BOISE, Idaho >> Hawaii enters Albertsons Stadium tonight shopping for a return to respectability with an upset of 25-point favorite Boise State. The Broncos have never lost to the Rainbow Warriors here, and BSU is a program that has scaled to heights higher than UH did at its peak — and remains at the plateau of best of the rest.

The last two times a head coach left Boise for greener pastures, so-called experts sounded a death knell.

BSU went 53-11 in Dan Hawkins’ five seasons and emerged as an entity to take seriously. The assumption that the Broncos’ house would tumble down without him when he left for Colorado in 2006 was quickly forgotten as Chris Petersen immediately led Boise State to a 13-0 mark, including its historic 43-42 Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma. In some ways it was to football what Chaminade over Virginia was to basketball.

The little program with the blue field provided a blueprint on how to slay Goliath: Build a solid foundation of depth and discipline and sprinkle in deception in the form of trick plays. Did it take some luck? Sure. But without steadfast consistency and excellent coaching no amount of good fortune would matter.

When Petersen left for Washington, the Broncos were soundly beaten 38-23 by Oregon State at the 2013 Hawaii Bowl. It looked again like the party might be over. Maybe BSU did get lucky a few times and benefited from an outstanding but departed coach.

That theory was put to rest once more last year as new coach Bryan Harsin led BSU to a 12-2 record, including its 10th conference title since 2002 and another Fiesta Bowl win, over Arizona 38-30. Strong punctuation came with a 16-13 win over Petersen’s Huskies to start this season. If not for a last-minute loss to BYU, the Broncos would be 4-0 and somewhere in the middle of the Top 25.

While all this was happening, Hawaii also went through two coaching changes — but failed to sustain the success June Jones brought to Manoa. His time was marked by a 76-41 record with two WAC championships and an undefeated 2007 regular-season run-up to the Sugar Bowl.

Unlike Boise State’s triumphant BCS bowl game the previous year, UH’s turn on the national stage was the start of a long slide. Since its 41-10 loss to Georgia on Jan. 1, 2008 that was also Jones’ last UH game, Hawaii is 39-56 with one winning season. Lowlights include coach Greg McMackin repeatedly using an offensive term at the 2009 WAC preview press conference, McMackin’s firing staged to look like a retirement after a 6-7 season in 2011 that included an NCAA gambling investigation, and a 1-11 mark in 2013 under current coach Norm Chow, who is 10-31 in his fourth season.

Ideas abound as to why just one of two programs with roughly equal status seven or eight years ago is a Group of Five power now. There’s geography and finances. But most telling has been what has happened after coaching changes.

Hawaii has a chance to turn around its Mountain West fortunes this season. But don’t expect it to start tonight.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.