Kalen DeBoer news conference: Highlights from Alabama football coach's intro to Crimson Tide

After a brief-yet-exhaustive search, one that was projected to last 72 hours but was complete in 49, Alabama football selected Washington’s Kalen DeBoer as the successor to legendary Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban, who retired Wednesday after six national championships in 17 seasons at the helm.

On Saturday afternoon, and with Saban watching from the first row, DeBoer got his first chance to introduce himself to the university, its fans and the state as a whole. A man who previously existed as more of an idea — with a record, a work history and a list of various accomplishments — is now something more.

As he spoke to close for 20 minutes at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, the same place where he’ll be leading his first Tide team on the field in about seven months to take on Western Kentucky, DeBoer spoke about a variety of subjects, from his overall philosophy to his plans for the program to his rationale for accepting the daunting task of following Saban.

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His time at the podium was preceded by some remarks from Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne, who spoke at some length about why he selected DeBoer among all of the intriguing options for the position. Here are some highlights from DeBoer’s introductory news conference:

Kalen DeBoer introductory news conference highlights

Why he chose Alabama

“I want to reiterate my excitement. People have already asked, ‘Why would you go to Alabama? Why?’ I think there are a lot of really obvious answers. I’ve touched on that. When it comes to the tradition and the history of the program, it’s second to none. When I look at places I want to be, it’s about wining championships. That’s an expectation that I cannot wait and accept as a privilege to try to uphold — winning SEC championshps, winning national championships. That’s an expectation and a love and an interest I’ve always had and a passion that I’ll have and I’m looking forward to carrying on with our players, our staff and all of you here as we go through these years ahead. The resources, the facilities, everything that can be here to support our players, our staff, that’s my role as a head coach is to provide that atmosphere and environment. When you have resources like we have here at Alabama, it makes my job easier. I’m looking forward to utilizing and showing off these resources to those that want to be wearing the crimson.”

“Alignment is important. When we’re talking about ‘Why Alabama?’, alignment from president on through to Greg to the head coach on down, I just think the alignment and everything we’re all trying to accomplish together in locking arms and fighting the same fight that we all want and knowing that our passions are the same, that alignment is critical. The programs and the universities and different sports teams that have success, there’s usually some sort of alignment. We certainly have that on a very strong level here at Alabama.”

Why Alabama chose him

Note: these remarks are from Byrne

“Simply put, Coach DeBoer is a winner.”

“Impressive as those accolades are, what stands out equally as much are his relationships off the field and the way he cares about his players. One of the many things I felt responsibility for in this search was to make sure we had someone who cared for our kids just as much as Coach and Miss Terry did. At the end of the day, when we’re hiring a coach, I ask a simple question because I’ve got to keep it pretty simple for myself. 'Is this someone I would want my son to play for?' The answer for Coach DeBoer is absolutely.”

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Meeting with the team

“I met with the team last night and heard from them and heard why they came here. A lot of great reasons, all tied to the Alabama brand and the education, playing here each and every Saturday and the support they get. But obviously, there was a major piece to that, where they came here because Coach Saban and Miss Terry poured everything into it. They just saw the vision and wanted to be a part of it. It’s a privilege to be chosen for this role. It’s one I don’t take lightly.”

“I saw a team that has stuck together. Greg talked about 72 hours. I want you to put yourself in those guys’ shoes. The legendary coach they came to play for and now what’s next? I can’t tell you how much I appreciate them already. I’ve had multiple meetings last night and today with them, individually and with leadership groups. I can’t tell you how badly they want to continue the tradition, how they want to do it the right way and them just getting to know me here in a few hours, it’s been a blast. I can’t wait for the journey that lies ahead.”

“Last night, I just got to hear from some guys. Rhere weren’t a lot of questions, especially as a whle team, but then you break off into little segments and then they start talking. That’s what I want to hear. I want to hear what makes this place special. I want to hear about the traditions I’m unaware of. I want to hear about all the things that matter to them and engrain myself into what’s been special about Alabama football.”

Access to Nick Saban

“He’s the best in the business to ever do it. I’m going to make sure that’s all known that that’s how I feel: 100% access to everything. I would be a fool if that wasn’t the case. I would be a fool. I’m going to ask him that he shows up and makes sure he gives me at least one thing every day. I’m sure he’s going to have 10, but I’m going to be good with that. At least one thing he sees we could get better at.”

Football concepts he brings to Alabama

“When it comes to a style of football, I don’t know what you’ve seen about how we’ve played, but obviously playing hard is a big piece of it. What we do, it’s always going to be around our personnel. Yes, we’re going to recruit the best, the highest-character guys, but we’re going to have concepts and systems that are able to be adjusted to what we have and what our strengths are. As much as we have great players at every position, there are some positions that are stronger than others from year to year. We will be explosive. I can promise you that. We will be aggressive. We will attack. We understand the game was meant to be played one way still — that’s to be physical and dominate on the line of scrimmage and control it from both sides of the ball. It will always be a staple of our program.”

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Recruiting at Alabama

“I can go on and on about how we’ll recruit. I understand it’s the lifeblood of our program. We can have great coaches, but the guys on the field are the ones that make the plays. A relentless attitude starting with, first and foremost, myself and leading to our staff, it’s what it’s going to take to be the best of the best with tough competition here in the SEC and to win a national championship. I’m looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and going to work.”

Goals for Alabama

“When it comes to our goals, it’s to win the SEC and a national championship. How are we going to do that? We’re going to do that with class, we’re going to do it with integrity, with academic excellence. It’s my job to make sure we uphold the standard that has been set here at Alabama and continue to build on that. When it’s about winning, it’s also about a culture.

"I will share with our guys that as we already have here a culture that is contagious — and you’ll hear me say that many times — I cannot wait to add to that and continue to make it to where you can feel through the TV screen when someone’s watching a game how hard our guys play and how much they love each other and care for each other and how badly they want to win for all of you. The culture will be contagious and more and more people just as it’s been will want to continue to be a part of this.

"The last piece is when it comes to developing players, athletically, academically, socially and even spiritually — and that being our focus as a staff — we in the end want to make sure we’re building better men. We want to build better men because some day, football will be over. Some day, real life will hit you in the face. Building better men in this time we’re going through, this phase in their life, it is one of the most influential they will have. It is a privilege, it is an honor to be someone in a position that can have that influence. I don’t take that lightly and I’ll surround myself with a staff that will be great husbands, great fathers and great people who will provide a template for our great players who come through here to understand what it looks like to be a man.”

“It all starts with relationships and communication, which builds the trust we must have to step on the football field with great chemistry as you’ve seen years upon years upon years. It isn’t just about talent. Talent gets you a long ways, but the championship teams have something special. They have that it factor. The relationships we will build will help us have an accountability for each other, an accountability to ourselves, an accountability ourselves from '

"We’ll also form a brotherhood, a brotherhood that is so tight that anything that comes our way will not break us. We’ll be tough. We call these our three non-negotiables that we will stand by. The toughness piece, it’s not just physical, which is what Alabama football prides itself on. It will also be mental — mental toughness, understanding how to handle adversity. We all understand the challenge it takes to win a national championship. We all understand it’s not easy. It never is, but anything worth anything at all is hard. We’re looking forward to that journey and to those challenges.”

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Kalen DeBoer Alabama football introductory news conference highlights