12/17/2019 football Edit

Indiana OC Kalen DeBoer to be named head coach at Fresno State

Taylor Lehman • TheHoosier

Staff

First-year Indiana offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer is headed back to Fresno State, as he will take the helm as head coach.

Indiana offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer is set to become Fresno State's head coach in 2020.

Indiana offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer is headed back to Fresno State after just one year in Bloomington.

The former Fresno State offensive coordinator spent two years in Fresno before becoming Indiana's offensive coordinator, and now he will be named the head coach at Fresno State, Fresno State Athletics announced Tuesday afternoon, after the unexpected departure of three-year head coach Jeff Tedford.

According to ESPN, Fresno State could introduce DeBoer as early as Tuesday, which indicates he will not be coaching Indiana in the Gator Bowl in January.

DeBoer was paid a base salary of $500,000 with supplemental income that raised his salary to $800,000. With bonuses connected to Indiana's success in 2019, DeBoer's salary pushed $1 million in his only year with the Hoosiers.

DeBoer displayed an innovative offense that featured a pass-first concept that supplemented the run game – a concept that absorbed the blows of losing senior left tackle Coy Cronk and bounced between redshirt freshman quarterback Mike Penix and redshirt junior quarterback Peyton Ramsey for much of the season.

Indiana finished second within the Big Ten to Ohio State in total offense while averaging 443 yards per game, and its passing offense was ranked second in the conference, averaging 308.7 yards per game. Ramsey was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten after his breakout year under DeBoer after beginning the season as the backup.

With the help of DeBoer, Indiana has recorded its best season since 1993, as it will play in its first Florida bowl in program history on Jan. 2, when it takes on Tennessee in the Gator Bowl.

DeBoer has friendly ties to Fresno State after he aided the Bulldogs to their first offensive success since current Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr left in 2014. Fresno State won 10 games in three seasons, including a 1-11 year, before Tedford, DeBoer and the new staff took over and immediately pushed the program to 22 wins in two seasons.

It will be DeBoer's first head coaching job at the Division I level, as he found resounding success at NAIA Sioux Falls from 2005-09, as he led his team to three national championship victories and one national championship loss in his five years as the head coach.

Between his time at Sioux Falls, DeBoer spent time as an offensive coordinator at Southern Illinois and Eastern Michigan. He had no previous coaching experience in California before his first position at Fresno State.

At Fresno State, DeBoer was brought in for Tedford's first season in 2017 and held the title of associate head coach during his time there.

Everywhere DeBoer has gone has seen rapid offensive improvement. Fresno State's offense eventually jumped to a top-30 placement nationally, while he changed a near-disastrous offensive unit at Fresno State to a top-50 offense in just two years.