It’s official. Kalen DeBoer is Washington’s newest head coach. With a seal of approval from both Chris Petersen and Jeff Tedford, it seems like Jen Cohen made the right decision. But you’ve heard enough about who he is, what he’s all about, and who else was on the board. 90% of this article will be focused on the positives and negatives of the DeBoer hire, but we’re going to start with the other names Washington was interested in.

As real as the smoke around Bob Stoops may or may not have been, it seemed like a pipe dream to get the former Oklahoma coach out of retirement. But as soon as he and Iowa State’s Matt Campbell were rumored as names to watch, as well as USC hiring Lincoln Reilly, it made this move (which always seemed like the most likely outcome) underwhelming from a name-value standpoint. A legitimate run was made at Campbell, but if he turned down the rumored 7-7.5 million that was apparently on the table just to leverage more money from Iowa State, that’s a problem for Iowa State to figure out. Washington got arguably the same guy in DeBoer, just with less hype because he was at Fresno State, not a Power Five program.

Let’s start with the question marks, so we can spend end this on a positive note. The biggest question mark about DeBoer is recruiting. Working at Fresno State makes it tough enough to recruit, so we’re going to throw class rankings out the window, and focus on his ability to hire a staff. It sounds like there will be at least a few assistants from Jimmy Lake’s staff that will be staying on, even though there’s no word yet on who it will be. Rumors are also circulating that DeBoer has been given a gigantic pool to work with to choose his assistants. That means it’s time to go big. It sounds like USC’s interim head coach, and elite recruiter Donte Williams is one of the top choices at defensive coordinator, and getting a few guys of his caliber would be a great way to kick off the DeBoer era. But, until the staff is completed and a recruiting cycle or two have come and gone, it’s going to be hard to truly judge how this staff recruits, and it will remain a question mark.

Now, onto the positives. The Huskies have been running a medieval offense since Chris Petersen took over. John Ross and Dante Pettis did a great job of covering up scheme with talent in 2016, the issues with the offense were just most apparent in 2021, and DeBoer’s is as far away from that as possible.

Creativity, motion, RPO’s, basically everything Husky fans have been clamoring for, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Fans saw Sam Huard mismanaged and treated with kid gloves in his first career start in the Apple Cup, and it feels like DeBoer could be one of the best options available to maximize his potential. DeBoer put Michael Penix Jr. in the national spotlight in 2019 while he was the offensive coordinator at Indiana, and even thrust Jake Haener’s name into Heisman contention for a few weeks during the 2021 season. Washington has a lot of talent at their offensive skill positions, and they can’t afford to waste another year of Jalen McMillan and Rome Odunze. Devin Culp emerged towards the end of 2021, and a running back group led by Cameron Davis and (maybe?) Emeka Megwa would be a force to be reckoned with in DeBoer’s system.

Huard should be the focal point of the decision to go with DeBoer. As was stated, he made two average quarterbacks look like Heisman contenders in his system, so what can he do with the most talent he’s ever had at every offensive position? Roger Rosengarten and Troy Fautanu are going to be stars already, but taking advantage of their athleticism instead of beefing them up, taking away their mobility and forcing them to do nothing but go downhill and not stretch the field a la John Donovan.

DeBoer deserves the full support of the Husky fanbase. While there are some question marks around him, everything from this point forward is in his control as to how he answers them. He has the skillset as a coach to be the answer to the longstanding offensive woes, and the resources to put together a coaching staff, especially on the defensive side, that can be one of the best in the nation. While USC’s hire is the flashiest, and will make the biggest impact in the short term, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone if in five or ten years, DeBoer is seen as the best hire made during this crazy coaching carousel.