Sources - Washington's DeBoer, Bama negotiating head-coach job - ESPN

Washington's Kalen DeBoer, who guided the Huskies to a Pac-12 championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff National Championship game this past season, is negotiating a contract to replace Alabama's Nick Saban, sources told ESPN on Friday.

If a deal gets done, DeBoer, 49, would inherit one of the most coveted jobs in college football — and one of the most difficult — in replacing Saban, whose teams won nine SEC titles and six national championships in his 17 seasons at the school. Saban, who had a 206-29 record at Alabama, retired Wednesday.

Washington athletic director Troy Dannen has made an aggressive pitch to keep DeBoer, sources told ESPN's Pete Thamel, with a new contract that would make him one of the 10 highest-paid coaches in the FBS and more than double his current annual salary of $4.2 million.

DeBoer would owe Washington a $12 million buyout if he leaves. He signed a two-year contract extension through the 2028 season in November.

DeBoer had emerged as the Crimson Tide's top target even before three other possible candidates, Oregon's Dan Lanning, Florida State's Mike Norvell and Texas' Steve Sarkisian, withdrew from the search and affirmed their commitments to their current schools over the past two days.

Washington hired DeBoer to resurrect its program after the Huskies went 4-8 in Jimmy Lake's second season as coach in 2021. With Indiana transfer Michael Penix Jr. orchestrating Washington's high-flying offense, the Huskies more than doubled their victory total during an 11-2 campaign in 2022.

This past season, Washington went 12-0 during the regular season and defeated rival Oregon for a second time, 34-31 in the Pac-12 championship game, to reach the CFP for the second time in school history.