College football: Boise State, TCU now more than just brief stops for coaches

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Boise State and TCU used to be stepping stones for coaches.

They came, they won and they left for bigger, richer programs.

Those days may be over. As they prepare to meet in the Fiesta Bowl, Boise State and TCU have become destinations.

That much was clear on Friday, when the Broncos announced they had reached an agreement on a five-year contract with Chris Petersen — a deal that came a few weeks after TCU's Gary Patterson agreed to a contract that will keep him in Fort Worth through 2016.

"For me, we've built so much at our place in 12 years, I wouldn't be one of those wanting to turn it over to just anybody," Patterson said at Fiesta Bowl media day on Friday. "I've never said never, and I think Chris has been the same way. But in the same right, we like what we have."

Credit the BCS for helping change perception of both programs — and their coaching positions.

College football's controversial postseason scheme has been portrayed as unfair to those outside the six conferences with automatic bids and Notre Dame, and some have contended that the BCS has wrongly denied the sixth-ranked Broncos (13-0) and the third-rated Horned Frogs (12-0) a shot at the national title.

But the BCS has also helped turn Boise State and TCU into places that can attract, and keep, top-flight coaches.

Aside from money, the BCS has given both programs national exposure and access to recruits who once might have spurned them.

"I think one thing all coaches appreciate is really having a good chance to win," said Petersen, who is 48-4 at Boise State and has guided the Broncos into their second Fiesta Bowl in his four years at the helm.

In addition, both programs are often on national television, and both have benefitted from the 85-scholarship limit., which makes it harder for the sport's traditional powers to hoard talent.

"We do have some of those variables that, five or 10 years ago, we weren't able to talk about," Boise State athletic director Gene Bleymaier said.

That's a dramatic change from the days when both schools served as launching pads for coaches — some of whom found that life wasn't quite as good elsewhere.

"You can look at both programs: people that came there, built something and left," TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte said. "And now they're diminished or they're no longer in the business."