CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch
Dirk Koetter, head coach at Boise State and Arizona State
Photo: Thomson200, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Dirk Koetter

Dirk Koetter went 66–⁠44 as a head coach, 1998–⁠2006, at Boise State and Arizona State.

Record
66–⁠44 career
Seasons
9
Schools
2
Final AP top 10
0 seasons
Best season
2004 9–⁠3, No. 19

Season by season

Wins and losses each seasonfinal AP rank above★ national titleline: the team’s Elo at season’s end, best 1644 in 2000
SeasonSchoolRecordConference finishBowlAP final
1998Boise State6–⁠54th
1999Boise State10–⁠31stHumanitarian Bowl W
2000Boise State10–⁠21stHumanitarian Bowl W
2001Arizona State4–⁠79th
2002Arizona State8–⁠63rdHoliday Bowl L
2003Arizona State5–⁠7T–8th
2004Arizona State9–⁠3T–3rdSun Bowl W19
2005Arizona State7–⁠54thInsight Bowl W
2006Arizona State7–⁠6T–5thHawai’i Bowl L

Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.

Players he coached

Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.

How his teams did

Kind of gameGamesRecord
Against ranked teams232–⁠21
Against top-10 teams131–⁠12
Against rivals117–⁠4
Conference games6533–⁠32
Bowls and playoffs64–⁠2
Decided by 8 points or fewer2917–⁠12
At home5843–⁠15
On the road4518–⁠27
At neutral sites75–⁠2
As our Elo’s favorite6653–⁠13
As our Elo’s underdog4413–⁠31

His own 110 games on file, 1998–⁠2006, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.

Against other head coaches

CoachRecordTheir schoolsGames
Mike Bellotti 2001–⁠20063–⁠3Oregon6
Pete Carroll 2001–⁠20060–⁠6USC6
Mike Price 1998–⁠20041–⁠4Washington State, UTEP5
Bill Doba 2003–⁠20063–⁠1Washington State4
Mike Riley 2003–⁠20062–⁠2Oregon State4
Karl Dorrell 2003–⁠20061–⁠3UCLA4
Jeff Tedford 2002–⁠20060–⁠4California4
Tony Samuel 1998–⁠20003–⁠0New Mexico State3
Tyrone Willingham 2001–⁠20062–⁠1Stanford, Washington3
Buddy Teevens 2002–⁠20042–⁠1Stanford3

Dirk Koetter’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.

Most-faced opponents

OpponentGamesRecord
Washington Stateseries83–⁠5
Arizonaseries64–⁠2
Oregon Stateseries64–⁠2
Stanfordseries63–⁠3
Oregonseries63–⁠3
UCLAseries61–⁠5
USCseries60–⁠6
Utah Stateseries44–⁠0

Career

YearsTeamJob
1983–⁠84Highland HS (ID) high schoolHead coach
1985San Francisco StateOffensive coordinator
1986–⁠88UTEPOffensive coordinator
1989–⁠93MissouriOffensive coordinator
1994–⁠95Boston CollegeOffensive coordinator
1996–⁠97OregonOffensive coordinator
1998–⁠2000Boise StateHead coach
2001–⁠06Arizona StateHead coach
2007–⁠11Jacksonville Jaguars NFLOffensive coordinator
2012–⁠14Atlanta Falcons NFLOffensive coordinator
2015Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFLOffensive coordinator
2016–⁠18Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFLHead coach
2019–⁠20Atlanta Falcons NFLOffensive coordinator
2022Boise StateOffensive analyst
2022Boise StateInterim offensive coordinator
2024Boise StateOffensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach
2025–presentBoise StateSenior analyst

Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.

Coaching tree

Worked under

Dirk Koetter

Assistants who became head coaches

Worked under (7)
Head coachTeamYearsHis job
Bob StullUTEP1986–⁠88Offensive coordinator
Bob StullMissouri1989–⁠93Offensive coordinator
Dan HenningBoston College1994–⁠95Offensive coordinator
Mike BellottiOregon1996–⁠97Offensive coordinator
Lovie SmithTampa Bay Buccaneers NFL2015Offensive coordinator
Dan QuinnAtlanta Falcons NFL2019–⁠20Offensive coordinator
Andy AvalosBoise State20222022: offensive analyst; 2022: interim offensive coordinator
Spencer DanielsonBoise State2024–⁠262024: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2025–⁠26: senior analyst
Coached under him, later head coaches (7)
CoachWith himHead coach at
Brent GuyBoise State, 1998–⁠2000: defensive coordinator; Arizona State, 2001–⁠04: defensive coordinatorUtah State
Dan HawkinsBoise State, 1998–⁠2000: offensive coordinator, tight ends and special teams coach and recruiting coordinatorBoise State, Colorado, Willamette, Montreal Alouettes, UC Davis
Mark HelfrichBoise State, 1998–⁠2000: quarterbacks coach; Arizona State, 2001–⁠02: quarterbacks coach; 2003–⁠05: passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coachOregon
Ron EnglishArizona State, 2001–⁠02: defensive backs coachEastern Michigan
Kevin RamseyArizona State, 2003: cornerbacks coachClark Atlanta
Jon EmbreeTampa Bay Buccaneers, 2016: tight ends coachColorado
Mark DuffnerTampa Bay Buccaneers, 2016–⁠17: linebackers coach; 2018: defensive coordinator and linebackers coachMaryland, Holy Cross
Other assistants under him (7)
CoachWith him
Jeff GrimesBoise State, 2000: offensive line coach; Arizona State, 2001–⁠03: offensive line coach and running game coordinator
Ted MonachinoBoise State, 2000: defensive line coach; Arizona State, 2001–⁠05: defensive line coach
Bill MillerArizona State, 2005–⁠06: defensive coordinator
Roy WittkeArizona State, 2006: offensive coordinator
Jon HokeTampa Bay Buccaneers, 2016–⁠18: defensive backs coach
Mike BajakianTampa Bay Buccaneers, 2016–⁠18: quarterbacks coach
Nate KaczorTampa Bay Buccaneers, 2016–⁠18: special teams coordinator

From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.

Pay

YearSchoolJobContract pay
2006Arizona Statehead coachbonuses up to $1,234,000$991,000 USA Today via Leeds

The same USA Today database for 2006–⁠16, from Michael Leeds’ replication data on Harvard Dataverse (CC0): the season’s contract pay.

Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.

How he coached

Koetter’s teams went for it on 20% of fourth downs and on 36% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 52% of plays and took 24.2 seconds a play, 2004–⁠2006.

SeasonWent for it on fourthWhen the model said goPass rateSeconds a playEPA a play
2004 11 g17 of 101 17%39%54%22.2−0.03
2005 12 g17 of 81 21%34%56%22.6+0.09
2006 12 g18 of 81 22%36%46%27.6−0.04
All 35 g52 of 263 20%36%52%24.2+0.01

His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.