Kalen DeBoer addressed his players at Washington for the last time on Friday afternoon. His meeting took place after the news already broke that he was leaving to succeed Nick Saban at Alabama.
Multiple Huskies expressed their frustrations with how the entire situation unfolded during a livestream on Instagram after the final team meeting. They felt like DeBoer only spoke with his former college football team out of obligation and said that his speech felt disingenuous.
Audio has apparently leaked from the meeting. Realdawg.com, a reputable source on Washington football since 2000, posted an eight minute and 45 second video to YouTube that it labeled as ‘Kalen DeBoer’s Final Words to Washington Team.’
To say that DeBoer was not authentic in what he said is not true. You can feel his emotions through his words and he had to fight back some tears at the beginning.
Plus, it’s like a breakup. There is no “right” thing to say.
However, much of his ramblings were not backed by substance. He continuously spoke in circles and often times failed to close his initial point. It felt like DeBoer went into the speech with a bunch of bullet points that he did not know how to connect.
There were a few particularly questionable (maybe: off-putting?) lines within the speech.
- “I’ve thought about this the past 24 hours, thought a lot, wanting to know I’m not throwing away something special.” He immediately drifted off aimlessly and moved on.
- “There’s someone that could a better position player than you, and there’s someone who can be a better coach than me.”
- “You’re going to look at this time, three or four years from now, and just laugh at it.”
- “These past two years have been the best two years of my life. And I want that to continue on for all of you.”
- “I’m truly sorry that there’s emotions that you have to go through to process this. It turned my life upside down, and I don’t expect you to feel sorry for me because I know it turned your life upside down.”
- “I hope that you guys (win a third national championship) because it means that you guys beat my ass.”
Here is the full audio:
There is no doubt that Kalen DeBoer tried to do the best that he could in a really difficult spot. He was in a position that was ultimately doomed to fail regardless of the words that he chose.
His delivery ultimately missed the mark in a lot of different areas. The emotions were real, but his attempt to keep his former players from resenting him for leaving in the future ultimately kept him from delivering a speech that presented how he felt in a tangible manner.
Breakups are hard. Brevity is usually the best approach.