Boise State’s new offensive coordinator is a stoic, steady ‘planner’ — most of the time
Former Boise State quarterback Bart Hendricks knows interim offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter pretty well.
Koetter was Boise State’s head coach from 1998 to 2000, and Hendricks was his starting quarterback.
The duo went 26-10 and won two Big West Conference championships. Hendricks was named MVP of the Humanitarian Bowl as a senior in 2000, and he still ranks No. 4 at Boise State with 78 career touchdown passes and No. 5 with 9,020 passing yards.
Hendricks said he and Koetter met, one-on-one, each week to go over the game plan for that week’s opponent during his final two seasons. What stood out most to Hendricks, he said, was that those conversations were never one-sided.
“He was always open to figuring out ways to get better,” Hendricks told the Idaho Statesman. “He was one of those coaches who would listen to their players. If you had questions or ideas, he was open to them in a direct and personal way.”
After returning to Boise State in January as an analyst, Koetter took over the Broncos’ struggling offense after former coordinator Tim Plough was fired.
Koetter wasted little time making the unit better despite having just six days to tweak the scheme to better fit new starting quarterback Taylen Green after four-year starter Hank Bachmeier decided to transfer.
In his first game as offensive coordinator, Boise State had a slow first half but racked up 450 yards of offense and 316 rushing yards in a 35-13 win over Mountain West Conference foe San Diego State.
Koetter said he hadn’t felt that kind of energy in a locker room after a win or heard players sing a fight song that loudly in a long time. That doesn’t happen very often in the NFL, where Koetter spent the final 14 years of his coaching career, including a three-year stint as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He said he hopes to re-create that feeling on Saturday when Boise State hosts Fresno State (7:45 p.m., FS1) in a Mountain West game.
“I really enjoyed watching the pure joy and smiles on the players’ and coaches’ faces,” Koetter said.
Koetter retired from the NFL in January 2021, and he was playing golf three days a week and enjoying the scenery from his home in McCall. He admits he wasn’t fully invested as an analyst. He would watch from the sidelines at practice, do some light scouting of opponents and share an observation or two with the coaches.
Even though he knew how much it would change his lifestyle, Koetter said he stepped in to replace Plough out of a feeling of obligation to head coach Andy Avalos and the Boise State program.
“In this business, you’re either all-in or all-out, and I was definitely riding the fence on all-out,” Koetter said. “The grind part of coaching is real. This is year 40 for me, and that’s why I wasn’t doing it anymore, because I’d had enough. I came back because I felt like I could maybe make a difference.”
Koetter said on Monday that he has no interest in staying in the position for the long term. He called his time in charge of the offense a “short-term endeavor,” meaning the Broncos likely will be in search of a new offensive coordinator after the season.
“This is a young man’s game, and I’m not a young man,” said Koetter, who is 63 and has been coaching since 1983. He began his career as the head coach at highly successful Highland High School in Pocatello.
Green may get to work with Koetter only for a year, but the veteran coach will get the most out of the Broncos’ ultra-athletic quarterback, Hendricks said.
“Dirk is a planner, and he’s very businesslike in his preparation,” said Hendricks, who now works for Boise State as a fundraiser. “He’s not a rah-rah motivator type as a coach, but he’s going to get you prepared and he’s going to come up with an efficient game plan that puts you in the best position to succeed.”
Hendricks said he has many fond memories of his time spent with Koetter.
All the college football pundits thought the Broncos were in danger of being upset on the road at Idaho in 1999. Hendricks remembers Koetter’s final words to the team before the game as if he spoke them yesterday. “There’s nothing in the rule book that says this has to be a close game.”
Boise State won 45-14.
There was also a gut-wrenching overtime loss to Idaho in 1998, after which Koetter vowed that the Broncos would never lose to the Vandals again. Boise State went 12-0 against Idaho between 1999 and 2010. The programs haven’t met since.
Hendricks described Koetter as stoic when he’s on the sideline during games, but he’ll never forget a moment when the coach showed some emotion.
Boise State led Nevada 24-17 at halftime of a game in 1999, but the Broncos hadn’t played all that well in the first half. Hendricks said he wasn’t having his best game and the defense gave up a late touchdown. Koetter’s frustration reached a boiling point by the time he made it to the locker room, and he smashed a wooden stool against the wall.
The Broncos shut out Nevada in the second half and won 52-17.
The next day, Bryan Harsin, who was Hendricks’ backup at the time and later became a Boise State coach, drew a target on the wall where the stool was smashed. When Koetter walked in, all he could do was laugh, Hendricks said.
“That was the only time I saw him get that way during a game,” Hendricks said.
Koetter didn’t have to destroy any furniture to spark Boise State’s big second half against San Diego State last Friday. He said the offense simply found something that worked and stuck with it.
Koetter admitted the Broncos basically ran the same five plays over and over, and the Aztecs couldn’t stop them. Boise State racked up 273 rushing yards and outscored San Diego State 35-0 in the final two quarters of a key victory.
If it sounds simple, that’s because it was. Finding simple ways to put players in position to win is the mark of a veteran coach, Hendricks said.
“Dirk has forgotten more about football than most people know,” he said.
FRESNO STATE AT BOISE STATE
When: 7:45 p.m. Saturday
Where: Albertsons Stadium
TV: FS1 (Alex Faust, Pretos Papadakis)
Radio: KBOI 670 AM/93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
Records: Boise State 3-2, 2-0 MW; Fresno State 1-3, 0-0 MW
Series: Boise State leads all-time series 16-7, including a 40-14 win last season in Fresno, California.
Vegas line: Boise State by 6.5
Weather: High of 80 degrees, 0% chance of rain, 7 mph wind
This story was originally published October 6, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
