Every once in a while, Boise State is reminded of its standing in college football. Often when it comes to the coaching carousel.
Dan Hawkins left for Colorado. Chris Petersen left for Washington. Bryan Harsin bolted for Auburn. If bigger schools want what Boise State has, often times it only has to open its check book. That goes for assistant coaches, too.
Last year, special teams coordinator and EDGE coach Stacy Collins left for Penn State. Less than a month ago, Boise State defensive line coach Frank Maile, who was making $270,000 at BSU, packed his bags to be the EDGE coach at Washington State.
And on Friday, it was announced running backs coach Keith Bhonapha was leaving Boise State for the same job at Oregon State, where he’ll likely garner a substantial raise.
Bhonapha, who joined Andy Avalos’ staff last offseason after eight years as an assistant at Washington, was slated to make $320,000 in 2023 and $340,000 in 2023.
Last season, Boise State paid Bhonapha just $125,000 while Washington supplemented a large chunk of his salary.
The departure severally hurts Boise State. In his one season back in the Treasure Valley (Bhonapha coached under Petersen from 2009-13), he had assembled arguably the best running back room in the Mountain West, if not the entire region.
George Holani is coming back for his redshirt senior after galloping for nearly 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns last year. So is Ashton Jeanty, who burst on the scene as a freshman last season, running for 845 yards. Then there’s highly touted recruit Breezy Dubar, who recently signed with Boise State, in large part, because of Bhonapha.
After news broke Bhonapha was headed west, Dubar tweeted: “Feelings ain’t changed #BleedBlue.”
It seems like Boise State’s running back room will stay in tact without Bhonapha, which is a good sign. But how good it will be without him will be interesting. Bhonapha has been touted as a detailed-oriented coach who has developed kids at every stop — on top of his acumen on the recruiting trail.
At Oregon State, he’ll get to work with sophomore Damien Martinez, a bruising 6-foot, 216-pound tailback who ran for nearly 1,000 yards as a freshman. Martinez is good friends with Boise State quarterback Taylen Green, the pair having played together at Lewisville High School.
So, it’s safe to say there will be a lot of familiar faces on the sideline when Oregon State plays on The Blue in 2024.
Until then, Avalos will have to replace his third assistant this offseason.
He filled Maile’s role with former Nebraska defensive coordinator Erik Chinander. He replaced EDGE coach Kelly Poppinga, who bolted to his alma mater, BYU, with former BSU star and graduate assistant Jabril Frazier.
