Washington, Kalen DeBoer in contract extension talks

'Troy’s trying to do everything he can to help myself and the staff continue this journey that we’re on.'

SEATTLE — The prospect of Kalen DeBoer’s long-term employment at the University of Washington is a matter of commitment.

Not just of UW’s commitment to DeBoer, which it showed last season by extending his contract before he’d coached his first Apple Cup, and which it is attempting to do again, this time to ward off bigger programs that might seek to poach him.

Rather, it is a question of the school’s commitment to football, generally. When it hired him, the prospect of paying, say, $7-8 million per year to the head football coach — nearly double DeBoer’s current annual salary — seemed a stretch, if only for the stomachs it might have turned on upper campus. Now, I wonder whether any lesser number would be enough to get DeBoer — and, more critically, his agent — to agree to terms. 

Also, it’s a matter of DeBoer’s commitment to Washington — unwavering so far — and to what degree he values his current situation relative to others that could make him far richer. Understand: Washington can pay more than most, but it cannot pay DeBoer what Texas A&M can, or what a few of UW’s soon-to-be Big Ten peers might be able to, especially if Jim Harb— err, if one of those schools finds itself in need of a new coach this offseason. And it doesn’t help that the athletic department is coming off an $8 million budget shortfall and will, at least to start, receive roughly half the amount of media-rights money as 16 other schools in the Big Ten.

Of course, Washington would rather have it this way — 10-0, No. 5 national ranking, other programs coveting the Huskies’ head coach — than the other way. 

And there are legitimate reasons to believe Washington will find the money necessary to get a deal done.