Presented by ZAMZOWS.
This Day In Sports…January 9, 2021, five years ago today:
After two seasons as defensive coordinator at Oregon, Andy Avalos returns to the Boise State staff, this time as the man in charge. Less than a week into his job as the Broncos’ new athletic director, Jeramiah Dickey’s first task as was to hire a head football coach to replace Bryan Harsin, who had left for Auburn just before Christmas. Avalos, also a former standout linebacker at Boise State, came highly recommended to Dickey. He had left his DC post with the Broncos to take the Oregon job one season after his defense had stifled the Ducks in the 2017 Las Vegas Bowl.
The Avalos hire reinforced Boise State’s 20-year-old tradition of trend of keeping the job within the Broncos brotherhood. Dirk Koetter broke the mold from 1998-2000, and every head coaching hire since then had been either an internal hire (Dan Hawkins, Chris Petersen) or a former assistant coach and player returning to the fold (Harsin, Avalos).
Avalos’ first season was all over the board, from rare home losses to Nevada and Air Force to upsets of two ranked teams on the road, No. 10 BYU and No. 24 Fresno State. And Boise State came within one bad call of upending another, No. 22 Oklahoma State on the Blue. Avalos’ team finished 7-5 in 2021; then came a tumultuous 2022 that turned into a 10-4 season. The Broncos were thumped at Oregon State in the opener and suffered one of the worst losses in school history at UTEP in Game 4. Avalos then fired offensive coordinator Tim Plough, and quarterback Hank Bachmeier declared for the transfer portal.
With Koetter coming out of retirement to serve as interim O-coordinator and Taylen Green taking over at quarterback, Boise State made it to the Mountain West championship game. The Broncos won their first bowl game in five years, taking the Frisco Bowl over North Texas. But by mid-November of the 2023 campaign, Boise State had struggled to a 5-5 record amid rumblings of internal strife. That was enough for Dickey to fire Avalos, who left Boise State with a 22-14 overall record.
Regardless of the circumstances of his departure, Avalos will forever be remembered by Bronco Nation for his role in the program’s rise from 2001-04. His final game for the Broncos produced his most memorable moment. It was in the 2004 Liberty Bowl against Memphis, when Avalos returned an interception 92 yards for a touchdown. He then turned to coaching, returning to his alma mater in 2012 and spending seven seasons on the staffs of Petersen and Harsin. In 2024, Avalos would land at TCU as defensive coordinator, a position many would describe as his sweet spot.
(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.)
