Next up: Chris Petersen. An up and coming coach out west, Petersen has led the perennial BCS buster and WAC champion Boise State Broncos since 2006. He was contacted this past offseason by USC become Pete Carroll’s replacement, but didn’t seem interested in the big lights and glory of the Trojans.
Ties to Michigan/Big Ten
Sorry folks, there aren’t a lot here. The closest thing came in 1992, when he was Pitt’s QB coach for a season. Other than that, he’s been a West Coast guy from birth.
Coaching Career
After playing quarterback at UC Davis in the 80s, Petersen bounced around from 1987-94 with a number of offensive coaching positions. In 1995, he accepted a position to coach Oregon’s wide receivers. He stayed in that position until 2001, when he was hired as Boise State’s offensive coordinator on Dan Hawkins’ staff. When Hawkins left to coach at Colorado, Petersen took over as the Bronco’s head coach. In 5 years, Hawkins led BSU to a 53-11 (.828) record, going 2-2 in bowls. There was a fear there would be a drop off under Petersen.
Since then, the Broncos have gone 49-4 (.924), winning two BCS bowls in four years. Petersen’s lost a single conference game in his tenure, to a Hawaii team in 2007 that went to a BCS bowl. Twice, Boise’s gone undefeated and reached the Fiesta Bowl, where they beat Oklahoma in 2006 and TCU in 2009. Thanks to Petersen’s successes, Boise was invited and accepted a bid to join the Mountain West Conference, set to start in the 2011 season. Furthermore, the Broncos are preseason ranked 3rd in the AP poll and 5th in the coaches’ poll, in striking distance of a possible BCS championship game berth if they go undefeated.
Outlook
Much has been said about Boise State in recent year, but precious little has been said about Petersen, who prefers it that way. A low key guy, he doesn’t seem to be interested in moving onto a major program where he’d be in the spotlight. All signs point to him being happy as a Blue Turfer, where he’s a perfect fit. This doesn’t bode well for him becoming a successful Wolverine, as there is a lot of media attention placed on our football coach (Eh, RichRod?)
Dirk Koetter and Dan Hawkins, the two coaches preceding Petersen at Boise St went a combined 79-21, before going onto Arizona State and Colorado, respectively. While Koetter kept his program over .500 in his six seasons (40-34), Hawkins has been an abject failure (16-33). If buying out his contract wouldn’t cost the athletic department so much, Colorado would have fired him already. With such failure preceding him, Petersen might be best off staying put a bit longer, at least until he can build the program into the MWC’s strongest and get into a BCS championship game.
Furthermore, his lack of Big Ten experience could be troublesome, as you have to think Dave Brandon and company would have to be looking for someone who has some track record in conference. Although his players have said he gets them up for every game as a big game—“Utah State or Oklahoma … they’re going to get the same amount of focus and attention.” (Tight end Richie Brockel, Jason King’s Nov. article last year)—he hasn’t shown he can compete week in and week out in a difficult conference like the Big Ten. While the Idaho-Boise rivalry is major for them, and I won’t doubt the fervor, few things match The Game. Furthermore, BSU’s won 11 straight games and lead the series 21-17-3.
All in all, I think Petersen’s going to stick to the Blue Turf in 2011, at least for another year.
