Boise State assistant named IU offensive coordinator

Brent Pease and Kevin Wilson stood on opposite sidelines during the 2007 Fiesta Bowl when Pease’s Boise State team upset Wilson and the Oklahoma Sooners.

But next season, the two coaches will be standing together as they try to revive the IU football program.

Wilson announced on Thursday that Pease will be the team’s new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Pease was most recently the wide receivers coach at Boise State for the last five seasons and has served as an assistant coach for the last four years. Although Pease is coming off a season-long national championship hunt at Boise State, there were multiple aspects that attracted him to IU.

“I met with coach Crean, coach (Tracy Smith) and what they had to say about (IU Athletic Director Fred Glass), the kids, the area and coach Wilson made me think that this is a good opportunity,” Pease said. “I would love to just be one of the pieces of the puzzle that makes this whole thing work.”

Pease’s coaching resume dates back 20 years when he started out as an assistant coach in 1991 at his alma mater, Montana. In 1995, Pease helped coach the Grizzlies to a Division I-AA national championship.

After coaching eight years at Montana, Pease had stints at Northern Arizona, Kentucky and Baylor before reaching Boise State in 2006.

The newly-hired Pease helped lead the Broncos to a bowl game in all five of his seasons at Boise State. The Broncos were ranked fourth in total offense in the Football Bowl Subdivision this season, compared to the 54th ranked IU offense that Pease will inherit.

Having coached a couple of the top offenses in college football at Boise State and Oklahoma, the duo of Pease and Wilson gives IU two offensive minds with proven success on the national level.

Pease already liked what he saw from Wilson.

“I really think he has a plan,” Pease said. “I really think he’s zeroed in on what he wants to do, how he wants to work and what kind of kid he wants to get. That’s what I really liked about him.”

In addition to the change of title from wide receivers coach to offensive coordinator, Pease will also have to adjust to going from a national title contender to a last-place Big Ten team. Pease’s Boise State teams were 61-5 while the Hoosiers were 24-35 during that five-year stretch.

But Pease believes that this program has the pieces in place to improve on that 24-35 record over the next five years.

“I think that we’re on the verge of being close,” Pease said. “You have to change the culture a little bit and make these kids understand working hard and teach them what it takes to win.”