This transfer wide receiver is already right at home at Boise State. Recognize the name?
Boise State wide receiver Davis Koetter is back where it all began.
The son of former Boise State football coach Dirk Koetter was born in Boise, but he was only 2 years old when his dad became the head coach at Arizona State and the family moved to Tempe.
After his father’s coaching career jumped to the NFL, with stops in Jacksonville, Tampa Bay and Atlanta, the family is back in Idaho. Dirk and his wife, Kim, are enjoying retirement at their home in McCall, and Davis joined the Broncos this spring after transferring from Portland State.
“It was a really hard decision to leave Portland State. I have a lot of people I love there, and I have a lot of respect for the program,” Davis Koetter told reporters Monday. “But to be under a head coach like Andy Avalos and my position coach Matt Miller, I thought that was too good of an opportunity to pass up.”
The Koetter family visited McCall every summer, so Idaho is familiar territory for the Broncos’ newest wide receiver. He said it will be nice to spend his final two years of eligibility in the state he calls home.
“I’m fired up to be back in Boise,” said Koetter, who has an additional year to play because of the extra eligibility offered by the NCAA as a means of COVID-19 relief. “It’s a great city. They love their football here, and it feels good to be back.”
Dirk Koetter was the head coach at Boise State from 1998 to 2000, and he compiled a 26-10 record while helping to kick-start the Broncos’ reputation as a well-respected college football program.
After Arizona State, he went on to serve stints as the offensive coordinator for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and he was the Buccaneers’ head coach from 2016 to 2018. He also made two stops as the Atlanta Falcons’ offensive coordinator, the second of which came to an end in January when he announced he was retiring.
No matter what city the family was living in, Davis said his father always had a fondness for Boise and the first college program to give him a shot as a head coach.
“This was kind of his first break, and you’re never prepared for what being a first-time head coach is going to be like,” Davis Koetter said. “You’re never prepared for when you’re the head coach and everybody is looking to you for answers.”
After growing up on the sidelines with his father, it should come as no surprise that Davis wants to join the profession when his playing days are done. In fact, his future career path played a role in convincing him to join the Broncos.
“(My dad) made it clear that there’s a lot of other ways to have a good, successful life outside of football, but I can’t live without the game,” he said. “This is an internship for me. I’m under these great coaches and have the opportunity to learn from them.”
Koetter spent three seasons at Portland State and racked up 10 career touchdown catches, including a team-high eight in 2019. The Vikings didn’t play in 2020 after the Big Sky Conference postponed the season to this spring.
When he decided to transfer, the plan was to play for former Boise State assistant coach Eliah Drinkwitz, now the head coach at Missouri. Koetter said Monday that he was only about five days away from moving to Missouri, but changed his mind and took a chance on the Broncos.
He said the hiring of Avalos played a huge role in his decision.
“He’s first class,” said Koetter, who graduated from Portland State with a psychology degree and is pursuing a master’s degree in athletic leadership. “You can’t pass up the opportunity to come play for a guy like coach Avalos.”
The 6-foot-2, 198-pound redshirt junior played outside and in the slot at Portland State. He has been working on the outside so far with the Broncos. He joined a position group led by veterans Khalil Shakir, CT Thomas and Octavius Evans, and he’s competing against a group a young receivers, led by Stef Cobbs.
“That is (offensive coordinator Tim) Plough’s and the quarterbacks’ jobs to distribute the ball to that talent,” Koetter said. “You want to have a real deep position group because it’s only going to make everyone better.”
He said he always dreamed about donning a Boise State uniform and trotting onto the blue turf for a game in Albertsons Stadium. He’ll get the chance this fall, but he’s even more excited about having his father in the stands.
“He’s only been to two of my college games,” Davis Koetter said. “He’s really excited to be able to come to these games and to be back in Boise.”
Boise State’s season opener is scheduled for Sept. 4 at UCF, and the Broncos home opener is scheduled for Sept. 11 against UTEP.
This story was originally published March 29, 2021 at 3:45 PM.
