Enthusiastic crowd greets new Alabama football coach Kalen DeBoer at airport

It was dark and cold with cellphone cams saturating the air, and no fan could scramble onto the tarmac to jump up and kiss the new Crimson Tide head football coach, but otherwise the scene at Tuscaloosa National Airport on Friday night closely mirrored 2007's spontaneous, ecstatic celebration for then-arriving Nick Saban.

If Kalen DeBoer, with wife Nicole and daughters Alexis and Avery, didn't feel Southern warmth as they touched down on a windy 48-degree night, having flown five-and-a-half hours from Seattle — where temps were in the 20s and teens Friday — they sure experienced Southern hospitality.

Roughly 700-800 people gathered outside the terminal in hours before, standing on tiptoe, twisting heads upward toward a stray passing aircraft or two — in case it was The One ― waving signs and banners reading "Welcome Home," "Coach DeBoer Says Roll Tide," and other salutations and felicitations.

At the bend in Northport's Main Street turning toward the airport, Carrie Fitts Real Estate had that evening posted a printed billboard-like sign saying "Welcome to T-Town DeBoer Family. We Know You'll Like It Here," getting literally ahead of the curve.

More: Relive Nick Saban's epic Alabama football coaching career with our special book!

In 2024, news spreads at the speed of satellite. About 5:30 p.m., Greg Byrne, University of Alabama athletic director, posted on X (formerly Twitter) "The plane has left Seattle. #RollTide," atop the already-ubiquitous meme-photo showing fluffy promise emanating from the pit of one of the South's most-renowned barbecue joints, captioned "White smoke from the top of Archibald's. A new coach has been named."

Within about a half hour of Byrne's post, several fans had landed at the airport, first among them Kelly Bailet, who parked her Bama-emblem-emblazoned SUV right next to the gate. She unloaded banners and signs, taped facing the runway, even before media and others began to show.

Bailet, who works on the Bryant-Denny Stadium field for home games, and is also an avid supporter of UA softball, smiled as the youngsters piled up behind. Despite the eventual mild-natured but high-energy jostling, she stayed firmly in her place for three hours.

After DeBoer, Byrne and others had worked the gate — the new coach giving Bailet a solid high-five ― she packed away her paraphernalia, while saying she was feeling "Excitement. Relief. We have a coach; things can settle back down," following rising concern from Wednesday's surprise retirement announcement by Saban, after 17 seasons as UA's football coach.

Although a lifetime Tide fan, with UA professors and alums in her family, she'd been in Minneapolis when Saban arrived, "... so I am making up for last time."

Byrne and others had no doubt prepped DeBoer for the fandom, but the new coach still seemed pleasantly surprised by the large turnout, she said.

"I hope he and his family are extremely happy here," Bailet said. At just 49 years old, DeBoer has the time and potential to create a Saban-like legacy, she said.

When the jet touched down and taxied up about 8:40 on Friday night, cars were still pulling up, fans still pouring out. Unlike 2007, the crowd was not allowed onto the tarmac; the airport and UA had learned from the Saban swarm. As if ready to walk on for the new guy, smaller kids, mostly in Bama jerseys and hoodies, ran rolled around on the grass, tossing some pretty crisp spirals.

All ages were out in force, from those who remembered Paul W. "Bear" Bryant, all the way up to those who'll maybe someday say "I was there when DeBoer landed," the way folks do about Saban.

Every opened door and departure from the jet was greeted by cheers, chants, and a not a few ragged outright screams. Shouts of "Roll Tide" abounded, of course, and a mostly student-aged group led an a capella version of "Dixieland Delight," complete with not-safe-for-print responses.

Then came a new one: kay-LEN; kay-LEN.

As the faithful have already learned, it's pronounced KAY-lin duh-BORE, but chants sounded better with a different emphasis. DeBoer until earlier Friday was head coach at the University of Washington

He'd led the Huskies to a 23-3 record in just two seasons, including finishing this season with a 13-1 record, the sole loss coming to No. 1 Michigan, in the national championship game. His earlier head-coaching gigs were at Fresno State, and before that at the University of Sioux Falls, where he won three NAIA national championships in four years, only losing the fourth in the final game. His stellar win-loss record, as a head coach, is 104-12.

UA sophomore math student Ryan Peljovich began researching the new guy as soon as he heard the news, and by 6:45 could read him clearer than many online pundits.

"I was curious about recruiting, because that was the one knock people put on him," he said. "But he's a winner of a coach. He did great things with a 4 and 8 (the Huskies' record in 2021-22) team he inherited, but I saw that he has done his entire recruiting job — which both seasons has been top 40 — out of entirely Washington and California.

"My hope is that he keeps his contacts in California, and they use Saban (Editor's note: The recently retired coach has said he'll continue to be involved with the Tide, having an office in Bryant-Denny Stadium) and his coordinators to get the Texas, Alabama, Georgia and Florida connections."

He'd been reading up on all UA's possibles. "I think Lanning (Oregon's Dan Lanning) is the guy that would make me want to run out onto that field," Peljovich said, laughing, "but I like DeBoer. He has the best resume. I think he's the best coach we could get. I mean, I know Kirby Smart was a pipe dream .... "

Dwight Parker was early for DeBoer, too, with son Alan. When Saban had flown in, Parker was serving with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, so he had to witness that on video, one his sister took and posted on Facebook.

"I wanted to see this in person, and we had to go get some propane," to prepare for the bitter cold weekend forecast, "so we're just, what the heck," he said, grinning.

After DeBoer, Byrne and retinue walked the fence, waving, high-fiving and chatting briefly, they began to load up in SUVs, escorted by a horde of Alabama state troopers, for a planned 9 p.m. meeting with the team on campus. Much of the assembled crowd swiftly jetted off, rapidly creating a traffic jam of cars winding to U.S. Highway 82, intending no doubt to greet DeBoer yet again, this time nearer to his new office.

Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at mark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com.

New head coach Kalen DeBoer seemed a little surprised

News travels fast as satellite in these days, so within half an hour of Greg Byrne, University of Alabama athletic director posting

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: A perfect landing: Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer arrives in Tuscaloosa