Photo by Jon Anderson
Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer gives the keynote address at the 2025 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 6, 2025.
Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer well remembers his first year as a head coach for the University of Sioux Falls Cougars when they made it to the 2005 NAIA national championship semifinal game against the Carroll College Fighting Saints.
Sioux Falls lost the game 55-0 in a resounding defeat, DeBoer told about 400 people at the Hoover Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel on Tuesday morning.
But that wasn’t the end of the story, DeBoer said. The next year, a lot of the same guys that were on the 2005 team that lost 55-0 bounced back, were able to win a lot of tight games and ended up with an undefeated 14-0 season and won a national championship for their division.
In fact, they went undefeated for three of the next four seasons and captured championships in each of those. The key is that they were resilient, DeBoer said. Despite a very disappointing loss, “they stayed the course, and they kept the faith.”
That was DeBoer’s advice for those in attendance at the prayer breakfast Tuesday. He encouraged the crowd to remember their “why” — the reason they do the things they do and to stay true to who they are, their values and the way in which they conduct themselves.
DeBoer said it might have looked easy for those Sioux Falls teams to win those championships, but they had a lot of peaks and valleys. There were a lot of injuries and challenges they had to overcome, he said.
Some of the things that helped them overcome those challenges were maintaining a positive mindset and being careful about the people with whom they surrounded themselves, he said. Other keys were consistency, resiliency and their faith, he said.
Photo by Jon Anderson
About 400 people take part in the 2025 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 6, 2025.
He learned a lot from his predecessor at Sioux Falls, Bob Young, who had a Bible verse on his business card — “Be strong and courageous – Joshua 1:9,” he said. And another verse that Young talked a lot about was Philippians 4:13 – “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me,” DeBoer said.
He knew the source of Young’s strength, he said.
While it’s important for a football coach — or anyone else — to be an expert in the fundamentals of their field, it wasn’t as much what they did on the field that made them winners; it was the way they went about doing things, he said.
DeBoer said he found the same to be true in his personal life. Sometimes you face some real challenges, like when he stepped back from being a head coach to become the offensive coordinator at Southern Illinois University for 10 years, he said.
He moved from one part of the country to another during a recession for a job that didn’t pay that much, and he and his wife weren’t able to sell their house for a year, he said. She and their one daughter at the time had to stay behind for almost 11 months, he said.
“You take those times and you, of course, learn from them,” he said. “It’s those things that make you who you are and makes you appreciate and helps you come closer together. I think my family and I close because of these moves that we’ve made that I mentioned — the 13 moves over 15 years.”
Over the years, he also had some jobs that he pursued that he didn’t get, but he firmly believes that everything happens for a reason, he said.
Many of the coaches who are with him at Alabama today are coaches with whom he worked at places like Eastern Michigan, Indiana and Fresno State — “amazing coaches, amazing men, people who are uniters, people who share the same common traits and have the same aspirations as far as how they want to live their life,” he said.
He might not have met some of those coaches if other jobs he pursued had come to pass, he said.
“But things happen for a reason. There’s a plan. There’s a greater plan that we haven’t realized yet, and there’s a greater plan at Alabama that we haven’t realized yet,” DeBoer said. “And that’s what I’m excited about as we continue to stay the course and keep the faith.”
Photo by Jon Anderson
Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer talks with Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato after the 2025 Hoover Mayor's Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, May 6, 2025.
The coach encouraged Tuesday’s crowd to be positive, remember who they are and the things for which they stand.
“All of you in your own way, you know, are leaders,” DeBoer said. “You all have a platform. It may not be the biggest platform, but you have a platform, and we all can make an impact, one at a time, each and every day.”
While DeBoer was the keynote speaker for the prayer breakfast, the crowd also heard briefly from Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato, who expressed thanks for all the people he said have contributed to make Hoover a great place to live and work.
“That doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when people pray. It happens when people serve,” Brocato said. “So this morning, as we lift our city up in prayer, I invite you to reflect how God is moving in our community.”
He had cards placed on everyone’s tables that listed groups of people for whom they could pray.
“I believe with all my heart that God is in the midst of Hoover, guiding us, protecting us and calling us to something greater,” Brocato said.
Several faith leaders led the crowd in prayers, including Rabbi David Schneier of the Beth Hallel Messianic Jewish congregation, Father Vernon Huguley of St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church and Pastor George Wright of Shades Mountain Baptist Church.
Chris Stewart, the play-by-play announcer for Alabama football and basketball, served as emcee for the breakfast.
