Idaho’s new offensive coordinator, Brian Reader, started coaching before he wrapped up his playing career with the Vandals.
The former UI quarterback (2009-11) returned to Salinas, Calif., during his offseasons to help coach quarterbacks and receivers at his alma mater, Palma High School.
He continued helping the Chieftains during his three-year professional career in the Arena Football League from 2013-15.
That’s when Reader reconnected with Idaho coach Petrino and became a graduate assistant with the Vandals. Six years later, Reader has taken the reins as UI’s new offensive coordinator, a move that was announced last Thursday.
Reader replaces longtime Idaho coordinator Kris Cinkovich, who retired in the spring after almost 30 years of coaching.
“It’s awesome, it’s what I’ve been working toward my whole career and I’ve been working here for a long time,” Reader said. “Been here since I finished Arena Football and came out here and fortunately coach Petrino let me be a GA, and here I am.”
While Reader has been here on and off for a decade, his football career has taken him all around the country. Reader originally joined the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Southeastern Conference. But a year after redshirting in 2007, Reader chose instead to go the junior college route.
He threw for 2,500 yards and carried Monterey Peninsula College to an undefeated 10-0 record and a conference title.
After that, it was off to Idaho and back to the bench behind future Chicago Bear, Nathan Enderle. The Vandals struggled during Reader’s only full season as a starter in 2011, going 2-11.
But Reader bounced back via an unlikely pro career that saw him play two seasons for the Iowa Barnstormers and one for the New Orleans Voodoo in the AFL — a now defunct indoor league.
Playing in the wildly different AFL added more pages to Reader’s football notebook.
“I’m bringing knowledge from when I played,” Reader said, “and I just want our players to succeed and I want our coaches to succeed and my job is to coach my butt off every single day and be a great teacher.”
To his players, Reader is a teacher of the game as much as he is a coach. Reader was Idaho’s receivers coach and recruiting coordinator before being promoted.
UNLV transfer Mekhi Stevenson said he likes that Reader helps break specific defenses down to different ways the receivers can adjust their routes to get open against various looks.
“The big thing for me — ’cause I was at a different school — that I love about coach Reader is that he expands the game for me,” Stevenson said. “He’s helping me get my (football) IQ better.”
At practices, the soft-spoken Reader offers a different coaching approach to the often-animated Petrino — something the players appreciate.
“I think it’s a good balance,” Stevenson said. “If we come out and coach Pete gets on us, not to say coach Reader won’t get on us, but it’s a different approach.
“And I think that’s another big thing with the team ’cause you’ve got kids who come from all different places, different backgrounds. We were all raised differently, so some of them might not understand a certain teaching, so being able to have two different sides ... helps us out a lot for sure.”
Although their coaching styles differ a bit, Petrino and Reader’s offensive philosophies do not. Petrino is the mentor and Reader is the protege — a connection that only expanded with Reader’s upgrade.
“I’m all-in with coach Petrino,” Reader said. “He’s really taught me the game from a coaching standpoint. I wouldn’t be where I am by any means without him and what he’s done for me as a coach and as a man.”
Wiebe may be contacted at (208) 848-2260, swiebe@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @StephanSports.
