Arkansas State’s Harsin Accepts HC Position At Boise State
Arkansas State will be playing in the GoDaddy Bowl for the third consecutive season and also for the third consecutive season they have lost their head football coach to another program.
Former Red Wolves head coach Bryan Harsin has accepted the offer to become the head football coach at Boise State, the position that came open when Chris Peterson left for the head coaching position at Washington State. The announcement was made Wednesday morning.
Harsin when 7-5 last season in his first season as a head coach with the Red Wolves. He is returning to a familiar place as he was quarterback for the Broncos from 1995-1999. He began his coaching career at Eastern Oregon University where he coached running backs and quarterbacks in 2000. In 2001 he returned to Boise State as a graduate assistant. In 2002 he was hired as tight ends coach and stayed in that position until 2005 until he was promoted to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2006, in which he guided the offense to an undefeated season. In 2008 he guided freshman Kellen Moore to the WAC freshman of the year while setting freshman records for completion percentage with 69.4%. He had a 61-5 record as offensive coordinator with the Broncos with two Fiesta Bowl victories over Oklahoma and TCU.
In 2011 Harsin joined Mack Brown’s staff as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach with Major Applewhite as his co-offensive coordinator. He accepted the head coaching position with Arkansas State after the 2012 season.
Arkansas State lost first year head coach Gus Malzahn to the head coaching position at Auburn University last year. Prior to that, they lost their first year head coach, Hugh Freeze, to Ole Miss in 2011.