BY MIKE PRATER
@KTIK.COM
For 20 years, the most popular person in the Treasure Valley has always been the Boise State football coach.
Dirk Koetter.
Dan Hawkins.
And the most popular of all, the legendary Chris Petersen, who redefined the meaning of popular before breaking our hearts and moving to Seattle.
Those guys won a lot of games, a lot of championships and a lot of admiration.
So let’s turn our attention to current Boise State coach Bryan Harsin, a true local from Capital High who played a little quarterback for the Broncos back in the day.
Harsin grew up to be a coach, and returned to his alma mater to replace the irreplaceable Chris Petersen. Harsin has All-American looks, an All-American family, a growing resume and is the only millionaire on the State of Idaho payroll.
He’s won 40 of 52 games, two Mountain West division championships, one league title and is 2-1 in bowl games including a 2014 Fiesta Bowl victory.
His offenses average a solid 37 points a game, which is Job No. 2 at Boise State behind winning, and his Broncos will play for another Mountain West title against Fresno State on Saturday night at Albertsons Stadium.
Yet, these days, Harsin is hardly the big man on campus for a variety of reasons:
- He’s lost important games, and has been criticized for in-game strategies.
- He is businesslike, and he doesn’t have a monster personality.
- I’ve questioned his relationship-building skills.
- He’s lost a lot of assistant coaches.
- He’s recruited a lot of good players, but has lost many good ones, too.
- Mostly, his biggest problem is this: His quarterback isn’t Kellen Moore and his last name isn’t Petersen.
Bottom line: Harsin is a good coach having a good season with an incredibly young roster. He and his staff have magically juggled two quarterbacks and a long list of injuries, the defense and special teams are legit, and the Broncos are a constant Top 30 program playing for another championship.
Harsin needs to stop the continuous loss of assistant coaches and top recruits, and a little more consistency could lead to bigger bowl games. Otherwise, he just needs to keep coaching his butt off … because it’s working.
Since Harsin came to Boise State in 2014, only six major college programs have won at least 40 games: Big boys Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Oklahoma … and Boise State.
And Harsin is a bad coach, according to Internet Tough Guys and delusional fans?
Shut up, stop complaining, and enjoy the ride because this Boise State football coach is doing a perfectly fine job.
Mike Prater, editor of The Opinionator, co-hosts Idaho Sports Talk with Caves & Prater weekdays from 3-6 p.m. on KTIK 93.1 FM The Ticket and can be heard on Bronco GameNights after BSU football games on KBOI 670 AM and KTIK 93.1 FM. He can be reached at [email protected], and found @CavesandPrater(Facebook) and @MikeFPrater (Twitter).
