How Chris Petersen is influencing Kirby Moore's rebuild at Washington State

Washington State head coach Kirby Moore has been around a bevy of great football coaches, whether they were leading a program or serving as support assistants.

His father, Tom, is a WIAA Hall of Famer for what he accomplished at Prosser High School. Both Kellen and Kirby played for him.

Then you look at all the accomplished coaches he has worked under at the FBS level - Jeff Tedford and Kalen DeBoer at Fresno State, and Eli Drinkwitz at Missouri - and you know he’s been counseled the right way.

But there is one man who carries more weight than anybody - one who coached Moore when he was a wide receiver at Boise State, then hired him to be an assistant at the University of Washington.

It is Chris Petersen, recent College Football Hall of Fame inductee.

Nov 8, 2019; Corvallis, OR, USA; Washington Huskies head coach Chris Petersen walks the sidelines during the first half against the Oregon State Beavers at Reser Stadium. | USA TODAY Sports

Petersen retired from coaching and now sits in the Fox Sports studio as a college football analyst. Behind the scenes, he still serves as a fatherly mentor to former players who have entered the business - or, quite frankly, anybody who reaches out for advice.

And although Moore doesn’t frequently visit with his former coach - and boss - when it comes to important decisions made in this profession, chances are the two will have a chat.

How Chris Petersen shaped Kirby Moore's coaching career

Their relationship began when Moore arrived at Boise State as a player in 2009, joining his brother, Kellen, who was the star quarterback.

Moore naturally gravitated toward Petersen first because he is a “receiver guy” and mastered the technical side of playing the position.

“I wasn’t the fastest guy, so from that standpoint, he was probably very technical with that position - and his eyes kind of started there,” Moore said. “We had a lot of dialogue from that standpoint, and that is why I was able to play to the level I was … (what was going on) above the neck.”

Moore had a solid career at Boise State, catching 115 passes for 1,137 yards and six touchdowns before a serious foot injury wiped out the second half of his redshirt senior season in 2013.

Instead, Moore turned to helping out the coaching staff, calling it a “precursor” to his start as an assistant coach for various programs.

“My way to stay involved was I had a headset, and was part of hearing dialogue between coaches, the signals and everything that comes with that,” Moore said.

After a year off, Moore was invited to join Petersen at his new school - the University of Washington - as a graduate assistant.

There, he broadened his knowledge base in coaching the technical side of playing receiver. Equally important, he gained a view of how to establish a new culture at an established but middling program.

“I just had so much appreciation for him because it wasn’t a carbon copy (culture implementation),” Moore said. “He had to create a whole new culture, a whole new environment in Seattle - and it didn’t happen overnight.”

It wasn’t until the final few weeks when the Huskies began playing good football, winning their final three games, including a 44-31 victory over Southern Mississippi in the Dallas Bowl, to finish 7-6.

“A lot of bumps - and passion and persistence to find a way,” Moore said. “In 2016, we took off.”

The Chris Petersen lessons Kirby Moore is bringing to Washington State

That would be the final season the two worked together. But a decade later, as Moore tackles a heavy retooling at WSU, he has incorporated a few critical tenets from what he learned from Petersen into what he is doing in Pullman.

Included in that is in-depth teaching, holding players accountable, attention to detail and yes, even not giving very much insight to local media.

“We are teachers first, and everything starts in the classroom,” Moore said. “Obviously we are judged between the lines (with wins), but at the same time, we are with our players so much more in the meeting room, and walkthrough space … making sure we are very descriptive in our teaching.”

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