Will Dirk Koetter stay at Boise State next season? Here’s what he talked about this week
At approximately 12:45 p.m. Monday, Boise State offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter stood at the podium at the front of the large auditorium in the Bleymaier Football Center.
The giant room, which has two large screens on the front wall, serves as the postgame and weekly press conference room.
It was here that the media asked Koetter how much fun he was having as the Broncos’ play-calling guru.
“Except for 12:45 on Mondays, I’m having a lot of fun,” Koetter said with a smirk.
The playful jibe was an indicator of Koetter’s happiness in this role. Koetter, who’s held head coaching roles at both the collegiate and NFL levels, has served on and off as the Broncos’ offensive coordinator in recent years.
He stepped up as interim OC in September 2022 after the firing of former coordinator Tim Plough, before stepping back into an offensive analyst role once Bush Hamden was hired last year. Koetter then took it back on when Hamden left after one season to be offensive coordinator at Kentucky, signing a one-year contract that will expire on Jan. 17, 2025.
It’s been a match made in heaven in the 2024 season. The magnificence of junior running back Ashton Jeanty has made things easier, but Koetter has been pushing all the right buttons, spreading the field with calls to set up big Jeanty runs, and helping quarterback Maddux Madsen find open receivers while teams focus on Jeanty.
Boise State went 8-2 after Koetter took over as offensive coordinator in 2022 and is 7-1 this season, and was ranked No. 12 in the first College Football Playoff rankings this week. In games without Koetter in that role since the start of 2022, the Broncos are 10-8.
The numbers on offense this season are rather staggering as well, with the Broncos averaging 45.8 points and 509 yards per game. Those figures are good for third in FBS in scoring and fourth in yardage.
The dominance of the offense and Koetter’s one-year contract are leading to a simple question around BSU football: Will Koetter still be around next season, or will semi-retirement tempt him away?
Danielson said he’d love for the coach to return, but the pair haven’t discussed it.
“Dirk is not only, as we all see, a phenomenal offensive coach, quarterback coach and game planner — he’s a huge mentor to me,” Danielson said Monday, about 30 minutes before Koetter spoke.
Koetter said he’s not even thinking about next season, and he emphasized that the players should not be thinking of that either.
“We have a great thing going right now,” Koetter said. “We’re relatively healthy — knock on wood — right now, we’re playing solid football in all phases, and that’s all we should be focused on.”
