Ihmels Will Attempt To Return Boise State Track to the Top

Corey Ihmels is the man Boise State Athletic Director Mark Cole has chosen to try to return the Bronco track teams to the consistent national level that former Coach Mike Maynard had them at prior to his departure.  Maynard's teams were consistently in the Top 25 and won several conference titles, and his throwers, particularly the javelin program, were among the elite in the nation.

Ihmels comes to Boise with strong credentials--his challenge is to recruit the best student-athletes in the nation to Boise State, as Maynard was able to do year after year.  Ihmels has been at Iowa State for the past 11 years, including the past six as the Cyclones' head coach.  Ihmels has done a remarkable job at his alma mater, leading Iowa State to a Top 10 national ranking six years in a row.  Under Ihmels, 21 student-athletes finished in the Top 5 individually, with six national champions,  seven runners-up and 51 NCAA All-Americans.  If he is able to achieve a similar performance at Boise State, Ihmels would be setting the program where it needs to be at this point in its history.

"We are excited to be able to bring Corey and his family to Boise State," Coyle said. "He has high-level experience as a head coach in the Big 12 Conference, and he has a proven record of developing student-athletes to compete at elite levels on the track and in the classroom."

Ihmels was named Big 12 Conference Cross Country Coach of the Year in both 2011 and 2012, after the Cyclones won the conference championship each year, the first such titles in school history. Ihmels is also a three-time Midwest Regional Cross Country Coach of the Year (2010-12), and was named Midwest Regional Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year in 2010.

In all, 29 Iowa State student-athletes earned Big 12 Conference Championships under his guidance, and 280 earned all-conference recognition.

His student-athletes have also excelled in the classroom, garnering 40 Academic All-America awards and 244 Academic All-Big 12 accolades.

"After having lived and trained in Boise as a distance runner, I strongly believe that the programs at Boise State can become a national powerhouse," Ihmels said. "With everything that the University and the city have to offer, there is an incredible amount of untapped potential for these programs. I am excited to bring my passion for developing national-class track and field and cross country student-athletes to Boise State."

Prior to becoming head coach at Iowa State, he served as the head men's cross country coach and assistant track and field coach for the Cyclones for five years. He joined the Cyclones from Arizona State, where he worked as a graduate assistant coach from 2000-01.

Ihmels, a six-time All-American long-distance runner for Iowa State and the 1997 Big 12 Conference Indoor Athlete of the Year, was a member of the Cyclones' 1994 NCAA championship cross country team.

He earned a bachelor's degree in history from Iowa State in 1997, and a master's of education in curriculum and instruction from Arizona State in 2001.