Snow football coach Paul Peterson
considering BYU ‘prospect’
By Lyle Fletcher
Staff writer
Dec. 7, 2017
EPHRAIM—With Ty Detmer no longer in his position as offensive coordinator at Brigham Young University, BYU’s coach Kalani Sitake is looking for someone to fill that slot.
Paul Peterson, Snow College football coach, appears as a candidate for offensive coordinator in some minds, although BYU has not officially contacted Peterson about the position.
The Deseret News interviewed Peterson about the potential prospect, and Peterson said, “Yeah, of course I would love the opportunity to be there. … It would be a great opportunity for my family and for myself.”
He added, “Kalani’s got a big job ahead of him trying to find someone who’s going to be a good fit.”
Being a “good fit,” in Peterson’s mind, means someone who’s “going to challenge their athletes to perform at a higher level,” “score more points” and “can help develop the quarterbacks.”
Peterson’s “fitness” for the potential job comes mainly because of his play-calling expertise, developed at Snow College as head coach, at Southern Utah University as position coach from 2008-2011 and at Sacramento State as offensive coordinator from 2012-2016.
Although he never played for BYU, Peterson’s coaching career began there as a graduate assistant in 2006 under Bronco Mendenhall—the year John Beck was a senior.
Peterson says of the experience: “It was awesome. I learned a ton from [offensive coordinator Robert Anae. It was my first experience with a program outside of being a player.”
He adds, “I was in the game-planning meetings. I really appreciate coach Anae and how he kept the game plan really simple. The personnel knew exactly what they were supposed to do no matter the coverage, and he emphasized executing at a high level.”
For Peterson, simplicity is the key to play-calling: “That’s something I’ve tried to take away from that—keeping it simple, giving the quarterback simple successes so we can score a lot of points.”
At Snow College, the Badgers’ offense scores a lot of points, averaging 50.9 points and 536 yards per game this season.
Peterson describes Snow’s offense as “up-tempo, spread, no-huddle, and we try to go as fast as we can and get the defense off-balance. We’re 50-50 run and pass.”
With Shane Johnson at quarterback, the Badgers can carry or throw the ball at will.
Last Saturday, the No. 6 Badgers took on the No. 10 Buccaneers from Blinn College in Texas in the El Toro Bowl held in Yuma, Ariz. The Badgers were down 35-19 at the end of the third quarter and pulled off a 43-41 upset. Snow had 284 rushing yards and 121 passing, for a total of 405—off 131 yards from their season average.
Before his coaching days began, Peterson himself played quarterback successfully at Bingham High School, at Snow College where he was top in the nation in total passing yards and at Boston College with two bowl-game wins.
