Boise State’s Dirk Koetter retires, discusses college football’s growing NIL issues

Boise State offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter announced his retirement from coaching on Thursday night, after completing one season in the role that saw the Broncos shine offensively. He will remain with the program in a senior analyst role.

Koetter came back to coaching to help first-year coach Spencer Danielson and helped guide a team that finished the season 12-2, winning a Mountain West championship and earning the No. 3 seed and a bye in the College Football Playoff.

“As I step away (again) after 42 years of coaching at every level, I have a few things I want to get off my chest,” Koetter wrote in a Facebook post.

The typically stoic coach then shared his thoughts on the new landscape of college football, thanked Boise State fans for traveling to the Fiesta Bowl, and discussed how schools are offering recruits “2 to 10 times” more money in Name, Image, and Likeness than Boise State could afford.

“College football is changing rapidly, and maybe not for the better,” Koetter wrote. “Conference realignment, roster limitations, transfer portal, NIL, lack of a governing body with any power are all issues that have to be dealt with.”

He praised the Boise State program’s progress in recent years. The Bleymaier football complex, on the north side of Albertsons Stadium, was built in 2013 and houses the program’s team and office operations. He also mentioned the North End Zone Project, which began construction on Thursday and will add up to 1,600 seats to Albertsons Stadium.

But Koetter then said Boise State is “behind right now” in the NIL game. NIL is the legal ability for college athletes to earn money from their name, image, and likeness, such as in advertisements and video games.

“Our best players are getting offered between 2 and 10 times what we can offer,” Koetter wrote. “We are losing recruits in the portal to schools that are just flat outbidding us. I know it’s not all about the money, and Coach D and staff will undoubtedly continue to find the ‘right kind of guys,’ but money is an issue.”

Junior running back Ashton Jeanty was reportedly offered big-money deals from SEC and Big Ten schools after his sophomore year, according to CBS Sports. Jeanty finished runner-up in Heisman Trophy voting and finished the season just 28 yards away from breaking Barry Sanders’ single-season rushing record.

Koetter also said that head coach Spencer Danielson and athletic director Jeramiah Dickey are “two incredible leaders” and “the right men for the job at hand.”

Danielson, who just finished his first full season as a head coach, said earlier this season he’d love for Koetter to return as offensive coordinator in 2025, but it wasn’t really expected that Koetter would continue in the role.

The Broncos now will look for their fifth permanent offensive coordinator hire since 2020. Koetter served as the Broncos’ offensive coordinator in 2022 after Tim Plough was fired, then took the job permanently in 2024 under Danielson after former OC Bush Hamden left for the same job at Kentucky.

Koetter, a Pocatello native, previously served as the Broncos head coach from 1998 to 2000. He finished with an overall record of 26-10 as head coach and won two Humanitarian Bowls. He later went on to coach in the NFL as an offensive coordinator for multiple organizations, and as the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2016 to 2018.