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Boise State To Interview Four Candidates For Head Coach Opening
Broncos coaching search coming to an end?
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Two surprise candidates
Boise State is still in search of its next head coach and new athletics director Jeremiah Dickey said he is not going to put a timeline on when to hire the next Broncos coach.
However, that could be sooner than later as there are multiple reports that Boise State has as many as four interviews on the docket on Tuesday.
Football Scoop mentions three names in the mix. Two are obvious and one is a bit of surprise. Oregon defensive coordinator Andy Avalos and Montana State head coach Jeff Choate have been mentioned many times. Both coached at Boise State with Avalos being the defensive coordinator while on staff from 2012-18 and Choate coached linebackers and running backs between 2006-2011.
The surprise candidate is USC offensive coordinator Graham Harrell. Harrell might be a bit of a longshot as he is not withing the Broncos family. However, Boise State landing an interview with the USC offensive coordinator is a pretty big get and shows the magnitude of this job.
The offense Harrell runs is a bit more wide open and pass-happy and it has succeeded fairly well when he was at North Texas and now USC. This scheme differs a bit from Boise State which is a bit more balanced and has a strong history of a quality ground game by sending running backs to the NFL. Harrell’s rushing game history is not all that great at both of his last two stops but the differing scheme should not preclude him if he is the best man for the job.
The other way out there name is Florida offensive coordinator Brian Johnson.
This is a very unique hire. Johnson played his college football at Utah and was part of their 2004 and 2008 undefeated seasons with the latter being a dominant win with him under center defeating Alabama.
He has experience in the Mountain West as a player and he was quickly fast-tracked to be a quarterback coach and offensive coordinator for Utah in their early years in the Pac-12 but that did not go well.
Johnson then moved around to Mississippi State where he was the quarterback’s coach and coached Dak Prescott before being an offensive coordinator at Houston then back to the SEC following his former quarterback’s coach Dan Mullen to Florida where he started off as the quarterback coach but has been the offensive coordinator this year.
Florida’s offense was dreadful the year before Johnson arrived. In 2017, it was 13th in points per game and yards per play but it jumped up the following three years and is now second in scoring and yards per play.
Johnson would fit as an up and coming coach as he is just 33 years old. He is also a very good recruiter and mined Texas while at Utah and of course while at the University of Houston. He may not get the job but if the Broncos want an offensive-minded coach, Johnson might be the best of the group.
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