Avalos staff nearly complete

Last week, we wrote about new Bronco head man Andy Avalos’s first big acquisitions (or retentions) for his first—and possibly most important—coaching staff at Boise State. UC Davis OC Tim Plough is taking the same role with the Broncos after wrecking things in the Big Sky with Dan Hawkins and last year’s co-DC and Avalos protegé Spencer Danielson is being retained as Boise State’s defensive coordinator. So starting things off with a guy players would run through a wall for and hardcore Xs and Os guy seems like a solid start, so how about another “run through a wall guy” right out of the gate? “Sure”, said Avalos as he went outside the box and the Boise State influence sphere and brought on longtime Utah State assistant Frank Maile to handle the defensive line and also take on assistant to the head coach duties. FRANK-ly, even though this hire was out of left field for many in Bronco Nation, Maile “won” his first press conference and seems like exactly the type of guy that can maximize his results in Boise, Idaho (and unlock this mysterious “Utah recruiting” riddle we’ve yet to adequately solve). Take a listen to Maile’s presser and try not to get TOO hyped because there are breakables nearby

The Broncos continued filling the house that Andy built by bringing on a new strength & conditioning coach after longtime Bronco S&C man Jeff Pitman followed Harsin to Auburn. Andy leveraged his time in Oregon to land Reid Kagy...a very swollen individual to put some good weight on the Broncos and help them lose the bad (oh, there will be slangin’ of weights as well). Here’s Kagy talking about how Boise State’s facilities are “on par” with those around the country

Hey, we gotta have some alums on staff though, right? RIGHT. Andy next announced the retention of both Winston Venable as running backs coach and Matt Miller as wide receivers coach. Both coached their first year for their alma maters last “season” and were deemed good cultural fits for the Broncos (obviously). Simple math would say that since we have a new OC (Tim Plough) and a new/old WRs coach, Eric Kiesau is probably not sticking around. No official word there yet, but it would certainly stand to reason.

Earlier today, Boise State announced the hiring of yet another Utah State non-holdover in Stacy Collins, who was co-DC a season ago at Utah State but will be the Broncos special teams coach and “EDGE” coach, which after a little digging was determined to be tantamount to the STUDs coach. Collins has a wealth of coaching experience and not only coach special teams at Utah State (where he coached a few all-conference performers) but also linebackers and the Aggie secondary.

It appears both Bronco secondary coaches from a season ago will not be returning (Jalil Brown and Gabe Franklin) and as much of a bummer as that is—Andy has his own vision and needs to have the autonomy to fill out his staff his way. And his way is a mix of experience and attitude. Speaking of which...KTVB just reported that Jeron Johnson will be returning to Boise State to coach cornerbacks...and whaaaaaaat? No big coaching experience, but that’ll be a crowd pleaser. “Showoff” redefined the “strong” part of “strong safety” during his time on The Blue and was a part of Seattle’s vaunted “Legion of Boom” defense (even got himself a ring). Andy’s not playing around, folks. If you forgot what Johnson was up to on The Blue, here’s a refresher

Let’s hope he’s not playing around with his O-line hire, either...because he’ll need to knock that one out of the park. No official hire announcement there, but there has been some buzz about UC Davis’s Tim Keane, who would round out “The Tims” with Mr. Plough.

Oh, and some of these new coaches were able to finally meet with their young wards and Andy wore a black BSU letterman’s jacket that would make the Fonz jealous. Ayyyyyyy.

Exciting times.