Now what? The top candidates to consider for Boise State’s next football coach
The routine ought to be familiar for Boise State fans.
A high-profile program backs up a truck full of cash, and another Boise State football coach heads for the exit.
This time, it’s Auburn snatching up Bryan Harsin, a Boise native who made waves this fall with his frustration at Boise State and with the Mountain West Conference.
Boise State President Marlene Tromp said the Broncos would launch an immediate national search in a statement Tuesday night. The coaching carousel always remains clouded in secrecy and rumors. But here are several options Boise State could turn to within the Broncos’ extended family.
Andy Avalos
A former Broncos player and defensive coordinator, Avalos would bring plenty of Boise State bona fides to the job.
Avalos took over the Broncos’ defense from 2016 to 2018 and served as an assistant beginning in 2012. Boise State went 31-9 in his three years in charge of the defense, allowed a combined 22.2 points per game and finished the season ranked inside the AP Top 25 twice.
Oregon hired him away as its defensive coordinator in 2019, signing him to a three-year, $2.45 million contract. He’s scheduled to make $865,000 in the final year of his contract in 2021.
He’s rebuilt the Oregon defense and helped the Ducks to back-to-back Pac-12 titles. Oregon ranked ninth in the country in scoring defense (16.5 ppg) in his first year before falling back to 54th this fall (27.3 ppg).
“I’ve never set out and said, ‘I want to be a head coach,’ ” Avalos told the Idaho Statesman in March 2019 after he left for Oregon. “I want to do the best in my role, let the rest handle itself. It’s got me this far, staying on that track. Whatever opportunities, we’ll address them when they pop up. Boise has a huge spot in my heart. It’s the place that helped me grow.”
Kellen Moore
The first name sure to pass most fans’ lips, the Heisman Trophy candidate finished 50-3 as Boise State’s quarterback and remains a local legend.
He never panned out as an NFL starter. But he’s found quick success as an NFL coach, starting as the Cowboys’ quarterbacks coach in 2018 and moving up to offensive coordinator a year later.
Dallas owner Jerry Jones has heaped praise on Moore, 32, one of the few coaches to survive the firing of Jason Garrett.
Dallas had the NFL’s No. 6 scoring offense in Moore’s first year. New Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy vowed to never give up play calling again, but he made an exception for Moore.
Moore reportedly flirted with taking the offensive coordinator position at Washington last winter. He remains active in Boise, filming commercials in the area. And he told the Idaho Statesman in 2018 he could one day consider a return to Boise State.
“I’ll do anything for Boise, and you never know with this coaching thing where it will take you,” Moore said then. “It’s a place I’d love to be. … If something were to happen, it would obviously be interesting.”
Dirk Koetter
Koetter was a finalist for the job when Boise State hired Harsin before the 2014 season. So he’s expressed plenty of interest in returning to Boise.
The Broncos’ rise to national prominence began under Koetter, who led Boise State to a 26-10 record from 1998 to 2000 as its head coach in the Big West.
He left for Arizona State in 2001, then spent the past 14 years in the NFL mostly as an offensive coordinator. Losing out to Harsin worked out for the 61-year-old Pocatello native, who then became the head coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2016.
But he went 19-29 in three seasons before getting fired and returning to Atlanta as its offensive coordinator.
He survived the October firing of Falcons head coach Dan Quinn after an 0-5 start. Koetter was originally rumored as a possible replacement for Quinn, but interim coach and defensive coordinator Raheem Moore appears to hold the inside track after engineering a turnaround.
Chris Petersen
Hey, a Bronco fan can dream, right?
Petersen led Boise State to its zenith, including four Top 10 finishes in the AP poll (and one No. 11). The Broncos won two Fiesta Bowls, posted a 92-12 record and became national darlings under Petersen.
He left for Washington in 2014, coaching the Huskies to a 55-26 record and the 2016 national playoffs before stepping down last year (with a win over Boise State in his final game, coincidentally).
Washington awarded Petersen a prestigious faculty position last summer. But he’s still only 56. Should he get the itch to return to the sideline, what better place to do it than back in Boise?
Eric Kiesau
The Broncos could make a splashy hire with any of the previous four. Or they could stay in house with their current offensive coordinator.
Kiesau, 48, took over as the sole offensive coordinator this fall after sharing the duties last year. And Boise State didn’t miss a beat, averaging 33.9 points, good for 28th nationally.
He previously led the Broncos’ wide receivers (2017-19). He has some head coaching experience, serving as Fresno State’s interim coach (going 0-4 in 2016). And he previously was the offensive coordinator at Washington, Colorado and Fresno State, as well as on an interim basis at Kansas.
Mike Sanford
The former Boise State quarterback spent one year as the Broncos’ offensive coordinator — the 2014 Fiesta Bowl championship season.
He left for greener pastures as Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator, then took over the Western Kentucky program as a young, up-and-coming coach. But he went 9-16 there in two seasons (2017-18) and was fired.
The 38-year-old has since spent one year each at Utah State (2019) and Minnesota (2020) as their offensive coordinators.
Known as a strong recruiter, he helped Notre Dame land two top-15 recruiting classes in his two years. He also brought in the No. 5 recruiting class and two top-20 classes to Stanford as its recruiting coordinator before joining Boise State.
Jeff Choate
The 50-year-old Idaho native revived Montana State into a national FCS player. He led the Bobcats to the national semifinals and an 11-4 record in 2019, their best season since winning a national title in 1984.
He’s 28-22 in Bozeman after a pair of losing seasons in his first two years. He spent six years at Boise State under Petersen, coaching the special teams, linebackers and running backs before taking jobs at Florida, Washington State and UTEP.
He returned to Petersen’s staff at Washington until breaking out on his own at Montana State in 2016.
Dan Hawkins
Boise State first became a household name under Hawkins, who led the Broncos to four WAC titles, a 53-11 record and three finishes inside the AP Top 25 from 2001 to 2005. He left for Colorado, going 19-39 before getting fired after five seasons. He’s since called games for ESPN, coached in the CFL and in Europe, then returned to his alma mater at UC Davis.
He’s led UC Davis to a 20-16 record in three years and a share of the 2018 Big Sky title. Like Choate, he awaits the start of the Big Sky’s season in February.
This story was originally published December 22, 2020 at 10:28 PM.
