CINCINNATI -- Someone could be coming after Randy Rahe, and Weber State is taking action.
"We want to keep our coach," said WSU athletic director Jerry Bovee about the possibility of a bigger school hiring Rahe from the Wildcats. "I think it's important to our fan base, our university and our president. We're going to do anything we can to compete with anybody that wants to come in and lure Randy away."
Since Boise State fired coach Greg Graham last week, speculation out of Boise has Rahe's name on the list of potential new coaches. Following Wednesday's season-ending NIT loss at Cincinnati, Rahe said he has not been contacted by anyone, specifically Boise State, regarding a coaching job.
"I'm blessed to be the head coach at Weber State and I'm as fortunate as any head coach in America to be here, and all I'm going to do for the next few days is try to figure out a way to make our team better for next year," said Rahe.
He has compiled a 49-15 Big Sky Conference record at WSU and is 77-47 in his four seasons.
The Wildcats have won the league's regular-season title three times under Rahe, so it's understandable that WSU is concerned about other schools swooping in. Bovee said WSU is prepared to offer Rahe an extension to his current contract.
"We have had some preliminary talks with Randy, but it's our intent to keep our coach, and we're going to do everything within our ability at Weber State to keep Randy Rahe here as long as we can keep him here," Bovee said.
Following Rahe's first season with WSU, the university extended his contract, and that deal still has two more seasons left.
Bovee said the new deal the university is working on would increase that number substantially.
"It would probably be more years than any coach at Weber State has ever been offered," Bovee said.
Rahe's base salary, before bonuses, for this season was close to $145,000, and a new contract would raise that number.
"There would be some salary talk, but the most important thing for Randy is years," Bovee said. "So that's where we've focused most of our discussions."
But salary is important as well, and WSU wants to make sure it can pay Rahe enough to compete with other offers.
"In order to do that, we need resources, and to do that, we've put together another level of the Wildcat Club that we're terming the Champions Club for program enhancement that will give us flexibility for those who support us in that for facilities, for coaches' salaries and for other things just designated for program enhancement," Bovee said.
Boise State athletic director Gene Bleymaier told the Idaho Statesman what he was looking for in a new coach to help BSU compete with the elite in the Western Athletic Conference, and his qualifications may sound familiar for those who know Rahe.
"If you look at our conference, those schools would be the Utah States and the Nevadas," Bleymaier said. "You kind of want to emulate the kinds of consistency and the kinds of success they've had the last several years. We want someone who's going to do things the right way and who's going to recruit students that will stay out of trouble and go to class."
Rahe was an assistant coach for Stew Morrill at Utah State for six seasons, and was also with Morrill at Colorado State for the seven seasons prior to moving to Logan.
But would Boise State be a good move for Rahe?
Only one of the six coaches in the history of the school left on his own terms, while the other five were fired, and none of those six became head coaches at the Division I level following their time with the Broncos, even though four of them had winning records.
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