Boise State is lurking.
While perhaps more focus is on the already open Power 5 posts at Michigan State, Mississippi State and Texas A&M, as well as several more with projected openings, Boise State is seeking its next head coach after earlier this week parting with Andy Avalos, the defensive-minded former Broncos player and coordinator.
There are perhaps two names that tower over all others with the Boise job: former head coach Bryan Harsin, who left the program for an ill-fated opportunity in the SEC at Auburn, and Kellen Moore, the Broncos’ former record-setting quarterback with an undefeated season to his credit while starring under Chris Petersen.
Moore currently is the Los Angeles Chargers’ offensive coordinator, helping the Bolts average 26.5 points per game but sitting at 4-5 just past the NFL season’s midpoint.
Timing makes any potential NFL-to-College hire nuanced – because of the impending impacts of the NCAA Transfer Portal opening Dec. 4, the early signing period starting Dec. 20 and the general roster demands that coincide with those elements as well as Name, Image and Likeness.
But Moore, who was widely acclaimed by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones during Moore’s five-year run as an Cowboys assistant, the last four of them as offensive coordinator and on the heels of his three-year stint as the team’s backup-quarterback, is still just 35 years old and could find stability at Boise, if a return to college is in his interest.
Sources indicate strongly to FootballScoop that Moore is at or near the top of Boise State’s next-coach wish-list.
A native of Prosser, Washington, approximately 300 miles northwest of Boise, Idaho, Moore could potentially navigate an NFL-to-college transition with a primary staff of coaches who could guide personnel and roster decisions until the end of the NFL season.
Boise State, in general, does not recruit to the same demands as many Power 5 programs, though the Broncos nonetheless have considerable program success this century. With just more than a month until the early signing period, Boise State presently has 14 verbal commitments – just one four-star, Gatlin Bair, an Idaho native – in its 2024 class, per 247Sports.
At 4-5, the Chargers are 12th in the AFC and not in playoff contention; among their remaining games are contests against the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs – all teams ahead of embattled coach Brandon Staley’s Chargers squad.
Kirby Moore, Kellen’s brother and also a Broncos football alum, is in his first season as offensive coordinator for Eli Drinkwitz’s resurgent Missouri Tigers. Kirby Moore also has extensive coaching ties out West; his previous stops include several years at Fresno State, including time as the Bulldogs’ offensive coordinator, and early-career work at the University of Washington and College of Idaho.
Harsin, presently, is getting paid by Auburn not to coach, but numerous sources throughout college football not just in recent days but months have told FootballScoop that Harsin desires a return to coaching in the college ranks and especially would be eager to return to Boise State.
In seven seasons at the helm of the Broncos, Harsin compiled 69 wins and had a 12-win season in 2019, his final full season at the helm.
He was fired after two tumultuous seasons at Auburn, which proved perhaps a bad fit for both sides. The Tigers also parted with their former athletics director, Allen Greene, during that time, and Greene was the leader who had initially hired Harsin.
Aside from his work atop the Boise State and Auburn programs, Harsin led Arkansas State for a season and climbed through the coaching ranks as the offensive coordinator at both Boise and the University of Texas.