Boise State Football: 7 Pieces of Advice We Want to Give Chris Petersen

You have no doubt heard the old adage, "what do you buy for the man who has everything?" Well, a similar question can be asked about the man who seems to be doing everything right.

What advice can you possibly share with a man like Chris Petersen?

Petersen himself would probably laugh at the idea that he "seems to be doing everything right," and he probably believes he has room to grow in many areas. To the naked eye, however, he seems to be at the top of his game, and he certainly doesn't need another voice sending advice in his direction.

Still, if that advice is valid, he may at the very least take the time to consider it, and if it is not valid he may at the very least get a good laugh.

But any guidance, help, assistance, recommendation, suggestion, counsel, exhortation, input, opinion, tip, admonition or advisement is probably going to be rooted in encouragement—encouragement to continue to do the things he is already doing.

He may not do everything right, but it is difficult to imagine a list of things he could do better.

Let's imagine one anyway.

Keep Having Fun

The first piece of advice we want to pass along to coach Pete is simple: keep having fun, coach.

Chris Petersen is the type of guy that loves a challenge. He seems to thrive on challenges. At Boise State, Petersen certainly has a cornucopia of challenges on his plate. If challenge is one of the spices in his perfect recipe for happiness, then Boise is the place to be.

Boise State will enter a new conference in 2013, when they join the Big East. It will be a step up in competition and exposure for the team and the school.

Bronco Stadium is being expanded, and will need even more expansion in coming years, and all of this bodes well for keeping coach Pete happy in Bronco land.

Of course, Chris Petersen doesn't base his true happiness on football related priorities. He is also a family man, and he keeps that a central point.

In a 2008 interview, Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com got the cool, calm and collected coach of the Broncos to open up a bit. Petersen shared about his family's difficult experience—one of his young sons was diagnosed with a brain tumor and related cancer.

It was an experience that brought his family closer, and one that gave coach Chris a perspective that few are ever blessed with.

In that interview, Petersen also talked about how he deals with the long season, and other things surrounding college football. His words are revealing.

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"Football coaches are so driven, sometimes it's easy to lose focus of that part of your life," Chris said. "It is for me when we get into that part of the season. There are blessings every week when I go home and see those guys. I don't take it for granted."

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Boise is a good place to raise a family, the Petersens seem to love it, and the city of Boise definitely loves them. Happiness is bigger than football, and Chris Petersen seems to have that perspective.

Keep on enjoying the blessings that each day bring, coach—on and off the field.

Keep Leading the Way

Another good bit of advice for Chris Petersen is the request that he keep leading the way. He has led the Broncos into an era of success and growth that few ever imagined. It isn't time to let up.

Coach Petersen was the architect of the biggest win in Boise State history, when they beat Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. However, that was only the beginning.

He has since led the Broncos into the Mountain West Conference and is preparing to lead them into the Big East Conference. The level of competition and recognition of the team's success are directly related to Petersen's leadership.

It has been exciting for all of college football to see what the Broncos have accomplished under Chris Petersen's direction. Even if some don't like the progress, they have to admit it isn't boring and it brings another bit of intrigue to the game.

Because of the team's success on the field, the university, the city, the state and the fans have all benefited greatly over the last decade. Most of that success, however, has occurred since 2006, which is when the Petersen era began.

Keep leading the way coach Chris, because all of Bronco Nation is following you.

Keep Finding OKGs

Boise State fans should be so thankful that coach Chris Petersen demands a certain type of recruit. They are sometimes called OKGs, or "Our Kind of Guys," and Boise State has a bunch of them.

Coach Petersen looks for young men of good character, solid academics and the right kind of motivation to play. It has been the right method for Boise State, and it should continue.

In his time, Petersen has utilized the efforts of his assistant coaches along with his own discerning ability, and has produced a crop of surprising talent from the two-star or no-star field. Some of those players, such as Doug Martin, Kyle Wilson and Shea McClellin have gone from overlooked prospect to first-round NFL draft pick under Petersen's leadership.

However, success isn't just measured by seeing Petersen's players picked to play in the pros.

One of the greatest measures of Petersen's success is probably the number of young men who come to Boise State and become part of something bigger than themselves. They earn an education and learn as part of a family to become the kind of men they only dreamed of being.

A good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit. It is a priceless lesson that many coaches overlook for the almighty win-loss record. Boise State fans can be thankful that coach Chris Petersen desires a good orchard.

Keep the standards high, coach Petersen, and keep picking your kind of guys.

Keep Picking Quality Assistant Coaches

He picks good players and he picks good coaches. His choices have benefited Boise State greatly and they should certainly continue. Of course, this is obvious advice, but there is nothing wrong with stating the obvious.

In this age of college football it is hard to keep head coaches, but it might be harder keeping assistant coaches. Coach Chris Petersen has seen his fair share of departing and arriving assistants during his tenure at Boise State.

Justin Wilcox left to run the defense at Tennessee in 2009 and has since moved to Washington to do the same for the Huskies. Bryan Harsin left to run the offense at Texas in 2011, and Brent Pease has now exited to run the offense at Florida. In each case the assistants, who coached under Petersen, took high level jobs, which is a tribute to the system coach Petersen has created.

Many other assistant coaches have also left along the way for jobs that were seen as promotions, and every time, coach Chris seems to do just fine replacing them.

This season, Robert Prince will be the offensive coordinator. Prince coached with the Broncos as an assistant when Petersen was the offensive coordinator under Dan Hawkins. He should be another fine mid-stream adjustment that pans out for Petersen.

As long as coach Petersen continues to use the same method he has been using for selecting assistant coaches, the Boise State legacy seems destined to continue.

Always Play Like the Underdog

During the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, coach Chris Petersen played it like an underdog should. He didn't hold anything back, and he played to win.

Some coaches find themselves in situations where they coach their team to not lose rather than to simply just win. Coach Petersen usually coaches his team to win. However, last season there may have been some of that "play not to lose" strategy going on.

During the TCU game of 2011, you had to wonder if Petersen would have opted to play for the field goal as the last drive of the game if the game were instead for the Fiesta Bowl win in 2006.

Would he have instead left the game in the capable hands of his excellent quarterback and surrounding offense?

The play calling on the last drive of that game seemed uncharacteristically conservative for Petersen. You wonder if he regrets the way it all played out. There are probably reasons for the choices that were made, reasons that can't be understood by the average spectator, but even still you wonder if more could have been done.

Chris Petersen has made his mark at Boise State by coaching the team that isn't afraid to let it all hang out. The Boise State Broncos have become famous for many things, but being conservative and playing to not lose are certainly not any of those things.

There is an old saying that goes, "dance with the one that brung ya." If we could give coach Pete any advice, it would be to do just that. Keep playing like the underdog and don't ever be afraid to take a chance.

The Grass Is Not Greener

Dan Hawkins learned it, and so did Houston Nutt and Dirk Koetter. All three of these former Boise State head coaches learned the hard way that the grass is not greener on the other side of the college football mountain.

Maybe it is because the turf is blue at BSU, or maybe its because of the difficult situations former coaches were put in. Whatever the reason, Boise State head coaches who went elsewhere have not done so well.

Chris Petersen is different in many ways, and there is no doubt he would probably have success at another program. However, as another cliché saying goes, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Petersen has the ideal situation in Boise.

Boise State University has a winning tradition in football. There is something in the water here that just makes it a football town. The city is a nice place to live and the university is very supportive of the football program.

Not only that, but the local media is very friendly and not overly intrusive. Coach Petersen is able to live a pretty normal, family-centric life in Boise.

Add to all of that the progress that has been made in so many areas and the ability of the school to pay him a reasonable and competitive salary, and there seems to be no reason for coach Petersen to ever depart.

He is building a legacy, and he could make it a very special legacy if he continues the work that he has started at Boise State University.

Oh Yeah, Just One More Thing...

One final piece of advice deserves one final cliché.

Have you ever heard the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words?"

Exactly...