Presented by CORSO ITALIAN STEAK.
Thursday Special: January 15, 2026.
In 1985, Chris Petersen was a junior quarterback at UC Davis and opened the season with a game against Boise State on the green turf of Bronco Stadium. The Aggies lost 13-9. It was a feeling that Petersen would rarely experience later in that facility. Little did he know what the future would hold for him representing Boise State on the turf that would turn blue. Wednesday was a day we all knew would come, as Petersen was announced as an inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame. Coach Pete was honored for not only his untouchable record with the Broncos, but also his years at Washington.
BOISE BEGINNING
Petersen joined Boise State in 2001 as Dan Hawkins’ offensive coordinator after six seasons as wide receivers coach at Oregon. Petersen and his wife Barbara had to carefully vet the city of Boise, as their young son Sam had been suffering from a cancerous brain tumor since he was 14 months old. With the Treasure Valley medical community getting a stamp of approval, the Petersen family made the move, and it’s probably the best thing that ever happened to Boise State football. With Ryan Dinwiddie and Jared Zabransky at quarterback, Petersen’s offenses racked up bushels of points, including the top two averages in Broncos history: 48.9 in 2004 and 45.6 in 2002. Again, those are averages. On the Scott Slant on Sunday Sports Extra, I’d track 50-point games year-to-year.
NO MORE HESITATION
Then, when Hawkins left for Colorado after the 2005 season, Coach Pete threw his caution to the wind and accepted the Boise State head coaching job. Outside the inner sanctum of the Varsity Center, many wondered if Petersen was up to the task, only because he had said he wasn’t sure if he ever wanted to be a head coach. But he was ready, and Broncos players knew it. There was this post Wednesday from former star safety Gerald Alexander, who was going into his senior year at the time: “When Coach Hawk left the only question was if Coach Pete (our OC) was leaving with him. Once we were told he was getting promoted to HC we knew we were good! That 2006 season became a year that will forever be remembered!”
THE WHOLE ENCHILADA
You know the rest: a stunning 92-12 mark (50-3 during the Kellen Moore era) with the Broncos that included two undefeated seasons capped by legendary Fiesta Bowl victories and six conference championships. Petersen later led Washington to a pair of Pac-12 titles and a berth in the 2016 College Football Playoff. In six seasons with the Huskies he went 55-26 and led UW to three New Year’s Six bowl games. As an appropriate sidebar, Petersen and Dinwiddie will be inducted together into the Boise State Athletic Hall of Fame this year.
COMMUNITY
Community involvement has been as much a part of Petersen as the volume of victories. Sam (who, by the way, is now healthy and a graduate of UW) and his journey steered them toward the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and one of the most memorable games of the Coach Pete era was in 2010, when he and Barbara welcomed Stephen Kinsey, a 12-year-old cancer patient from San Antonio, TX. Stephen’s wish was to coach a game for the Boise State Broncos. The team hosted Kinsey for three magical days, including him in team meetings and practice. He led the team onto the field holding the hand of star defensive end Shea McClellin, with both carrying Hammers, and he was decked out in coaches attire and got to wear a headset. Boise State won the “Coach Kinsey game” 42-7 over Hawaii.
APPRECIATION
There were some mighty upset individuals when Petersen left for Washington in December, 2013. He took some of his recruiting commitments with him, and a few of them ended up in the NFL after their Huskies careers. But where does that not happen when a coach leaves? The level-headed among us realized that they had seen one of college football’s most remarkable stories. Add in his years as offensive coordinator, and Coach Pete gave 13 years of his life to this community. Every job has a shelf life, and he felt the one with the Broncos had reached its expiration date. The same thing happened at UW, when he surprised everyone in Seattle by retiring in 2019 after six seasons. A once-in-a-lifetime coach.
NO KELLEN
Part of the story today is that Kellen Moore didn’t make the Hall Wednesday. It’ll happen, but it’s frustrating that Moore didn’t get in this year. The winningest quarterback in college football history, in his fifth year of eligibility, was passed over again. Jordan Lynch, who played at Northern Illinois, was not. Lynch’s resume does not come close to comparing to Kellen’s. Cam Newton wasn’t selected, either. Newton won the Heisman Trophy at Auburn in 2010, the year Moore was a finalist. If Newton had edged out Kellen, that would have been understandable. But Lynch?
TODAY’S O-COORDINATOR
With a nod to Coach Pete’s original job at Boise State, Zak Hill has been promoted to co-offensive coordinator for the Broncos. Hill, of course, is in his second stint at Boise State, and his first as O.C. went pretty well. That was from 2016-19 under Bryan Harsin, and the first three had him coaching quarterback Brett Rypien, who was All-Mountain West each season and was conference player of the year as a senior in 2018. In 2019, Hill had true freshman Hank Bachmeier as his QB, and that was Bachmeier’s best season as a Bronco. Hill also coached Cedrick Wilson, Jeremy McNichols and Alexander Mattison, among others. He had a hand in two Mountain West championships. Now we wait to see what Hill’s true role will be in the Broncos offense.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK. He also served as color commentator on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football for 14 seasons.)
