A year ago this week the Boise State Broncos were playing for an interim coach and had a 7-5 record.
They somehow qualified for the Mountain West Championship Game, where they topped UNLV 44-20 to win one of the most improbable conference titles of all-time. Going into week three of a national coaching search Alexander Teubner declared, arms wrapped around Spencer Danielson, “stop the search. It’s over.”
The search was over. Three days later Spencer Danielson would be named the 12th head coach in program history. Boise State had their man.
The players rallied around Danielson, but many fans weren’t convinced. Boise State hadn’t been ranked in four seasons and Danielson was a key member of those coaching units, specifically as the defensive coordinator of a defense that was the worst by SP+ standards in over a decade. Danielson had no experience as a head coach, hadn’t built a staff or led a recruiting team. Despite the three-week run to a Mountain West Championship, some wondered if Boise State made the right hire?
Danielson’s rise to Boise State head coach is almost too meteoric to believe. In 2011, he was a senior linebacker for then NAIA Azusa Pacific. In 2013, he was hired to be a graduate assistant (GA) for Azusa Pacific. In 2017, he was offered a GA position at Boise State’s staff.
I met Danielson for the first time at Tin Roof Tacos after a fall camp practice. We talked for 30 minutes or so about Boise, the team and his family. He finished his tacos, thanked me for the conversation and left. I went home and asked my roommate (a linebacker for Boise State at the time) about Danielson. He responded, “That guy’s going to be a head coach one day. I guarantee it. He’s special.”
As it turns out, he would be head coach just six years later. It’s a script Hollywood couldn’t write. GA’s don’t become Head Coaches in six years. Nick Saban waited 17 years to be a head coach after getting a GA gig at Kent State in 1973. It took Pete Carroll 21 years. Yet, on December 3, 2023, Danielson was named head coach of the Boise State Broncos.
One year later, the Broncos are 11-1 for the first time since 2019 and ranked 11th in the Nation, their highest ranking in 13 seasons. Boise State is in the middle of the college football ecosystem and Danielson deserves the credit. In just his first year as head man, Danielson has gotten Boise State back to the standard. There is no singular definition for the standard but Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said it best, “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it” and I think most fans would say this team passes the eye test.
Just two days after getting hired, Danielson secured his first win as Boise State’s head coach when all-world running back Ashton Jeanty announced he would forgo the transfer portal and return to play at Boise State. In interviews, Jeanty didn’t mince words “I wouldn’t be here if Coach D wasn’t here.” Since then, Ashton Jeanty has reeled off one of the greatest seasons in College Football History: 2,288 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns (so far), breaking every single season rushing record in Boise State’s history. With two games to go, there is a realistic chance that Ashton Jeanty breaks Barry Sanders’ NCAA single season rushing record of 2,628 yards.
Boise State doesn’t get this Jeanty season if Spencer Danielson doesn’t get hired.
Beyond his impact on Ashton Jeanty returning, Boise State saw an unusual amount of stability for a team losing their head coach. Boise State’s most recent opponent, Oregon State, saw 18 starters leave (via graduation or transfer portal) after Jonathan Smith left for the Michigan State job. The only starter Boise State lost last offseason was quarterback Taylen Green (Who I could argue was Maddux Madsen’s backup before Madsen’s injury). Most of those who returned will credit Danielson’s hire for why they returned for another year on the Blue. Danielson is quick to point out Boise State is a developmental program but added key transfers including leading receiver Cam Camper and starting defensive backs Jeremiah Earby and Davon Banks.
Four days after getting hired Danielson flipped 2024 recruit Sire Gaines, who looks like the future of the running back position for the Broncos. Beyond the players, Danielson nailed the coaching hires. Danielson chose to promote Erik Chinander to defensive coordinator who’s schemed up one of the best pass rushes in college football. In February, offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan left to take the Kentucky OC job. Danielson responded by coaxing Bronco legend Dirk Koetter out of retirement. Koetter hasn’t said it publicly but I’m sure Koetter isn’t coming back to work with an outside hire.
Danielson isn’t batting 1.000 as a head coach. No head coach does. However, Danielson has pressed enough of the right buttons to completely turn around the program in just 12 months. A year ago Boise State was in the middle of their worst season in 20 years and here they are, on the cusp of Boise State’s first playoff bid. This team has exceeded all expectations and should leave no doubt in the mind of Bronco Nation – Danielson was and is the right man to lead this program.
On Tuesday he’ll almost assuredly be named Mountain West Coach of the Year – something ironically Andy Avalos did in 2022 before being fired 11 months later. Even odder? Bryan Harsin never won Mountain West Coach of the Year in his seven years in Boise.
Danielson will be one for one. And it will be well deserved.
