Kalen DeBoer has turned Washington into a conference title contender

SEATTLE — On the field prior to Saturday's game between Washington and Stanford, first-year Huskies coach Kalen DeBoer and Cardinal coach David Shaw got to talking. These types of chats are common before games: pleasantries, handshakes, etc. The two had never coached against each other before, but there was mutual respect for what they knew of each other.

«I've been hearing his name for years and, honestly, about the things that are important: integrity, his approach to the game, as a teacher and mentor of young people. Those things that I really care about,» Shaw said. «And on top of that, he's a really good football coach.»

What Shaw didn't realize before that conversation, though, was that they had gone up against each other in the past. It was 1996. Shaw was an assistant coach at NAIA Western Washington and DeBoer was a senior wide receiver for tiny Sioux Falls, a private school in South Dakota with about 1,000 students. The teams met in the NAIA Division II national championship game in Tennessee.

«I was blown away,» Shaw said. «I had no idea he was a player on that team. I remember that game well.»

He wasn't just any player, either. DeBoer was the team's star receiver and caught 10 passes for 131 yards in Sioux Falls' 47-25 win, with a touchdown reception and a 54-yard touchdown run on a reverse. It was the first national title in school history and laid the foundation from which DeBoer would later, as head coach, build an NAIA football dynasty.

Now he's attempting to revive the Huskies.

After a disastrous 2021 season that saw coach Jimmy Lake get fired with two games left and the team finish 4-8, DeBoer has overseen arguably the best early-season turnaround in college football. After starting the season unranked,