “Whether it’s injury-related or it’s who’s on the roster and who our best players are, we can evolve it in a week once the base stuff is in. We can adjust.
“We’re not very deep at a couple spots [this season]. Grubb in particular is already putting in Plan B and Plan C if a certain position group gets hit with the injury bug. So we’ll be ready. It’s not ideal, but you’ve got to adjust and keep the belief by showing that we have this flexibility to easily maneuver in a different direction if things that are out of our control hit us the wrong way.
“Every championship team we’ve had, we’ve had adversity hit us in a way that was like: ‘Holy cow. How are we going to get through this?’”
DeBoer’s offenses usually do — but not by accident. From April on, they gradually install a system built to withstand contingencies.
“We’ve put a ton of value on straining personnel groups, meaning moving people into different positions,” Grubb said. “KeeSean [Johnson] didn’t just line up at ‘Z’ [receiver] every play. He had 95 catches [in 2018], but he was in the two [receiver spot]. He was in the one. He was in the three. And we can do that simply by changing personnel groupings. We can do that with backs, receivers, tight ends.”
Exhibit A: Ronnie Rivers.
In his 17 games with DeBoer as the Bulldogs’ head coach, the 5-foot-9, 175-pound running back amassed 1,295 rushing yards, 629 receiving yards and 16 total touchdowns.
“The versatility of it,” Rivers said, when asked what made DeBoer’s system work. “His offense provides run game, pass game, quick game, RPO [run-pass option], the whole nine. Being able to constantly rotate guys, I was playing some slot and running routes out of the backfield a lot. I think that just opens up the defense.”
So, you establish the standard. You instill belief. You cultivate connectedness and accountability. You put players in position to clear the bar.
Then, come Saturday, you beat Kent State.
“So, umm … I’m obviously a big fan of Kalen DeBoer,” Sheridan concluded, after speaking on the topic for a minute straight. “I think he’s the best. That’s the best way I can tell you: He is the best.”