Poor Arkansas State. If all of the reports that are flooding in are accurate, the Sun Belt program will be looking for its fourth head the past four years.
Multiple media outlets are reporting Wednesday morning that Bryan Harsin is set to leave the Red Wolves and take over as the head coach at Boise State. Harsin would, of course, replace Chris Petersen, who left the Broncos earlier this week for Washington.
An ASU official stated that a press release regarding Harsin and his future at the school would be released later today. Harsin reportedly has a $1.75 million buyout built into his ASU deal, which will be paid by Boise.
The move would serve as a homecoming for Harsin, who was a Broncos assistant from 2001-10 and played his college football at the school prior to that. From 2006-10, he served as Petersen’s offensive coordinator.
Former BSU head coach Dirk Koetter and former BSU defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox were also considered top targets in the search.
Harsin had replaced Gus Malzahn at Arkansas State when the latter left after one season for the Auburn job. Malzahn, in turn, had replaced Hugh Freeze, who left Jonesboro after one season for Ole Miss. Add in Steve Roberts, who “resigned” following the 2010 season, and fifth-year Red Wolves seniors in 2014 will have had five different head coaches during their time with the program.
UPDATED 12:06 p.m. ET: Both Arkansas State and Boise State have confirmed that Bryan Harsin has been named as the Broncos new head coach.