Boise State ‘brotherhood’ will be in family fight at Washington, with ‘a ton of respect’
In 2004, Lee Marks was a starting running back for Boise State — a team that went 11-1 and finished No. 12 in the final Associated Press Top 25 Poll of the season.
Serving as a captain on that team was linebacker Andy Avalos.
“He was a very tough, smart football player,” Marks told the Idaho Statesman this week. “Obviously a team guy. He was always team-first and always worked extremely hard.”
Marks’ offensive coordinator on that team was none other than Chris Petersen, who of course became a legendary head coach for the Broncos and then led the University of Washington. That’s a big part of the reason why Boise State-Washington connections are plentiful.
Both Avalos and Marks went on to coach in varying capacities for their alma mater, and this weekend they will find themselves on opposite sidelines when the Broncos open the season against No. 10 Washington at Husky Stadium in Seattle (1:30 p.m., ABC).
Avalos is now in his third season as Boise State’s head coach, while Marks is beginning his second season as the Huskies’ running backs coach. Washington’s staff as a whole is peppered with BSU ties: three assistant coaches, a graduate assistant, two offensive quality control coaches and the director of on-campus recruiting.
“It’s a pretty unique brotherhood to be a part of, and not just from playing here, but now within the college coaching ranks,” Avalos said. “This isn’t the only time that we coach against guys that we played with here. I have the utmost respect for all of those guys. They’re tremendous people and coaches. They’ve been very successful at the various places they’ve been, and we all know that UW had a successful year last year.”
Among those “tremendous people” in Seattle is offensive line coach Scott Huff, who played center for Boise State from 1999 to 2002 and earned first-team All-Western Athletic Conference honors as a senior, helping lead the Broncos to a 12-1 record and a WAC championship. He joined the BSU staff for eight seasons under Petersen, and then joined the Huskies’ staff in 2017. He’s been there ever since.
Marks said all of the football family ties don’t mean the Huskies will have insider knowledge going into Saturday’s game. They might have familiarity, but that’s it.
“The nice part about just really kind of going into this game is there’s a bunch of us that have had experience, whether that’s either coaching with Coach Avalos or having an opportunity to play against the system that he runs on defense,” Marks said. “ ... But obviously that doesn’t necessarily mean anything going into game one, because there’s always unknown things that they could be working on.”
Washington cornerbacks coach Julius Brown was a three-year starter and four-year letter winner for the Broncos, from 2000 to 2003. He spent 2014-15 as the secondary coach and recruiting coordinator for Boise State.
Washington defensive graduate assistant Tyson Maeva began his playing career at Boise State, and Joyce Harrell, the Huskies’ director of on-campus recruiting, played women’s basketball for the Broncos.
Mitch Dahlen, a UW offensive quality control coach, was an assistant wide receivers and quarterbacks coach for the Broncos in 2018. And fellow offensive quality control coach Taylor Pope played for the Broncos from 2012 to 2016.
“Definitely a ton of respect,” Marks said, speaking about the Boise State-Washington links. “Obviously, my roots are very deep there, but at the same time, I think this is just exciting. It’s the first game and college football is always fun.”
On the Boise State side of things, first-year offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan served under Petersen in Seattle as an offensive quality control coach in 2015 and was promoted to wide receivers coach in 2016. A former QB for the Broncos, he was Washington’s offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach in 2018-19.
Boise State safeties coach Kane Ioane was a defensive analyst for Washington in 2017-18.
“For me certainly, it’s not gonna be just another game. I’m not gonna sit here and say that,” Hamdan said. “I can’t even remember if I’ve been to the visitor locker room (at Husky Stadium). I put a lot into that program and we feel we had a lot of success, but as you guys know, man, you coach long enough, you’re in a lot of places, once that whistle goes, it’s right back to focusing on what you’ve got to get done.”
This story was originally published August 31, 2023 at 12:44 PM.
