Inside The Huskies

Ex-UW RB Coach Bhonapha Leaves Boise State for Oregon State

He'll face the Huskies in November now rather than September.

Dan Raley

In this story:

Keith Bhonapha, former University of Washington running-backs coach, was all set to face the Huskies in the season opener on Sept. 2 in Seattle. That little reunion will be delayed two months and happen in Corvallis. 

On Friday, Bhonapha left Boise State for Oregon State — both UW opponents this coming season — widening the Pac-12 footprint for Jimmy Lake coaches on the rebound.

Fourteen months ago, Bhonapha left the UW after eight seasons once Lake was fired and all but one member of that ill-fated coaching staff was dismissed, bringing Kalen DeBoer and his hand-picked assistants to Montlake.

It was somewhat of a surprise that Bhonapha left Boise State this time because he once was a Broncos running back and was in his second coaching stint at his alma mater, previously having spent 2009-13 on Chris Petersen's staff and last season with Andy Avalos. 

Yet it was not all that unusual that he made the change considering his long-term relationship with Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith.

Bhonapha and Smith coached together as assistants at Boise State for two seasons and at the UW for four more. He'll join Smith's staff with the shared title of assistant head coach and running-backs coach.

Once he faces the Huskies again on Nov. 18 at newly remodeled Reser Stadium, Bhonapha, whose specialty remains recruiting Texas running backs, will find that all of his previously imported rushers in Jay'Veon Sunday, Caleb Berry and Emeka Megwa, have left the UW in his wake.

With Bhonapha returning to the conference, six of the 12 conference schools, including the UW, now have a former Lake assistant on staff. 

The others are Junior Adams, Oregon receivers coach; Ikaika Malloe, UCLA edge-rushers coach; Bob Gregory, Stanford safeties coach; Terrence Brown, California defensive-backs coach; and Scott Huff, Husky offensive-line coach for DeBoer.

Of the other Lake assistants, Will Harris and Rip Rowan joined Georgia Southern as the defensive coordinator and defensive-line coach, respectively; John Donovan, Lake's offensive coordinator, returned to the NFL as a quality defensive coach for the Green Bay Packers; and tight-ends coach Derham Cato left coaching altogether. 

Lake, of course, has not accepted a new job, though indications are he could end up in the NFL soon.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3

Have a question, direct message me on Facebook or Twitter.

Published
Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

Home/Football