Gene Bleymaier Asked To Step Down At Boise State

Boise State Athletic Director Gene Bleymaier, who oversaw the athletic development of Boise State from a small Division I-AA school into a major college football power, was asked to leave his post on September 8 by university president Bob Kustra yesterday morning.





Bleymaier, who became one of the nation's youngest athletic directors when he was chosen for the position in 1982, headed the athletic department for nearly thirty years.  He was hired in 1981 as the assistant to long-time Bronco Athletic Director Lyle Smith.  At the time, Boise State was a member of the Big Sky Conference.  The school joined the BIg West in 1996, the Western Athletic Conference in 2001 and is prepared to enter the Mountain West this fall.  





Under Bleymaier's leadership, Boise State won the Commissioner's Cup three times (2005-2006, 2009-2010 and this past year) and finished second twice (2006-2007 and 2007-2008).  The Cup is awarded to the school with the best overall athletic department as determined by a point system. Boise State is the only school to win the Cup three times.





While in the WAC, Boise State won 32 league championships, including nine football championships.  The Broncos won five titles in women's gymnastics, vie in men's indoor track and field, four in men's tennis, two in women's swimming and diving, two in men's outdoor track and field, two in women's basketball and one each in men's cross country, women's soccer, women's tennis and women's basketball.  The Boise State wrestling team, which competes in the Pac-10 Conference, also captured five championships in that conference.  


Boise State has posted 33 Top 25 finishes in nine different sports, including several Top 10 finishes in football, with a high of #4 in 2009.  


Bleymaier guided Boise State to a Top 100 finish in each of the last nine years in the Learfield Sports Director's Cup, which is a national all-sports trophy.  



Bleymaier's coaches at Boise State have won 31 Coach of the Year Awards, including three National Coach of the Year honors won by Bronco football coach Chris Petersen.  Four Bronco student-athletes have won individual national championships, with 68 Broncos named to All-America teams and 35 winning conference athlete of the year honors in just the past decade.





Since the year after they joined the Football Bowl Subdivision in 1996, Boise State is the winningest football program in the nation, with a record of 143-32.  Boise State also has the best conference record (80-5), the best home record at 69-2 and is the highest-scoring team in the country since 2000, with an average of 41.7 points a game.


Boise State received an APR recognition from the NCAA for posting multi-year APR scores in the Top 10 percent for Division I schools.  Boise State had the second-highest rating among the 70 teams that competed in postseason bowl games last season, according to the Higher Education Watch's Academic Report.  





Bleymaier was one of five nominees for the Street and Smith's Sports Business Journal Athletic Director of the Year.  He received the Astro Turf Athletic Director of the Year Award in 2008.  Bleymaier spearheaded the effort to create a bowl game in Boise, originally known as the Humanitarian Bowl and he serves on the board of directors for that game. 





In 1986, Bleymaier installed the now-famous artificial blue turf in Bronco Stadium, making the stadium one of the most recognizable sports venues in the United States.  Every day, hundreds of people from all 50 states and nations all over the world visit the Blue Turf.





This fall, Boise State will break ground at Dona Larsen Park for a new outdoor track and field and softball facility.  This will lead to a new football facility and expansion of Bronco Stadium.  The Arguinchona Basketball Complex, a 10,000 square-foot facility which features separate floors for men's and women's basketball, locker rooms, a theater-style film room, lounges and study areas, opened last month.





In 2008, Bleymaier announced the opening of the $36 million Stueckle Sky Center, a four-level building on the west side of Bronco Stadium with a state-of-the-art press box, suites, loge boxes, club seats and a ballroom.  Prior to that, Bleymaier saw the completion of the $9.5 million Caven-Williams Sports Complex and the Mountain Cove Softball Field.


Bleymaier is also responsible for the construction of the Boas Tennis/Soccer Center, the 1997 expansion of Bronco Stadium, the Allen Noble Hall of Fame Gallery, the Williams Plaza, the Peterson-Preco Learning Center, the Appleton Outdoor Tennis Center, the Jackson Indoor Track, the Idaho Sports Medicine Institute, the Bronco Football Center, the Simplot Center for Athletic Excellence, the Fedrizzi Fitness Center, and an expansion of the Nicholson-Yanke Center.





Bleymaier grew up in Boise and starred in football and basketball at Borah High School.  He earned his bachelor's degree from UCLA while lettering in football and earning Third Team All-Pac 8 honors as a tight end.  Bleymaier won the Outstanding Senior Award at UCLA.  After graduation, Bleymaier served as an assistant athletic director at UCLA, earned a law degree from Loyola Law School and was a member of the California Bar Association.


Curt Apsey was named as the interim AD until Bleymaier's successor is named.  It is expected that an announcement on Boise State's new Athletic Director will be made soon.


I understand that President Kustra has reasons for the move, but thank-you, Gene, for all you have done for Boise State over the years.