I understand people who try to maximize their income, because that is important to most people. I'm more sympathetic in the case of athletes because they have a limited window in which they can make their money.
But I also believe that not everyone is about maximizing their income. I know of many instances where people I know turned down higher paying jobs for a variety of reasons. Chris Petersen, who also took the Huskies to the college football playoffs, resigned at age 54, walking away from $4 or 5 million per year. He did that because he had integrity and because it wasn't all about the benjamins for him.
DeBoer had many reasons to stay in Seattle--he was building something great here, and what could be a bigger challenge than to succeed in a place that isn't a football power like Alabama or Ohio State? His daughter also plays softball at the UW. Isn't that by itself a reason to stay for the next few years? I know it would be for me. Also, moving to Alabama is great for him, but it also means uprooting the lives of your assistant coaches for whom being an assistant coach at Alabama is not the upgrade that it is for DeBoer.
(On a related note, it looks like another coach has decided to bail on DeBoer after initially following him there:
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports...s-on-kalen-deboer-at-alabama-joins-tennessee/)
I understand how the coaching carousel works, and how you parlay your success at a lesser school for a shot at a bigger job. But sometimes it's better to stay put because you're already in a good place, and that jump to the next place might turned out to be the best thing for you.