Presented by CORSO ITALIAN STEAK.
This Day In Sports…December 2, 2000, 25 years ago today:
Capping a bizarre week in which he accepted a job at Oklahoma State and then changed his mind, the rumor mill finally grinds to a halt with Boise State’s Dirk Koetter being introduced as the new head coach at Arizona State. At the same time, assistant head coach Dan Hawkins was announced as Koetter’s replacement at Boise State. Koetter led the Broncos to a 26-10 record and two Humanitarian Bowl wins, along with the final two football championships in the history of the Big West Conference. He began the Broncos’ streak of winning seasons—now at 28 years and the longest run in the country—in 1998.
And that was the beginning of the Boise State coaching brotherhood that continues to this day. Hawkins talked of the Broncos becoming a top 25 program when it was only a dream. But he accelerated the Golden Era that essentially kicked off in 1999, and he had the Broncos in the rankings late in his second season. In his fourth year in 2004, Hawkins got Boise State all the way into the top 10 with the school’s first undefeated regular season, and it was matched with another top 10 team, Louisville, in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis.
Hawkins’ offensive coordinator was Chris Petersen, who needs no introduction here. Petersen was promoted to Boise State head coach when Hawkins left for Colorado after the 2005 season with a 53-11 record. All Coach Pete did, of course, was go undefeated in his first season after the rather unbelievable Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma. In 2010, with the best team in program history, Petersen got the Broncos up to No. 2 in the AP Poll and on the cusp of a Rose Bowl berth (if not the BCS Championship Game) before an unfortunate Thanksgiving weekend. Coach Pete was a staggering 92-12 at Boise State.
Petersen’s successor was his one-time offensive coordinator, Bryan Harsin, a homegrown coach. Harsin was 59-16 at Boise State before taking an ill-fated job at Arkansas. Then came Harsin’s one-time defensive coordinator and former Broncos linebacker Andy Avalos. It’s the only one that didn’t work out well, as Avalos was fired a little over two years ago. That’s when the brotherhood was supposed to be broken, and athletic director Jeramiah Dickey intended to go outside the program to hire a new coach. The rest is history. Spencer Danielson earned his shot, and the brotherhood has lasted 28 seasons now.
(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.)
