Thirty-eight cents an hour.

When Bryan Harsin finally sat down all those years ago to figure out how much money he was earning at Eastern Oregon, he appreciated that living at the base of the Blue Mountains in government housing for $10 a month and getting free cable were certainly nice perks.

But averaging a measly 38 cents for all the hours he was putting in as an assistant coach?

“You’re just starting out, you have no idea, and that was more, ‘Do we think this is what we want to do?”’ Harsin said. “And you’re just trying to figure it out.”

Harsin is no longer in La Grande, Oregon, coaching running backs and wide receivers like he was when he did those calculations as a first-year coach 14 years ago. Today, he has an office overlooking Boise State’s blue turf, where he played in college, where he coached as an offensive coordinator and where he now leads the team as the Broncos’ head coach.

His marching orders are simple: In a changing college football landscape, figure out how to keep Boise State relevant on a national scale, beginning with next Thursday’s opener against No. 18 Mississippi in Atlanta.

It’s been a long time since Boise State was merely an upstart playing on the vivid blue field.

Former coach Chris Petersen elevated the Broncos to a level of success and visibility on par with other top programs in the country.

It’s never easy to replace someone who had been idolized. By the time Petersen finally decided to leave Boise State and take the head coaching job at Washington last offseason, he could have won political office in Idaho for lifting the Broncos to national prominence.