Andy Avalos is Boise State's new defensive coordinator; breaks land speed hiring record

In a move that had been hinted at and speculated on as soon as the Marcel Yates rumor mill fired up, Boise State just named Andy Avalos the new defensive coordinator just a few hours after the Yates news became finalized. Avalos had been serving as linebackers coach for the last two seasons for the Broncos...a position he played from 2001-2004 at Boise State. Prior to that, Avalos had been coaching the Bronco D-line since 2012. It's easy to see why Avalos was pegged as the new DC as each unit he's overseen since his return to Boise has performed very, very well. The Avalos coached D-line garnered five All-MWC honors, and his linebacking units have been some of the more productive of the last decade. A brief statement from Avalos is below:

"I am thankful to Coach Harsin and Boise State for this opportunity," Avalos said. "It is an awesome challenge that I couldn’t be more excited to be taking on. The Bronco Way has shaped me as a person, a player and a coach, and it is an unbelievable honor to now be able to share that same thing with our current and future players.

"Defensively, we will continue to build with the key players we return, and focus on developing our young guys. I can’t wait to get in the meeting room and on the field with our players."

Quite a meteoric rise for Avalos, who was coaching LBs at Corona High school about ten years ago and is now the DC for a perennial college power. Congrats, Andy.

Now that one thing's out of the way...that only that pesky OC slot remains unfilled (that, and a potential LBs coach replacement for Avalos).