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There are moments in sports when competition and rivalry are put aside. Even if it is for just a moment, there are occasions when it is proper for fans of any given team to set down allegiances, and do what is humanly right.

This September Boise State fans will be presented the opportunity to do just that.

On Friday, September 4th, former Boise State and current Washington head football coach Chris Petersen will return to the Stadium he once called home. The very same stadium and facilities that he personally helped make happen.

Petersen won’t be alone either. He will be joined by several other former Bronco coaches and players now on staff for the Huskies. Former Boise State assistant coaches Bob Gregory, Chris Stausser, Pete Kwiatkowski, Jeff Choate, Brent Pease, Jonathan Smith, and Keith Bhonapha along with former player and current Washington graduate assistant Kirby Moore, will all be return in opposing colors. Each one of them also have a special place in Boise State history, and in the hearts and minds of Bronco Nation.

To say it will be a weird night is probably a massive understatement.

Yes, this will be a football game, but we all know it will be more than that. Yes, Boise State fans should be excited to get a Pac-12 team at home to open the season. But, honestly, any of the 11 other schools from that conference would probably be better.

But, the schedule is the schedule, and backing out of this game would have been far worse for both schools. There was really no choice but to play.

I remember reading a story once about NFL great Emmitt Smith. Nearly any football fan knows that Smith became the all-time leading rusher in NFL history as a member of the Dallas Cowboys. But, what many probably don’t know, or have forgotten is that he also finished the last two years of his career (2003-2004) as a member of the Arizona Cardinals.

In 2003 when Smith returned to Texas Stadium in red and white to play his former team after 13 years wearing the blue and silver, it was quite hard for him to do so.

In a Dallas Morning News article Emmitt describes his difficult return in this way, “The most painful moment was probably coming back here to Texas Stadium to play against the Dallas Cowboys and getting dressed in the visitors locker room. That broke my heart because that’s when I realized how much I loved the Dallas Cowboys and how much that love for that organization meant to me as a football player and made me do the things on the football field that I wanted to do. I think that day was the day that my soul for the game left.”

In an effort not to be too dramatic, I doubt coach Pete will have an issue with soul departure. However, you have to believe that he, and his staff are going to have a very difficult time dressing in different colors, and occupying the visiting locker room in the stadium they all once called home.

Anyone who has been around Boise State in its incredible run over the last 15 years know that coach Petersen was one of the biggest reasons this program has been elevated to such status. Anyone who has listened to Pete speak over the years also knows three things about the man.

He cares about people, he is extremely honest, and he loves Boise State.

When coach Petersen told us all that it was time to move on, he meant it.

You could tell in the last two years as the Broncos head coach that he was struggling to find for himself, his coaches and his team that lightning in a bottle that he was so used to here.

It seemed to me that Petersen was struggling with the stress of it all, and I personally don’t believe for a second that he left the blue turf of Boise for the greenbacks in Washington. Some fans disagree, and they are of course entitled to their opinions. However, from Petersen’s own words and actions over the years in Idaho, money never seemed to be his motivation. At least, not for himself.

He did work hard to get more pay for his assistant coaches, and he seemed to leverage his position as a desired head coach at other schools to improve the facilities on campus at BSU. But, never in any of the time I followed Petersen’s career did I see him do something that was selfishly motivated, and that includes leaving to take the UW job.

Now, again, I know some fans aren’t going to agree. I am fine with that. I know some will always be convinced he left for the money or for his own selfish gain. But, the truth is he left because it was time to leave, and it was best for him, his family and Boise State. If it hadn’t been all three of those things, I believe he would still be in Boise.

In his own words when asked why he left the Broncos to become the Huskies head coach, Petersen simply said,

“People keep asking me ‘Why now? You’ve been in Boise for so long.’ Two things keep coming to mind: timing and fit.”

In that same interview, that you can read and listen to on the Boise State Public Radio website, we also hear a bit more of his reasoning,

“They will get a fabulous coach in there that will give them a new shot of energy,” he said. “I feel good about that. I didn’t want to leave Boise if I thought it would be bad for them – if they would take a step backward.”

I have never known Chris Petersen to be anything less than truthful. I believe he left because he was struggling to keep the Boise State momentum going, he was having a hard time motivating himself and others, and he knew that a change would do him and the Broncos much good.

When coach Chris Petersen is announced as the head coach of the Washington Huskies in Albertsons Stadium I am not sure what to expect. With all he did for this city, the state, the school and the people, anything less than a heart felt standing ovation would be tragic in my opinion.

Petersen never did a single intentional thing that harmed Boise State, and he did so much to help BSU that it can probably never be calculated. Oh by the way, he also promoted Bryan Harsin as one of the youngest offensive coordinators in college football back in 2006.

After the introductions, and once the ball is kicked off, it will be game on! At that point cheer loudly for the Broncos to dismantle the Huskies. But, for one moment on a Friday night in September, Boise State fans have the opportunity to thank a man that did so much for the program.

A man that even in his departure did what was best for the Broncos, and all of Bronco Nation. “They will get a fabulous coach in there that will give them a new shot of energy,” he said. And, once again coach Pete told the truth.

On September 4th, 2015 a little after 8:00 P.M. Mountain Standard Time, Albertsons Stadium will be filled with nearly 40,000 Boise State fans. When the name Chris Petersen is announced everyone of them will have the opportunity to say what they want, and cheer how they want.

As for me, I will be standing.

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