FRISCO, Texas – From the time the head coaching job at Boise State became available, Kellen Moore had to know these questions were coming.
The Cowboys' offensive coordinator is one of the most well-regarded young coaches in the NFL, calling plays for one of the league's best offenses at the age of just 32.
He is also a Boise State alumnus and the greatest player in its football program's history, so it's no surprise he has been heavily linked to the vacancy.
"Obviously, Boise is a unique one for me -- special to me, I love that place," Moore said on Monday night. "Obviously, I'm just going through the process right now – obviously, focused on this game. We'll kind of let all this stuff play itself out and we'll see where it's at."
Moore put together one of the greatest careers in college football history during his time at Boise State. In four full seasons as the Broncos' starting quarterback, he compiled an absurd 50-3 career record, highlighted by an undefeated season in 2009 – which was punctuated by a 17-10 win over Andy Dalton's TCU Horned Frogs in the Fiesta Bowl.
"They were always tough games, TCU defenses were always so good – which annoyed me," Moore joked.
Given all that information, not to mention Moore's current track record, it's no surprise he's a front runner to fill the job opening that was created last week when Bryan Harsin was hired away by the Auburn Tigers.
There are obvious questions, though. For starters, where does Moore want his future to lie? The entirety of his coaching experience to this point lies in the NFL, which is a far cry from the college game. He's also just 32 years old, with one year of experience as the Cowboys' quarterbacks coach and two years as their offensive coordinator.
It remains to be seen if that resume might land him a head coaching job at a major college program, or if that's even what he wants. He might not know the specific timetable, but he did allow that head coaching is something he wants for his future.
"Yeah, I want to be a head coach," he said. "But I think like anything, really I'm focused on this job right now. Again, we'll go through this process and we'll see where it's at."
It's a smart answer, but it's also not pure lip service. It's not as if the Cowboys are playing out the string. As has been well-covered, a win on Sunday against New York, coupled with a loss by Washington, would vault the Cowboys into the playoffs despite a 7-9 record.
For the next six days, at the very least, Moore said he intends to focus on that.
"I think I've just got to go through this process. I don't think it's fair to comment too much right now about it," he said. "Obviously, we've got this awesome chance to win the NFC East, as crazy as this season has been. Let's go for this thing and let's see what happens."
