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This Day In Sports…January 31, 2019:

Former Boise State great Kellen Moore, at the age of 29, becomes the youngest offensive coordinator in the NFL when he’s promoted by the Dallas Cowboys. Moore had just finished his playing career 13 months earlier and had spent the previous season as Dallas quarterbacks coach. He played in just three NFL games, but he was invaluable in game-planning, teaching and advising. Now, at the age of 36, he might become one of the NFL’s youngest head coaches, as he’s the odds-on favorite to be hired by the New Orleans Saints.

With that Cowboys announcement, we were already wondering if we’d ever see Moore wearing college colors again—Boise State or whatever. “Once upon a time, on a questionnaire before the annual Bronco Football Summer Softball game, Moore filled in a line about what his future job might be,” I wrote in my Scott Slant. “He simply answered it with, ‘Head coach, Boise State University.’ But unless he grows tired of the NFL culture at some point, his career is on a much different tack than we thought.”  

Dallas was betting big on Moore’s upside. The new quarterbacks coach working under him, Jon Kitna, was 46. Tight ends coach Doug Nussmeier, the former Idaho star, was 48. But the Cowboys had been approached by multiple teams for permission to speak to Moore about their O-coordinator positions, so Dallas had to make its move. Things went well that first year, as the Cowboys led the NFL with 6.5 yards per play and were second in the league with 297 passing yards per game.

Moore also had the full endorsement of Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott, who was going into his fourth NFL season. Boise’s Dave Southorn, then writing for The Athletic, penned a feature on Moore as the season was getting underway. “From the very beginning, when I first became a Cowboy, that was my job, to compete against Kellen Moore for the backup position,” said Prescott. “It was demoralizing to watch him anticipate throws and read the defense and see the defense as he did. It was tough; I didn’t like it. But I also admired that part of him and wanted to be that someday.” Prescott threw for 4,902 yards, accounted for 33 touchdowns, and completed 65 percent of his passes in 2019.

Of course, the honeymoon did not last. A faction of the Cowboys fan base constantly griped about Moore, and once Mike McCarthy became head coach, he wanted to call plays himself after two seasons working with Kellen. He and Dallas agreed to part ways two years ago, leading to one nondescript season as offensive coordinator for the L.A. Chargers. That staff was fired a year ago, and Moore was scooped up by the Philadelphia Eagles. And look at him now. He’s coaching in Super Bowl 59, and he appears to be on the cusp of the head coaching job with the Saints.

(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.)

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