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Chris Petersen’s departure for Washington closes the door on his legacy at Boise State. But it opens up another door for the Broncos’ new head coach Bryan Harsin to continue his. It is being widely reported that the former Boise State offensive coordinator and present head coach of Arkansas State will take the head coaching position.
Bryan Harsin is taking the #BoiseState job, source tells cbs.
— Bruce Feldman (@BFeldmanCBS) December 11, 2013
Harsin comes back to the Broncos with a lot of positive attributes and a long history with Boise State. He is a home-grown product who grew up and attended school in the area.
Harsin played football for the Broncos from 1995-1999. After a short coaching stint with Eastern Oregon University, Harsin returned to the Broncos in 2001 as a graduate assistant. A year later Dan Hawkins appointed him as the tight ends coach and in 2006, Chris Petersen named Harsin as his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. During his tenure with the Broncos Harsin's offenses twice led the nation in scoring and were rated among the top 10 scoring offenses in the country.
He was 61-5 at Boise State with two Fiesta Bowl victories ( Oklahoma, 2007 and TCU, 2010). The trick plays and unique formations Boise State was noted for came largely from Harsin’s own playbook. In 2011, Harsin took his show to the University of Texas and served two years as co-offensive coordinator for the Longhorns. In December, 2013, he took over as head coach for Arkansas State. In his first season as head coach of the Red Wolves, he went 7-5 and garnered a bowl spot in the GoDaddy.com Bowl in Mobile.
Harsin has a large buyout clause in his Arkansas State contract worth $1.75 million, but no word yet on how that might be handled. Sources indicate that $750,000 of that figure could come from Chris Petersen’s buyout, along with savings from a lower starting salary.
