BOISE -- In a recent visit to Boise State, Broncos coach Chris Petersen looked much as he does on the Boise State sideline: buttoned-down and straight-laced, more Merrill Lynch than Rex Ryan.

It's not the whole story.

"The biggest practical joker on our staff," former Oregon coach Mike Bellotti says of Petersen's six-year run as the Ducks' receivers coach.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo coach Tim Walsh laughs.

Petersen worked for Walsh in 1993 and 1994, Walsh's first two seasons as Portland State football coach. Petersen came west from Pitt, where he had been quarterbacks coach.

"The thing about Chris, you listen to him talk and you think he's a pretty serious guy," Walsh says. "But he has a tremendous personality. He did some things and had some fun along the way. It's not all Xs and Os."

Well, there are plenty of "Ws" too.

If Bellotti and Walsh beg off on the details of the madcap side of Petersen's personality, some things can't be hidden.

With his 73-6 record in seven seasons in charge at Boise State, Petersen is college football's most coveted commodity. When the annual firing-hiring season begins in December, Petersen's name seemingly appears on the short list of every coach-hunting athletic director in the land.

Petersen hasn't budged, hasn't been interested, apparently never has officially interviewed. And, yet there are many who believe it would be different if Chip Kelly leaves Oregon --

-- and the Ducks turn in Petersen's direction.

Petersen speaks fondly of his time in Oregon. He is well-remembered. He not only left them laughing in the Willamette Valley, he also left an impression.

Petersen sees the Oregon question coming. He braces for it, response prepared.

"I live this job year-to-year, because that is just how hard this job is," he says. "We really like it here. Until that changes, we don't really see anything else changing. I always tell our recruits this: There is not another job out there in the country that I go, 'Oh if that thing opens, that's the job I want.' I don't think like that. I don't have that place."

Kelly reportedly told Oregon recruits this year that

through their senior seasons. Oregon State coach Mike Riley once left Corvallis for the NFL. Petersen is more unconventional, less predictable.

When Paul Hackett and his staff were fired at Pitt in 1993, Petersen accepted Walsh's offer at Division II Portland State. Some young coaches might have viewed that as a turn in the wrong direction on the career track.

"Didn't bother me at all," Petersen says. "Not at all. Not even kind of. None of that stuff -- the size of the stadium, the league you play in --ever has had an effect on me."

Maybe it's because Petersen played quarterback on the Division II level at UC Davis, where he laughingly says football players shared locker space with the swim team.

He had grandparents and an aunt in Portland. Coming to work on the Park Blocks was a chance to live on the West Coast, near family.

"I loved it at Portland State," he says.

And Walsh loved him. He remembers Petersen walking into the PSU coaching offices looking like one of the players. Or, God forbid, one of the managers.

Walsh knew better. He coached against UC Davis when Petersen was lighting it up for the Aggies. It didn't take the PSU players long to gravitate to him too.

"He was magnetic," Walsh says. "It was a slam dunk that he was going to be great head coach."

First there was a six-year stop as receivers coach in Eugene, where Petersen apprenticed under Bellotti and a rock star group of offensive coordinators, including Al Borges, Dirk Koetter and Jeff Tedford.

"It was awesome," Petersen says.

Bellotti remembers his receivers coach occasionally trying to hijack the offense.

"He was like the mad scientist in the corner, drawing up new exotic plays," Bellotti says. "We call them 'alumni plays.'"

You know, a double reverse, tight end screen.

Or, a goal-line statue of liberty.

Some found their way into the UO playbook, as the Ducks tinkered with multiple-receiver packages to go with what then was a more of conventional pro attack.

Ultimately, Petersen wanted to coordinate his own offense.

"I'm sure he would say a ton of good things about Mike Bellotti and the coordinators who were hired above him, and I will too," Walsh says. "But I had several conversations with Mike about it. I told him, 'You can only bypass this guy so many times before somebody else snaps him up.'"

That somebody was Boise State coach Dan Hawkins, who brought in Petersen as offensive coordinator in 2001. Five years later, Hawkins left for Colorado and Petersen ascended.

The rest is football history, with Petersen taking the Broncos to unbeaten seasons in 2006 and 2009 that included Fiesta Bowl victories over Oklahoma and TCU respectively.

Now it's become a rite of December, as the power programs with coaching vacancies come calling in the apparent belief that Petersen is waiting for only their offers.

and

empty-handed.

Maybe they didn't notice that Petersen has put down roots. His two school-age sons have grown up in Boise. They like living there.

"It's your life," Petersen says "That's something I think people forget. Your life goes by while so many people are looking for the next thing. Then, all of a sudden they look back, and it's like where did that go?"

This winter, Boise State rewrote Petersen's contract, handing him a

The school soon will begin construction of a

ncluding a locker room, weight room, a hydrotherapy area, meeting rooms, coaches offices, study areas and a recruiting lounge.

Petersen and his wife, Barbara, have given $150,000 toward the construction of a building for the Boise State College of Business and Economics.

None of this comfortably plays into the theory that Petersen would drop everything if the Ducks beckon, no matter how much he liked his formative eight years at PSU and Oregon.

Bellotti, who served briefly as Oregon's athletic director, remembers once sounding out Petersen on the subject. Bellotti left thinking: "Maybe."

"He really loves Boise, loves the area, loves the balance between the university and community, " Bellotti says. "He loves the weather. He loves everything. If he considers Oregon, it wouldn't be a slam dunk."

But it might not be courteous "no thanks" either.

Petersen won't completely close the door.

"I'm at the place I want to be," he says. "But that being said, you always hear these coaches say, 'I'm staying here forever.' And the next year they're out. I think they really believe it at the time.

"But things change."

Ken Goe: 503-221-8040;