As NFL head coach, Kellen Moore still leans on ‘unique’ Boise State experience
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kellen Moore’s Boise State years shaped his aggressive, detail-driven offense.
- Moore built Saints staff from trusted NFL relationships formed since 2012.
- Collaboration and situational strategy define Moore’s approach as head coach.
Editor’s note: This is the first in a three-part series on Kellen Moore’s rise from Boise State football star to NFL head coach.
With a mop of long brown hair and a baby face belying a killer instinct that soon would be seen across the college football world, 18-year-old Kellen Moore would sit without saying a word in the Boise State quarterback meetings.
Having decided to redshirt Moore for his freshman year of 2007, the Broncos’ coaching staff hoped he would have time to develop and learn the playbook.
As Moore sat there, fastidiously taking notes in silence, then-head coach Chris Petersen had to find out what was going through this young man’s head.
“You need to ask Kellen some questions,” Petersen recalled asking Bryan Harsin, then the offensive coordinator, in a recent interview with the Idaho Statesman.
“So the next time we go in there, (Harsin) asks Kellen a question. He knew everything — not only about the offense, but he knew about the game plan, he knew protections. And that never stopped that entire year.”
Moore’s sharp mind, perhaps more than anything, helped him become a four-year starter and the winningest quarterback in college football history, with a record of 50-3. He also finished his career among the top 10 in career passing touchdowns and passing yards.
Not even 15 years removed from his final college season, the new head coach of the New Orleans Saints still tries to carry a precise attention to detail, a trait his assistant coaches said helped him get to this point. They said it’s that trait, along with his knowledge and personality, that not only impresses those closest to him, but also makes them want to be there with him.
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Moore’s football path didn’t quite start in Boise, of course. The story goes all the way back to the 1990s, when Moore was a coach’s son beneath the Friday night lights of the Washington town of Prosser, about 30 miles west of the Tri-Cities. But the writing was on the wall for Moore’s coaching future at Boise State, where he said he was heavily influenced by the aggressive brand of offense he likes to play and the need for having the “right people in the room” on a coaching staff.
“(Boise State) was awesome. It was unique,” Moore told the Statesman in a June interview at the Saints’ training facility in Metairie, where his first minicamp was taking place.
“It was different than most college football programs.”
‘If we can take a shot, we’ll take it.’
Doug Nussmeier got his first up-close glimpse of Moore in 2008.
A former quarterback for the University of Idaho and ex-NFL player, Nussmeier had been a college coach since 2003, and he was well-aware of the 6-foot redshirt freshman catching fire in Southwest Idaho.
As the offensive coordinator at Fresno State, Nussmeier and his Bulldogs traveled to Boise in November 2008 to face an undefeated team led by Petersen and Moore.
“That game was not a good game for the Fresno State Bulldogs; they got after us real good,” Nussmeier, who is now Moore’s offensive coordinator in New Orleans, told the Statesman.
Boise State routed Fresno State 61-10, with Moore tossing two touchdown passes and completing 17-of-23 throws for 213 yards, showing his trademark efficiency.
That offensive competence and an attitude of not letting up, not giving the defenses a break, has characterized Moore’s playing and coaching career, whether he was leading a 45-0 smackdown of New Mexico in his Senior Day game at Boise State or masterminding the Philadelphia Eagles’ offense as they pummeled Kansas City 40-22 in the Super Bowl in February to cap a 17-3 season.
“We were always creative, we were always cutting-edge, we were always playing a really aggressive brand of football in every phase,” Moore said about his time at Boise State, something he has tried to translate to the NFL. “There was an element of just going for it there. We weren’t worried, we didn’t have any hesitation, and we had the confidence.”
At the Saints’ minicamp, he already had the team focusing on situational downs. On day two, he had his offense taking a shot downfield on second-and-short, or playing third-and-long with a mindset of not making it fourth-and-longer.
“There’s a mentality there where, if we can take a shot, we’ll take it. If not, we’ll find an incompletion,” Moore said of both situations.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Moore said he carries a lot of what Petersen taught him to this day, and even emulates him. It shows in his coaching style and offensive schemes.
Moore described his NFL offenses as a “collaborative environment” that employ a lot of different personnel groups and spread the ball around — something else he carried with him from college.
In the NFL, Moore’s No. 1-ranked Dallas Cowboys offense of 2021 saw quarterback Dak Prescott connect at least 35 times with seven different receivers.
In his 2010 season at Boise State, when he was a Heisman Trophy finalist, five receivers had at least 24 catches, with Titus Young and Austin Pettis at 71 receptions apiece. Moore completed 71.3% of his passes that season, throwing for 3,845 yards and 39 touchdowns, with only six interceptions. In his senior season, he completed 74.3% of his throws and had 43 TDs.
“He knew the rules of the reads, the progressions, but he could get off (the ball) quickly when he felt something else, and always had a good reason for doing that,” Petersen said. “He was one of those unique guys at the toughest position in all of sports.”
Moore said the entire team was involved in the game plan at Boise State, and that shaped his philosophy as a coach.
“It wasn’t just, here’s our starters and these guys play every snap,” Moore said. “It’s how do you tie everyone into it?”
‘The right kind of guys’ in the coaching room to talk football, life
According to Scott Linehan, one of the hardest parts about becoming a head coach is assembling a staff. He had that responsibility when he was leading the St. Louis Rams from 2006 to 2008.
Linehan, now a senior offensive assistant for Moore in New Orleans, took over a team coming off a 6-10 season in St. Louis. It’s similar to what Moore faces with the Saints, who struggled to a 5-12 season in 2024, which featured the firing of head coach Dennis Allen at midseason.
“There are a lot of rules around it. You can’t necessarily go hire the 10 guys or whatever that you want,” Linehan said. “(Moore) has spent a lot of time as he’s looked at other opportunities in the last X amount of years, saying, ‘OK, if I get this opportunity, these are guys that I feel comfortable with.’ ”
Moore has been in the NFL since he was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Detroit Lions in 2012. After retiring from his playing days, he became an assistant coach with the Cowboys in 2018, eventually ascending to the offensive coordinator position, which he also held with the Los Angeles Chargers and Eagles.
He said he used knowledge gleaned from each stop in his coaching career to assemble his first staff in New Orleans.
Linehan was offensive coordinator in Detroit when Moore was on the Lions’ roster. Nussmeier was the quarterbacks coach in Dallas when Moore was a player there, and in that role in Los Angeles and Philadelphia when Moore was the OC for those teams.
Moore’s defensive coordinator, Brandon Staley, was the Chargers’ head coach when he hired Moore to be offensive coordinator in 2023.
And Moore also brought T.J. Paganetti from Philadelphia to be the run game coordinator for the Saints’ offense. The Eagles had the NFL’s No. 2 rushing offense in 2024, averaging 179 yards per game and trailing only Baltimore. Running back Saquon Barkley rushed for 2,005 yards.
“I think one of the big things is you really want to focus on bringing the right kind of guys in. Having experience with someone is really valuable,” Moore said.
Boise State ‘different from most college football programs’
Finding the “right kind” of people was a concept that also began at Boise State for Moore. He said that started with Petersen, whose staff emphasized the educational components of life and related them to football.
“It was different from most college football programs in that on Friday nights, you’re in a team meeting and it’s not about football,” Moore said. “It’s about something else in life that ties back to what we’re going to do on Saturday, but it was different. I thought that was a really special part of Boise that always connected with me.”
The collaborative environment Moore aims for on the field is something he wants his staff to have. In fact, he’s insistent upon it. He doesn’t want a group of yes-men, Moore said, and values coaches with different experiences, viewpoints and lessons.
“We don’t all have to see football the exact same way. And I think that’s the important part of this,” Moore said. “… Doug (Nussmeier) and I won’t see everything the exact same. And that’s a good thing, you need that.”
Moore’s coaches like to talk about who their boss is as a person — what kind of man that baby-faced Boise State prodigy became.
Staley said that Moore has a “great sense of what’s important,” while Nussmeier said he is “very good at navigating his way through things to get to where he wants to go.”
Linehan, who remembers Moore being the one to ask the right questions in a Lions quarterback room that featured Matthew Stafford, said Moore has a “great way” of commanding attention.
Depending on the season the Saints have, Moore could be in for a lot of credit or a lot of blame, which comes with the territory. But Petersen said it’s all about that staff around him.
“You look at the best of the best, they’ve always surrounded themselves with good people,” Petersen said. “Kellen will have the vision, and they’ve got to do it together.”
This story was originally published July 16, 2025 at 4:00 AM.
