Puneet Varma (Editor)

Boise State Broncos

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
University
  
Boise State University

Athletic director
  
Curt Apsey

Varsity teams
  
20

NCAA
  
Division I

Location
  
Boise, Idaho

Conference
  
Mountain West (primary) Pac-12 – (Wrestling) MRGC – (Women's Gymnastics)

The Boise State Broncos are the official athletic program of Boise State University. The Broncos compete in a wide variety of sports as members of the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Mountain West Conference (MWC). The Broncos have a successful athletic program overall, winning the WAC commissioner's cup for the 2005–06 and 2009–10 years. Boise State joined the MWC in 2011.

Contents

Perhaps the most well-known of these sports is the football program. The program attained a 13–0 season in 2006 capped by an overtime win in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl against the Oklahoma Sooners. They finished the season as the only major undefeated college football team. The Bronco football team has gone on to win the Fiesta Bowl two more times in the 2009 and 2014 seasons. The school's football stadium, Bronco Stadium, introduced its famous blue artificial turf (now FieldTurf) in 1986.

Other notable sports teams include the Wrestling team, which competes in the Pac-12 Conference (the MWC is a non-wrestling conference), the nationally-ranked women's gymnastics team, which competes in the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference, the men's and women's basketball team, and the tennis teams which have consistently had nationally ranked players.

Teams

Boise State University sponsors teams in eight men's and twelve women's NCAA sanctioned sports:

  • * = Beach volleyball is a fully sanctioned NCAA sport which had its first national championship in the spring of 2016. Boise State is currently an independent.
  • # = Teams competing in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
  • = Wrestling is an affiliate member of the Pac-12 Conference.
  • = Gymnastics is a charter member of the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference.
  • NCAA team championships

    Boise State has won 1 NCAA team national championship.

  • Men's (1)
  • Football (1): 1980
  • see also:
  • Mountain West Conference NCAA team championships
  • List of NCAA schools with the most NCAA Division I championships
  • Other national team championships

    Below is one national team title that was not bestowed by the NCAA:

  • Men’s
  • Football (1): 1958 (NJCAA)
  • National individual championships

  • Men's Skiing (Slalom): Bill Shaw, 1974
  • Men's Track & Field (High Jump): Jake Jacoby, 1984
  • Men's Track & Field (Triple Jump): Eugene Green, 1991
  • Wrestling (165 lbs.): Kirk White, 1999
  • Men's Track & Field (Javelin): Gabe Wallin, 2004
  • Men's Track & Field (Javelin): Gabe Wallin, 2005
  • Wrestling (157 lbs.): Ben Cherrington, 2006
  • Women's Track & Field (Long Jump): Eleni Kafourou, 2009
  • Men's Track & Field (Decathlon): Kurt Felix, 2012
  • Women's Track & Field (10,000 meters) : Emma Bates, 2014
  • Football

    The Boise State Broncos Football program represents Boise State University in college football and compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of Division I as a member of the Mountain West Conference. They are led by head coach Bryan Harsin, and play their home games at Albertsons Stadium.

    Soccer

    The 2009 women's soccer team participated in the first round of the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship tournament. Boise State was eliminated in the first round, losing to host UCLA 7-1 on Friday, November 13.

    Wrestling

    In 1999, as an assistant coach for the Broncos, Greg Randall helped guide Kirk White to the 165-pound national title. In his 14 seasons as head coach, Gregg Randall's teams have finished in the top-three at the conference tournament 10 times. In 1988, BSU wrestling joined the Pac-10. Randall has led the Broncos to the top of the Pac-12 Conference four times, to go along with seven top-25 finishes at the NCAA Championships including a 9th-place finish at the 2010–11 NCAA Championships. In 2006 Randall guided his first individual NCAA Champion as a head coach with Ben Cherrington capturing the national title in the 157-pound weight class. Cherrington was the second wrestler Randall has helped to a first-place finish at the NCAA tournament. Cherrington completed his season undefeated at 20–0 and won the 157-pound title at the NCAA National Championships. Cherrington’s NCAA victory marked the second time in Boise State history a Bronco has own an individual national collegiate wrestling title. Boise State Wrestling competes at home in the Bronco's Gym or the Taco Bell Arena, both located on campus. After the 2016 season, Randall was replaced by former CSU Bakersfield wrestler and coach Mike Mendoza after a 9-26-1 record over the previous three seasons.

    Boise State Broncos Wrestling achievements:

  • 16 total conference Championships
  • Pac-12 Conference Champions: 2000, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011
  • 20 individual All-Americans
  • 12 top-20 NCAA team finishes & 5 top-10 NCAA team finishes
  • 2 individual NCAA Champions: Ben Cherrington 157lbs(2006) & Kirk White 165lbs(1999)
  • Baseball

    Boise State played intercollegiate baseball through the 1980 season. Their first season in the Big Sky Conference was 1971, with all eight teams split into two divisions and a best-of-three series between the division winners to determine the conference title. The Broncos and fellow newcomer Northern Arizona joined Idaho State and Weber State in the Southern Division. Montana State dropped the sport after the season and Montana in 1972, so Boise State was moved to the Northern Division in 1973 with Idaho and Gonzaga. Following the 1974 season, the Big Sky discontinued its sponsorship of baseball (and four other sports), and Southern Division champion Idaho State and three-time conference champion Weber State soon dropped their baseball programs. The three Northern Division teams joined the Northern Pacific Conference for the 1975 season and competed against Portland State, Portland, Seattle U., and UPS (and later, EWU). Due to budget contraints, both BSU and Idaho discontinued baseball following the 1980 season.

    Boise State played on campus through the 1979 season, until displaced due to construction of the BSU Pavilion (now Taco Bell Arena). The final baseball field's infield is now occupied by the tennis courts; center field was to the northeast. The Broncos played their home games in 1980 at Borah Field (now Bill Wigle Field) at Borah High School.

    Hall of Fame

    College Football Hall of Fame

  • Randy Trautman – DT, 1978–1981
  • References

    Boise State Broncos Wikipedia