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Reports: WSU set to hire Matt Miller as new offensive coordinator, plus other staff additions

Boise State’s Matt Miller runs in for a touchdown against UNLV during a game at Sam Boyd Stadium on Nov. 5, 2011, in Las Vegas. (Ethan Miller)
By Greg Woods gregw@spokesman.com(509) 459-5587

PULLMAN – Kirby Moore’s first Washington State coaching staff is starting to come together.

The Cougars’ new offensive coordinator is former Boise State co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Matt Miller, according to a Wednesday report from 247 Sports, filling both coordinator spots on Moore’s staff.

WSU’s new defensive coordinator is expected to be former Oregon State coach Trent Bray, as was reported over the weekend.

The Cougs also made a couple other hires, according to reports: Missouri assistant offensive line coach Jack Abercrombie will be the Cougars’ new offensive line coach, former Missouri tight ends coach Durham Cato is joining the Cougars’ staff and so is former Missouri, Boise State and Auburn staffer Brad Larrondo, who is expected to join in a lead front office role.

Hired on Dec. 12, Moore will have an assistant coach salary pool of $4.5M, WSU interim athletics director Jon Haarlow said earlier this month.

In the early 2010s, Moore and Miller were teammates at Boise State, where Miller returned to coach in 2020. At the time, he was hired as wide receivers coach, which he held for four seasons. Ahead of this season, he was also promoted to co-offensive coordinator, helping the Broncos finish No. 46 nationally in scoring with 29.9 points per game.

This season, Boise State went 9-5 with a Mountain West championship, the Broncos’ third straight season winning the conference. In 2024, BSU reached the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history.

A native of Helena, Montana, Miller coached at Montana State from 2016-19. He coached the Bobcats’ receivers, then added the role of recruiting coordinator in 2017. In the middle of the next season, he was promoted to offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, a role he held for 2019 as well.

In 2019, Montana State led the Big Sky and was eighth nationally in rushing offense with 258.1 yards per game. The Bobcats were also No. 25 in total offense with 426.5 yards per game.

This part is unclear: Will Miller coach a position group along with his OC gig? Most offensive coordinators are also quarterbacks coaches, but most of Miller’s experience is with wide receivers, both at Montana State and Boise State. If Miller sticks with wideouts at WSU, perhaps it’s possible that Moore retains Danny Freund, who was the Cougs’ offensive coordinator this season.

In other staff news, Abercrombie comes to WSU from Missouri, where he was the team’s assistant offensive line coach in recent years. This fall, the Tigers finished No. 9 nationally in Pro Football Focus’ pass-blocking grades and No. 17 in run-blocking, highlighting the way the Tigers’ front five paved the way for their rushing offense, which finished No. 8 in the country.

The Tigers have had three offensive linemen selected in the NFL Draft in the last two years, including 2025 first-round pick Armand Membou and 2024 fourth-round pick Javon Foster.

Abercrombie has also spent time at Mississippi State and VMI Keydet, an FCS team based in Virginia, where Abercrombie was offensive line coach and run game coordinator. Abercombie also held a stint at Division II Gannon from 2016-17.

For his part, Cato comes to WSU after three years with Moore at Missouri, where he coached the Tigers’ tight ends for the previous two. A Dartmouth graduate, Cato coached Missouri TE Brett Norfleet, who ranked second on the team in catches this season, going for 254 yards and five touchdowns through the air.

Before working a brief stint at Maine, Cato spent nearly six years at Washington, where he was an offensive analyst from 2016-19 and coached tight ends in 2020 and 2021. In 2020, he coached first-team All-Pac-12 tight end Cade Otton, the Huskies’ leader in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns.

Finally, a new presence in WSU’s front office will be Larrondo, who was previously the CEO of Missouri’s NIL collective, Every True Tiger Brands. A graduate of Idaho State and Boise State, Larrondo was the assistant athletics director/director of football external relations and recruiting at Mizzou. Before that, he a worked a similar role at Auburn, which followed a long stay at Boise State, where he served in a variety of roles, including sports information director, broadcaster, primary sport liaison to the AD for football and chief of staff.