Many of us thought or hoped Chris Petersen would never leave Boise State. Now we know there were 34.1 million reasons to do so.

The former Bronco coach has become the highest paid football coach in the Pac 12 signing a 7 year contract extension for 34.1 million, an average of 4.875 million dollars a year.

Not bad for a coach with a 27-14 record at Washington but expect those numbers in the win column to grow exponentially in the coming years as the building program is over and the Husky football train has been set in motion. Petersen more than earned his salary increase because of last year taking the Huskies all the way to the playoff semi finals where Alabama was about the only mountain Petersen and Washington were unable to scale.

Petersen is worth every dime as he generates millions each year for the University. Also benefiting are familiar assistant coaches with Boise State ties.

Pete Kwiatkowski, Jonathan Smith, Jimmy Lake, Bob Gregory, Scott Huff and Keith Bhonapha, all former BSU coaches received increases and extensions earning between $875,000-$330,000 a season.

Petersen was 92-12 in 7 seasons with Boise State and his orchestration of the Broncos 43-42 win over Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl remains as one of his finest moments.

He knew Washington would be a challenge but that all the elements for success were in place and that's why he took a leap of faith to go from Bronco Blue to Washington Purple and now he's in the Green!

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