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Coach Petersen receives award
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All season long Boise State Head Football Coach Chris Petersen deferred the accolades he received to his players and coaching staff. Time and time again the first-year coach told the media his role in the team’s success has been blown out of proportion. Spoken like a true gentleman, Coach Pete often attributes all of the Broncos’ success to an awesome university, dedicated players and assistants.
Petersen recently received another spot of recognition that he will no doubt downplay for the next eight months until football season. On Thursday, Jan. 11, Petersen was named National Coach of the Year at the Paul “Bear” Bryant College Football Awards Ceremony. In receiving the honor Petersen beat out Bret Bielema of University of Wisconsin, Lloyd Carr of University of Michigan, Greg Schiano of Rutgers University and Bob Stoops of University of Oklahoma.
After five seasons as the Broncos offensive coordinator Petersen took over the program in ‘06 and led BSU to a 13-0 record and a Tostitos Fiesta Bowl victory. The charismatic coach was recognized with some of the nation’s elite college football coaches for the Broncos success. Petersen has yet to lose as a head coach and broke into the history books with the undefeated season.
“The nice thing about it is, as good as it feels right now, you can just feel this thing continue to grow and get bigger and better,” Petersen said. “That comes directly as a result of our fan base. You can feel that growing.”
After defeating Oklahoma, Petersen officially secured his place as the second coach in college football history to go undefeated in his first season. The only other man to do so was the legendary Walter Camp in 1888. Following Camp’s coaching career he was honored with seven awards being named after him, including a player of the year and coach of the year award.
“I think things are changing around here for Boise State,” Petersen said. “In the past there’s been some guys up for awards, but we’ve never been able to land them because we’re just little old Boise State. Now I think people are starting to pay attention and say ‘these guys are for real’.”
This season Petersen’s competitors for the “Bear” Bryant Award presented extremely convincing cases on their own behalf. Greg Schiano was actually awarded the Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award after leading Rutgers from obscurity to the national spotlight. The Scarlet Knights finished the season 11-2 and ranked No. 16 in the final BCS poll.
Lloyd Carr coached the Michigan Wolverines within three points of a National Championship appearance in 2006. Michigan lost by a field goal to Ohio State at the end of the season, which would have placed them in the title game to face Florida. The Wolverines did lose in the Rose Bowl to Southern California, dropping their record to 11-2. Despite the bowl game blowout the Wolverines did remain at No. 3 in the BCS standings.
Bret Bielema took over a prestigious Wisconsin football program after long-time Head Coach Barry Alvarez retired last season. Wisconsin finished the 2006 season as one of the least talked about power programs in the country. The Badgers finished the year 12-1 and No. 7 in the BCS, one spot ahead of Boise State.
Rounding out the coaching nominees was Oklahoma’s own Bob Stoops. The Sooners fought through a last minute quarterback change to start the season and the loss of their star running back for half the year, still managing to win the Big 12 Conference Championship. The Sooners battled Boise State to a 43-42 loss in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, but even that couldn’t over shadow the job Stoops did in Norman this season.
Despite all the deserving coaches nominated in 2006-07, Coach Petersen solidified his name in college football history. Coach Petersen was also named the Region 4 Coach of the Year, despite being passed over by Hawaii Head Coach June Jones for Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors.
After Jones won the award Petersen did what only he could do – praise Jones for the season Hawaii had. Petersen said he agreed Jones was the right man for the award. Coach Pete may have brought a new look to the Boise State locker room but he kept the same playbook and most importantly, the same integrity.
Will Petersen ever lose? Most likely yes, but that is a question that won’t be answered at least for another eight months.
“We know what the bottom line is,” Petersen said. “It’s wins and losses. For us it’s focusing on the process and working our tail off from here on out until the start of next season. If we do that and just take care of practice, it’ll come out how it needs to.”
Jake Garcin
