Huskies’ DeBoer remains true to SD roots
No job has ever been too big for Kalen DeBoer.
Or too small.
That mindset is an extension of the beliefs taught to him at the University of Sioux Falls.
That’s why when he was offensive coordinator at USF, DeBoer and senior athletic administrator Ken “SID” Kortmeyer would inspect local high school fields where the Cougars were going to play, buckets of dirt in hand, and fill any gopher holes they could find.
“Doesn’t matter if you’re the head coach, the offensive coordinator, we’re all in this together,” DeBoer recalled over a phone call with the Argus Leader. “I was going to do whatever it took and be a team player in that. … That’s what I pass on to my staff too.”
“It (wasn’t) a glamorous job,” Kortmeyer said. “It takes a humble guy to do that. … I just say that’s one of my favorite stories because it illustrates his humility and his ability to work through things.”
The facilities at that time weren’t the best, recalled Kurtiss Riggs, former USF quarterback and quarterbacks coach. When the team would travel, they would get a sack lunch that included a bologna sandwich, an apple and a bag of chips.
Fast-forward 20 years and now DeBoer, a Milbank native, is coaching on college football’s biggest stage.
On Dec. 1, DeBoer walked out of Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas after all but securing a ticket to the College Football Playoff. He’d just led his Washington Huskies team to a perfect 12-0 regular season and a 34-31 win over Oregon in front of 61,195 fans in the Pac-12 title game.
But from Sioux Falls to Washington, and everywhere in between, DeBoer’s ethos has remained the same.
Road warriors
When Kortmeyer thinks back on the time DeBoer spent as a player at USF, one memory stands alone.
DeBoer running routes on the practice field and Cougars quarterback Kurtiss Riggs hitting him in stride for hours on end during the summer. The field became the trial ground for the end-zone fade that would become a signature play for the dynamic duo.
“We would go out and throw nonstop,” Riggs said. “We would practice continuously over and over until we’d perfected it.”
USF went 2-8 during DeBoer and Riggs’ freshman season, but by their senior year the young core had stuck together and grew stronger, despite conversations of potentially transferring to another school.
Challenged by legendary USF head coach Bob Young to take more accountability during their senior season, the Cougars soared to a 13-0 start despite playing 12 road games.
“I think just that kind of that road warrior’s mentality just probably continued to bring us together even closer, spending all those hours, buses together, as a team,” DeBoer said.
At a team meeting the night before the NAIA championship game, the Sioux Falls coaching staff asked upperclassmen to share what the journey to that moment meant to them. The players were sincere and vulnerable, sharing their genuine feelings and creating a memory that has remained stuck in DeBoer’s head.
“It’s something I just won’t forget,” DeBoer said. “You could see that there was just this thought process, kind of understanding what we were playing for, what was at stake the next day, and just this maturity about our team at that time, that really stood out looking back on it.”
The Cougars won the next day, 45-27 over Western Washington, to capture Sioux Falls’ first national title in school history.
DeBoer’s early coaching career
In 1998, DeBoer was released by the Canton Crocodiles, an independent minor league baseball team in Ohio, and moved back to Sioux Falls to live with Riggs.
Riggs had originally accepted a job at Washington High School as an assistant coach on Kim Nelson’s staff before being offered a full-time head coaching position at Roosevelt. Riggs ultimately decided to accept the position with Roosevelt but mentioned to Nelson that his roommate had an incredible football mind and would be a good hire.
Nelson hired DeBoer right away and the first-year coach led Washington’s sophomore team to a perfect 8-0 record.
“It was one of the best times of my life,” DeBoer said. “It was just a lot of fun. I, at the time, was like, ‘I could do this forever.’ ”
The following season DeBoer worked closely with Nelson and the rest of the varsity staff, helping put together the game plan each week.
“I think everyone knew he probably wasn’t going to be doing that much longer,” Riggs said. “Thankfully, coach Young recognized it early because it’s pretty unheard of to go from being an assistant coach in high school and then get hired as offensive coordinator at a university.”
In late June 2000, DeBoer was driving on 57th Street when he got a call that the offensive coordinator position at USF had opened up and Young wanted to talk to him about it. The opportunity to coach at his alma mater and be reunited with Young was too good to pass up.
DeBoer couldn’t get there fast enough.
“Within that day I had resigned from my coaching and teaching job in Washington,” DeBoer said. “I think everyone understood the opportunity and was happy for me.”
South Dakota roots
DeBoer has stayed in touch with many people in Sioux Falls and South Dakota. It’s no coincidence that his offensive and defensive coordinators now with Washington both coached alongside him in Sioux Falls.
Kortmeyer was invited to visit DeBoer’s team in Seattle to see the facilities and watch a game.
Riggs, longtime coach of the Sioux Falls Storm, said he’s exchanged up to 700 messages with DeBoer after games and he’ll get back to every single one of them.
“He responds to every person that sends him a message,” Riggs said. “He is so good at building relationships. … It’s really a gift and he always had that.”
The importance of developing relationships and simply treating people with kindness is something he learned from Young, his mentor. DeBoer played under Young for four years and then worked for him as his offensive coordinator from 2000 to 2004. While Young taught DeBoer the foundations of coaching, he taught him much more than football.
“He really challenged me to understand my why and my purpose for what I do,” DeBoer said. “He understood the role he had played in my life as a father figure as someone who I just really looked up to.
“And I think he really tugged at my heartstrings as far as, making sure that I . . . understand the impact you can make, first and foremost on our players’ lives.”
Once Young stepped down from the head coach position, DeBoer took the helm for USF and led them to three national championships in five years.
In September, when Kortmeyer visited with the Huskies, he was able to watch the team’s walkthrough before a game. He came away impressed with DeBoer’s influence on his team. He described the Huskies as lively, and excited about getting to work.
DeBoer and the Huskies face their toughest challenge yet on Jan. 1 when they take on No. 3 Texas (12-1) with a trip to the national title game on the line. Earning a win will take focus, belief and energy for a full 60 minutes.
For those who know DeBoer, they don’t think that will be much of an issue.
“That’s what Kalen instills,” Kortmeyer said. “And he got that from USF, the way we do our business. … I think USF gave him a lot of that inward strength and balanced centeredness.”