3 Andy Avalos replacements to return Boise State to its former glory
By John Buhler
Hiring one of your own can be a double-edged sword. When it goes well, it adds to your legacy and you become a legend. Look no further than Kirby Smart at Georgia. Conversely, you can erode at the very fabric of the program you once starred for. Look no futher than Scott Frost coming back to Nebraska. Unfortunately, we experienced the latter with Andy Avalos at his alma mater of Boise State.
Avalos came back to Boise after having been Mario Cristobal's defensive coordinator at Oregon previously. He played for the Broncos from 2001 to 2004. While he originally returned to his alma mater in 2012 to be Chris Petersen's linebackers coach, later becoming Bryan Harsin's defensive coordinator in 2016 before heading to Oregon in 2019, Avalos' third stint in Boise did not go well at all.
Boise State decided to move on from him midway through his third season on the job. The Broncos were 5-5 on the season, but 4-2 in Mountain West play. They won 10 games a season ago after floundering at a 7-5 mark in his first season on the job in 2021. Simply, being middle of the pack in the Mountain West is not good enough for one of the original BCS busters. Something had to change...
So with Avalos out at Boise State, here are a few candidates to potentially replace him next season.
Andy Avalos fired: 3 replacements for former Boise State head coach
3. Kellen Moore is a Boise State legend, but he is coaching in the NFL...
When Bryan Harsin left Boise State for Auburn ahead of the 2021 college football season, everybody and their brother thought Broncos legendary quarterback Kellen Moore would be coming back home to Boise. He was the Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator then. After parting ways with Dallas after a second-straight playoff catastrophe, Moore finds himself employed by the Los Angeles Chargers.
Although Moore's coaching stock has taken a hit after what was Ezekiel Elliott's final play in a Cowboys uniform, there is still a chance he could be promoted from within if Bolts head coach Brandon Staley fails. Staley probably will, but even if Moore was a great internal candidate, there are no guarantees Dean Spanos will want to pay him the big bucks to be the next face of the Chargers.
Because he has made it a point to be an NFL coach over a college one, I think it would have to take the right situation and circumstance for Moore to leave his current level of football. However, we did see Jim Harbaugh leave the San Francisco 49ers to return to his alma mater of Michigan not all that long ago. Moore could be the sexy hire for Boise State, but I have a hard time of seeing this happen.
Moore could at the very least kick the tires and see if he wants to come back to the college game.