BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
Before he was named Boise State’s offensive coordinator, Dirk Koetter was advising Bronco coach Spencer Danielson on who to hire for the position.
From the beginning, Danielson considered the former Boise State and NFL head coach a candidate and asked him multiple times throughout the process to consider coming out of retirement to coach one more year. Eventually, he agreed.
“Man, Coach Danielson’s a good salesman,” Koetter said.
Koetter spoke to the media Thursday for the first time since he was announced as Boise State’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach last week. Boise State was holding preview press conferences for its spring practices, which begin Monday.
Koetter spent the last year in retirement after taking interim offensive coordinator duties for the Broncos during the 2022 season. Prior to that he had been the Broncos’ head coach from 1998-2000 before head coaching stops at Arizona State and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as well as multiple other NFL offensive coordinator stops.
“I believe in Coach Koetter, I believe in who he is as a football coach and even more as a mentor for these young players,” said Danielson. “I came to him and said, ‘Coach Koetter, this is the best thing for this place.’ Not even just for this season, but his development of our offensive staff and his development of our players for the future.”
When he was named interim OC in 2022, after previously serving as an offensive analyst, Koetter agreed to do it just for the remainder of that season, helping the Broncos navigate after the firing of Tim Plough and the transfer of quarterback Hank Bachmeier.
He helped Boise State get to a Mountain West title game and win the Frisco Bowl before deciding to hang up the whistle.
“I had no plans to do it,” Koetter said about coming out of retirement. “I had plenty of other opportunities to, but not in this city.”
But things changed when Bush Hamdan, who was hired to take over as offensive coordinator, left for the same position at Kentucky last month.
With Koetter still in Boise and around the program, Danielson would bounce ideas off of him and get his opinions on certain candidates. Ideally, Danielson said, the Broncos would promote someone within the staff to that position to help with the continuity of the offense. But there wasn’t anyone quite ready to take that role yet.
That’s where Koetter comes in. He signed a one-year contract with the hopes that Boise State can find a more permanent offensive coordinator before the 2025 season. Koetter said during his press conference this was a “short-term commitment.”
“I wanted to take a lot of the gray out of the situation,” Danielson said. “Right now Coach Koetter is our offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for one year. He’s going to develop our offensive staff and players and push it for the future. Whatever happens at the end of the season, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. But I know we’re going to stay true to us in regards to offensively, what we do.”
Koetter praised the list of candidates Danielson had for the position and said there were several good candidates on the list. But Danielson knew exactly what he wanted in the hire. Koetter fit all those boxes, so Danielson continued to inquire about if he would take the job.
Koetter said seeing the direction the program was going and what Danielson was doing since being hired as head coach in December eventually swayed him to a yes.
“Spencer’s been making a lot of good moves since he took over,” Koetter said. “My respect for the Boise State program and the tradition of it, that’s a part of my life forever. I’ve worked with three of the four full-time offensive coaches. They have a really good offensive staff here, a good coaching staff, in general. So, I knew I could work seamlessly coming back.”
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
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