When is it a good idea for Boise State coaches to leave Boise?

Just saw the Statesman has Marcel Yates to A&M. This sucks. Choate and Pease our Texas recruiters, and Yates our L.A. recruiter. Time to go get Avalos as he is Sac State’s L.A. recruiter. I wonder if there are any big name Texas high school head coaches looking to make the leap to D1 football.

They stay here so long because of Coach Pete, the program, etc. If there is a clear path upward by staying here, that matches your expectations, maybe you stay. If not clear that it matches your internal timeline, maybe you leave and hopefully take a step up. Coach Yates faced arguably the biggest challenge of his career this year (injuries to CB’s), and he and Coach K solved the problem with innovation (Iloka to CB, the rise of Stanaway, etc) and some hard work. Next year the secondary will be a great strength.

Look at the challenge presented at the places they are going. BSU is a great program, with consistency everyone else envies. We just finished our 4th straight year and 5 of the last 6 in the top 10. Only Alabama joins us for the last 3 years. Florida, Washington State and Texas A&M are down, or way down, and are rebuilding the entire program and for A&M, now in the SEC. Being part of that is exciting and a great challenge.

And frankly, perhaps the oft stated “it’s Coach Pete – as long as he stays we will be fine” makes it a little easier to depart as you know you are not leaving behind a program in disarray.

And the hungry young coaches, looking at a great program and a great teacher in Coach Pete…are probably lining up at the door.

The recruiting thing is a bit of concern. If coach will hire me and send me to Texas regularly, I will cut back on my day job :) I already have all the blue and orange stuff – just need a team blazer.

Move Gregory to DBs.

Its like a machine with interchangeable parts. Assistants will come and go, as long we have coach Pete the program will remain strong.

but this is going to happen. i can’t say anything original or that hasn’t been hashed and rehashed in these very comment threads, so i’m not going to try. I do think Coach Pete will find others who will do admirably (sp???).

i think Murph said it best that if we lose Petersen those assistants are basically gone and the rebuilding will truly be from the ground up. As Coach Pete stays, he will bring the security and continuity the program desperately needs.

though Caves, yesterday, did make a valid point. Offensive players more than likely come for Coach Pete. Defensive guys…. probably there more for the assistants. So the Yates defection kind of makes me nervous.

but here’s to those guys and i wish them well.

Choate and Pease were primarily responsible for mining the considerable talent Boise State has pulled out of the Lone Star state—Choate in Houston and Pease in Dallas-Fort Worth. Six of the Broncos’ verbal commitments for the 2012 class are from Texas. But Pease said yesterday on Idaho SportsTalk that fans need not worry about those guys wavering. "They don’t come here for a particular coach," Pease said. "They come for Coach Pete." And, Pease added, their future teammates and the city and the fans.

-From the Slant

Maybe we’ll see some FCS coaches get a shot to move up.

We have our head coach and 2 coordinators named at this point so their could be much worse holes to fill. Guess that’s a silver lining.

I personally don’t think Sumlin will be doing much at A&M… I thought the same of June Jones when he went to SMU though. Only time will tell… The aggies think this will pay dividends and are excited about the LA recruiting market we’re now worried about.

That’s just the way it goes. All three of them have spent six seasons here as mere assistants, and it’s understandable why they are leaving. Not many coaches want to be an assistant forever. They all want to be head coaches one day, an opportunity they’re not going to get at Boise State. In the end, it always comes down to the same thing. Coach Pete is the one that holds this all together and and long as he is here, the Broncos will be good. He will find just as good of assistants to replace the ones he’s lost and in a few years, they will move on to bigger and better opportunities. That’s just the way it goes.

Does anyone know where we can get salary information for assistant coaches? Is such a thing available? I just wonder how much of a pay increase these guys are getting for moving laterally but to a bigger program. And by laterally I mean they are moving coordinator-coordinator, not coordinator-HC etc. I agree that it sucks for the program to plug so many holes, but a lot of these guys have families and have to plan for the future, especially in an industry where not much is guaranteed. For example, if your program suddenly goes south and your HC gets fired, you’re most likely out on the street looking for a new job.

I’m not saying this has a snowball’s chance in hell of happening at BSU, but just saying I understand chasing bigger dollars to certain extent, just for stability and the well-being of your family.

That’s why I was asking about salary numbers. If someone is going from 75K at BSU to 150K at Florida then I understand and respect that decision, although it sucks for us. If they’re already making 150K here to move up to 300K somewhere else…then it starts to break down in my eyes, assuming that you should be able to comfortably provide for a family (especially in Boise) on 150K a year.

I have no idea what these assistants make, all I know is that it’s substantially less than Coach Pete, which is why I’m asking…

In answer to the question Kevan poses in the title, a good time to spread their wings is when Kellen is leaving. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the assistant defection comes after 4 years of top10 finishes and before at least one year of definite uncertainty.
If an assistant wants to keep moving up that ladder, and it’s evident the top ring at BSU is filled, why not strike now while they the resume looks so great?

I remember in 2001 when I was a junior in high school and I saw Dan Hawkins at one of my HS football camp drills. I thought the world of this guy. After Koetter left I thought Boise State would drift back into a world where division II was not too far off but Dan proved a point. The point was, it doesn’t matter what OC, DC or head coach comes here- we’re Boise State, we’ll win games. Although he was completely numb at Colorado, Hawkins help continue the rich tradition of Boise State coaching and I think we’ll get a good supply of coaches until we become the next Ohio State or Notre Dame and by then, it won’t matter. There’s probably some run-on sentences there.

I’m concerned only with who Coach Pete is grooming to be his successor.

Put down the clubs and let me explain. Coach Pete will not be here forever. He will leave us one day (retirement, signing with another school, etc.). What I’m hoping he’s doing is working on finding and training another top head coach to take over, if he ever does leave BSU.

I will always understand why an assistant coach leaves Boise for a better paycheck. They have their families to think about and their career opportunities will always trump a certain team in 99% of cases. Doesn’t mean they wouldn’t love to stay or that another team is better; just that it’s a better paycheck with something to add to their resume. Head coaches have the ability to be loyal. No hard feeling to the assistants and wish them luck. Here is hoping their experience at Boise will bring more and more exposure to this great program.

Pretty impressive Bowden tree,

This seemed appropriate for this post:

Boise State Coaching Openings
Brent Pease has left to become the new offensive coordinator at Florida and special teams coach Jeff Choate left to join Mike Leach’s staff at Washington State. Robert Prince has been promoted to offensive coordinator, but the Broncos will still need a QB coach. Here are our potential candidates to fill the open spots on staff:
QUARTERBACKS COACH

Mike Sanford – Stanford Running Backs Coach

Played quarterback at Boise State from 2000-04. Chris Petersen was his offensive coordinator for four years and he played with Scott Huff, who was an offensive lineman for the Broncos.

Mike Johnson – ex-UCLA Offensive Coordinator

QB coach for the Atlanta Falcons from 2003-05. Robert Prince was an offensive assistant with the Falcons from 2004-06.

Akili Smith – Cal Administrative Assistant

Played quarterback at Oregon from 1995-98. Chris Petersen was the Ducks WR coach from 1995-2000 and Damon Griffin was one of Smith’s teammates.

SPECIAL TEAMS COACH

Pete Alamar – ex-Fresno State Tight Ends/Special Teams Coach

Coached tight ends and special teams at Cal from 2003-09, where he worked on staff with Bob Gregory.

Dennis McKnight – Edmonton Eskimos (CFL) Running Backs Coach

Special teams coach at Hawaii in 1999 and 2000, where he coached Keith Bhonapha.

Byron Storer – ex-Tampa Bay Buccaneers Assistant Special Teams Coach

Played at Cal from 2002-06, where Bob Gregory was one of his coaches.

If this has been posted already, good!

Actually I am proud to see our coaches leave to AQ schools, AS Politics is 90% of the game outside our stadium, BSU IQ gets spread Nation wide. ME? No way am I stakin out or Stalking a BSU coach, lol

the more perceptions can change. maybe the Houston Nutt relation got us the game with Ole Miss? (as dumb as i think Nutt actually is, this could have helped BSU.)