Presented by ZAMZOWS.
This Day In Sports…September 5, 1998:
Dirk Koetter debuts as Boise State’s head coach with a 26-13 win over Cal State Northridge in Bronco Stadium. It was the same team that had bludgeoned the Broncos 63-23 in Houston Nutt’s debut the year before. Koetter started sophomore Bart Hendricks at quarterback, and Hendricks was only 10-for-29. But he connected on touchdown passes of 27 yards to Rodney Smith and 79 yards to Corey Nelson in the second quarter as Boise State built a 20-0 lead. Koetter had been hired the previous December, the same day that Nutt left the Broncos for Arkansas.
Boise State went on to record a 6-5 record, with Koetter proudly noting it as the program’s first winning season in Division I-A (now the FBS) after the Broncos clinched it that November at New Mexico State. It was also the first in Boise State’s current run of 27 consecutive winning seasons, the longest streak in the nation. The following season, Koetter really got things going, leading the Broncos to a 10-3 season, including their first Big West championship and first bowl victory.
It got better in 2000, with a 10-2 record and another Big West championship and bowl victory, and the Broncos’ Golden Era was clearly underway. Koetter’s 26-10 ledger at Boise State earned him a job at Arizona State, which he held for six seasons before moving on to success in the NFL as an offensive coordinator and a three-year stint as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But Koetter always had a soft spot in his heart for Boise State. He hung out at practice during the first Fiesta Bowl week at the end of 2006 and kept tabs on the program during his years in the NFL.
When he retired from the NFL following the 2020 season, he built a house in Boise and returned here. When his son Davis transferred to Boise State in 2021, Koetter was a regular at practice—then in 2022 he became an offensive analyst for coach Andy Avalos’ staff. And when Avalos fired Tim Plough as offensive coordinator four games into the season, Koetter agreed to be interim O.C., with a firm declaration that he would return to retirement. But when Spencer Danielson needed an O-coordinator last year, Koetter took the post and made another “just this season” promise. That one stuck, and he’s back to offensive analyst this year.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
