3 Andy Avalos replacements to return Boise State to its former glory

2. Bryan Harsin needs a job, and he did have great success at Boise before

Who says you can't go home? After the unmitigated disaster that was his year-and-a-half run at Auburn, Bryan Harsin is in need of a job. He sat out the 2023 season to let some of that stink get off him. Not every program with an opening will want to hire him after how the Auburn ride crashed. Then again, he was the last coach at Boise State who had Boise State playing like Boise State should play.

Like Avalos after him, Harsin too is a Boise State alum. Just like Kellen Moore, Harsin was a former Broncos quarterback, albeit not on the College Football Hall of Fame level of Moore. After getting his first shot at being a college head coach at Arkansas State, Harsin took over for Chris Petersen in 2014. The Broncos went 69-19 overall under him, 45-8 in Mountain West play and 3-2 in bowl games.

Even if Harsin went an atrocious 9-12 (4-9) in parts of two seasons at Auburn, he won double-digit games five times in seven years at Boise. Outside of the COVID year where Boise State still went 5-2, he only had one season without getting to at least 10 victories on the year. That would be the 9-4 campaign of 2015 where they went 5-3 in conference play. They won the Group of Five the year prior.

Reaching into one's past is not always a good answer, but it might be a better one for ole Boise State.