It was a blue Christmas for University of Hawaii defensive coordinator Tom Mason.

It was 1996, and Mason was feeling the dual devastation of losing his best friend, Pokey Allen, who was dying of cancer, and his own job as a Boise State football coach.

“All of a sudden, I’m out of work, I’m worried about (Allen), and I’m wondering how I’m going to make my house payment,” said Mason, who was married with a 4-year-old daughter. “That was the first time I’d ever been fired. I was trying to find everyone on staff a job, and I was trying to find something for myself. It was not a good situation. It was probably the most stressful situation I ever went through in my life.”

Allen died that Dec. 30., two weeks after resigning as Boise State’s head coach and two years after leading the Broncos to the 1994 NCAA Division II championship.

“We were best friends,” Mason said. “Our families hung out together. We ran together. We did everything pretty much together. It was hard.”

It was a few days after the 1994 title game when Allen complained of a “hot spot” on his right arm. He was diagnosed with a rare form of muscle cancer. He underwent chemotherapy and a stem-cell transplant, leading to what was believed to be remission.

But on Aug. 6, 1996, Allen went for a routine checkup. That afternoon, Allen and BSU officials were in Mason’s defensive coordinator’s office. “(Allen) said, ‘Hey, the cancer’s back,’” Mason recalled. “He had to go to Canada because he couldn’t get (special treatments) in the United States. They said, ‘We’re going to announce you as the interim head coach.’”

Mason admittedly was not prepared. “I was coordinating the defense,” Mason said. “We were three or four practices into (training camp). … If you gave me three or four weeks, or gave me spring ball, or something like that, I would be ready.”

Mason hired an interim defensive coordinator, although, in hindsight, he believed he probably should have retained that role. The Broncos had talent, but they were young, and this was their first season in Division I. They struggled, winning two games, with Allen returning to coach the final two games.

“Then all of a sudden, they said he wasn’t going to make it,” Mason said. “He resigned on the 15th of December, and we were all let go.”

With his contract set to expire on Jan. 31, 1997, Mason was offered the defensive coordinator’s job at Northern Iowa. Mason asked to visit, but head coach Mike Dunbar said: “If you come out here, you’ll never take the job.” Mason accepted the offer.

Mason said he has fond memories of the Broncos, whom the Rainbow Warriors play this Saturday at Albertsons Stadium.

“I still have a lot of friends there,” Mason said. “The people of Boise were good to me. Football is a fickle business. It’s ‘What have you done for me lately?’ There’s no regard for personal feelings. … It’s you win or you get fired. It’s easy.”

Mason said BSU’s success has not been surprising. Allen and Mason had transformed a 3-8 team in 1993 to a Division I-AA champion a year later. “I thought Boise was a young Lincoln, Neb., at the time, and it’s kind of proven out,” Mason said.

One of Mason’s decisions as BSU’s interim head coach was to award a scholarship to a backup quarterback.

“I was a walk-on who had been promised a scholarship from Pokey Allen, and Tom had no idea,” Bryan Harsin said. “I bugged him through fall camp, and he ended up giving it to me, I think just to get out of his ear, to be honest with you. For me, that’s a life-changer when you’re able to have your school pay for it.”

Harsin is now BSU’s head coach.

Harsin said he appreciates Mason’s time as BSU head coach, “how difficult it would be to have one of your best friends dying and to also try and run a football team. I got a lot of respect for him. I follow him since he’s left Boise. He’s got a great defensive mind, always has, and he’s always been good to me every time I’ve seen him, so I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for him.”