Chris Petersen: Boise State Coach Reportedly Agrees to New Contract

It looks like the Boise State football program will enter the Big East with the coach that got them there.

Chadd Cripe of the Idaho Statesman is reporting that Boise State and football coach Chris Petersen have agreed on a new five-year contract that will pay him over $2 million per year.

The report states that the school began negotiating the new deal “following this last season” and that the base compensation begins at $2 million.

Under his current contract he was scheduled to make $1.625 million in 2012.

Petersen’s name was mentioned in various coaching vacancies in the last month with the two most notable one’s being UCLA and Penn State.

The Bruins secured Jim Mora Jr., and the Nittany Lions are still on the hunt. They have been looking since the firing of Joe Paterno and can cross off Petersen’s name. It appears as if that is going to be an incredibly difficult position to fill.

After losing two games in the past two years with no BCS Bowls to show for it, many believed Petersen would want to coach a program that has a larger room for error.

Petersen has accumulated a 73-6 record in six seasons in charge of the Broncos with one BCS Bowl game to show for it.

His original contract when he replaced Dan Hawkins in 2006 was $500,000. His success has yielded an incredibly large pay day. If he does indeed sign the new deal, he will have received a new contract in 2007, 2010 and 2012 plus his contract was slightly upgraded in 2011.

That’s the cost to keep a highly coveted coach with a smaller school and it will be very interesting to see how the Broncos fare in the post Kellen Moore era. The Broncos will begin to play in the Big East in the 2013 where Petersen’s team will finally enjoy a margin for error in the regular season. The West Virginia Mountaineers won the league despite a 9-3 record. Boise State was 12-1 this season.

This is a big day for Boise State football.