Chris Petersen and Spencer Danielson talk each Sunday for an hour on Zoom. By then, there is much to chop up between the former Boise State coach (Petersen) and current Boise State coach (Danielson).
They talk ball, recruiting, work/life balance. Just two coaching bros. But it is much more of that. Petersen has chosen Danielson for this moment, in a way. "Coach Pete," the legendary boss who built Boise into a national brand, told CBS Sports he did not have a similar weekly arrangement with the twp Broncos coaches who followed him -- Bryan Harsin and Andy Avalos.
But when Danielson was named interim coach last season, one of his first initiatives was to reach out to Petersen. A relationship was formed.
"You're not going to get this job, so don't even think about it," Petersen advised Danielson. "If you're trying to position yourself for the job, I've seen it work so seldom. If you're about the kids and the coaches, good things happen. But when you try to become the head coach when you're not really the head coach, it just doesn't work.'
"You could tell right away, 'Oh yeah, I got you.'" Petersen continued.
Something clicked in that conversation. Twenty days after Danielson transitioned from defensive coordinator to interim coach in 2023, Boise won its first Mountain West title in four years. A day later, Danielson had the permanent gig at age 35.
The Danielson-Petersen association is a sidebar in the frantic finish to the season. Still, it is a powerful sidebar.
Danielson arrived at Boise from Azusa Pacific in 2017, hired as a grad assistant by Harsin.
"It was a grind, but it was an awesome experience," Danielson said. "I just married. I told her we were going to Boise and she cried. It wasn't happy tears. She thought I was taking her to Iraq … In that moment, it was hard.
"It was, 'Hey babe, we're going to go somewhere, make less money, work more hours and I might want to come back and get my same job at Azusa Pacific," he continued. "We needed to shoot our shot."
Danielson eventually moved up to coordinate the defense under Harsin and Avalos. When Avalos was let go last year following a 5-5 start, Danielson was given another, better shot.
Danielson was meeting with a recruit after a game when an assistant coach told him Avalos was gone. The new interim coach had an hour to gather his wits about him and address the team.
"We had two [regular-season] games promised to us," Danielson recalled. "I told them, 'Guys, I have no idea what's going to happen. But I'm asking for two weeks. I'm asking you [as] grown men that we finish what we start.
"Seeing those kids respond. Nobody went into the portal. Coaches focused. After the championship game, still not knowing if I was going to get the job," he added.
At the time, there was loads of support from the existing players. In a transitional moment, that can go one of two ways. The interim coach succeeds long term or is a temporary fix. The players -- who are pass-throughs anyway -- don't always know what's best and ultimately aren't accountable.
Danielson wisely called the coach who basically built this unique program in the city that used to be known chiefly as Idaho's state capital.
"Coach Pete, I need your help," Danielson told Petersen upon getting the full-time job. "I don't mean calling you every once in a while. I want you to be my mentor. I want to set up a strategic plan. [I want] that you are in my life. Once a week, we will talk."
That relationship is one of the many reasons behind Boise State being at a tipping point in its history this week. In his first full season, Danielson has led the Broncos back to the Mountain West Championship Game.
But it's more than that. It's an opportunity no Group of Five school has ever gotten. A win gets the Broncos into the College Football Playoff and perhaps a first-round bye. A win validates everything the school has done to get to this point.
All the suffering, all the politicking, all the barriers to college football's big time. It took a while -- decades, actually -- and it was all worth it.
The 14 seasons in the top 25, all since 2002. Dirk Koetter shepherding the program into Division I-A (now FBS) in 1998. Petersen losing only 12 times in eight seasons with "OKGs" – Our Kinda Guys.
The four top-10 finishes from 2006-2011. The Statue of Liberty play that beat Oklahoma in 2006.
All that was great. None of it allowed Boise State in college football's front door.
"I think it essentially will be a shift, be a change," said Boise's Heisman Trophy-chasing tailback Ashton Jeanty. "Naysayers, which there always are for a Group of Five team like us, [say] we can't match up against the powerhouses.
"But we are a powerhouse."
All these years, all the "almosts" have made it OK to say that this week in Boise. So has the expanded CFP, which allowed an automatic berth -- at least for this season and next -- for the five highest-ranked conferences.
No. 10 Boise, 11-1, is that team if it beats UNLV in the Mountain West title game. Boise's only loss is to No. 1 Oregon. Beat the Rebels for a second time this season and the Broncos are in.
If not, UNLV is. But with all due respect to the Rebels, the story is Boise. The CFP may be in upheaval, but there is a sense of entitlement, relief and certainty on the banks of the Boise River this week.
"I think there are a lot of programs that influenced [this moment] – Utah, TCU back in the day," Petersen said. "We were all good programs. People wanted to see more of those matchups. OK, let's give them a shot and see what it looks like.
"So now we're here."
Petersen helped Danielson shape his vision. Danielson brought back the 65-year-old Koetter as offensive coordinator. In the portal era, Danielson stressed player development. Not easy when larger programs are poaching Group of Five programs like vultures on road kill.
Somehow, it has worked to this point. Petersen passed through town this week in his role as a Fox analyst. Petersen's best teams actually had several NFL prospects. This one not so much. The image of quarterback Kellen Moore -- perhaps the best player in program history -- is plastered all over the facility.
Former quarterback Jared Zabransky was the one-time cover boy of 'EA Sports NCAA Football.' Jeanty may outdo them all. Danielson established a run-first offense to feature Jeanty, who had finished fifth nationally scoring 19 touchdowns a year ago. Jeanty now is on the brink of breaking Barry Sanders' single-season rushing record.
The tailback from Texas is 340 yards away from that mark of 2,628 yards. With 55 yards against UNLV, Jeanty will pass Marcus Allen for fourth on the single-season list.
"He constantly puts a defense in conflict," Danielson said. "As a defender you don't know how to take him. Do you slow your feet down for impact because he's going to run you over? If you do that, he's going to run around you. If you come in and shoot your shot on him, and you're high he's going to run through you like a fly on the windshield."
Given the current climate, Jeanty should be playing at some Power Four blueblood, convincing to enter and be swept out of the portal. The reasons for him staying seem almost hokey these days.
Given his talent, he could be a seven-figure player. Jeanty is getting something but it is significantly less than seven figures.
"I knew we'd be doing exactly what we're doing right now," he said. "I knew we'd be on track to win another championship, now with the landscape of college football being a playoff team making history.
"I wanted to become one of the best running backs not only in Boise State history, but in college football history," Jeanty added. "Legacy is what you do and how you leave a place. How you're talked about beyond your time there and how you changed that place for the better. That was the most important thing."
That legacy is being left right now. The Hawaii trip was outrageous with adoring (pushy) fans confronting him in the team hotel. They wanted to know all about the tailback who averages a first down every two carries. Moore texted. There was an extended conversation recently with Allen himself. Marshawn Lynch reached out.
Zabransky? Jeanty met the Boise quarterback great at a camp.
"I actually remember him racing a kid and he pulled a hamstring," the tailback said.
If there were more Jeantys around, perhaps Petersen would still be coaching. Coach Pete walked away from Washington in 2019 shortly before NIL hit.
But if Petersen was still around, Danielson wouldn't be. The middle ground is that weekly phone call.
The front door awaits.
