Boise State hires Avalos as its coach
Former Broncos’ star defensive coordinator at Oregon for two years
Andy Avalos is taking over as head coach at Boise State, returning to the school where he was a standout linebacker and defensive coordinator.
Avalos was announced Saturday as the replacement for Bryan Harsin, who left Boise State to take the head coaching position at Auburn just before Christmas.
The hiring of Avalos continues Boise State’s trend of keeping the job running the program within the Broncos’ family. Boise State has hired either an assistant within the program or a former player to run the show dating back to Dirk Koetter taking over in 1998.
Avalos played for the Broncos from 2001-05 and later returned as a defensive assistant and took over as defensive coordinator in 2016. For the past two seasons, he has been the defensive coordinator at Oregon.
“This is a dream come true, and a very humbling opportunity for myself and my family to be back in this program,” Avalos said in a statement. “I’m excited to get back around the players I have missed the last two years, and to provide an elite experience for all the young men in the Boise State football program.”
The Broncos job seemed to come down to which former Boise State connection would end up in charge — former quarterback Kellen Moore, Montana State coach Jeff Choate or Avalos. Moore has always seemed destined to be a head coach, but he withdrew from the process after signing a new contract to remain the offensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys.
After Moore withdrew, the decision for new Boise State athletic director Jeremiah Dickey came down to Avalos or Choate, a former assistant for the Broncos under Chris Petersen.
Florida: Florida announced the hiring of Wesley Mcgriff as its secondary coach Saturday, replacing two assistants coach Dan Mullen fired after the team’s worst defensive season in more than a hundred years. Mullen parted ways with secondary coaches Ron English and Torrian Gray last week.
Miami: Miami native Travaris Robinson is coming home. Robinson was hired Saturday as the new defensive backs coach at Miami. Robinson played at Auburn and spent the past decade in the SEC — coaching at Florida, Auburn and most recently South Carolina as defensive coordinator for five seasons.