Boise State arrives in the rebuilt Pac-12 with the kind of football résumé that makes everyone else in the room sit up a little straighter. For Washington State fans getting acquainted with the conference’s new look, the Broncos are the obvious headliner on the gridiron - the alma mater of WSU head coach Kirby Moore and a program that has spent years stacking wins, trophies and national respect.
The numbers tell the story fast. Boise State has put together 25 straight bowl appearances, not counting the 2020 covid year.
Since moving up to FBS in 1996, it has finished in the top 25 14 times and posted 10 or more wins in 19 seasons. The Broncos have won seven Mountain West titles since joining the league in 2011, including the last three, and they’ve produced five Heisman Trophy finalists and consensus All-Americans since 2007.
Add in three Fiesta Bowl wins since 2007 and a College Football Playoff quarterfinal appearance in 2024, and the case for Boise State as a heavyweight in this new conference is pretty easy to make.
What makes that run even more striking is how it has been built. Boise State has done it under six head coaches, in a state that produces few Division I football players.
Former coach Chris Petersen used to frame the program’s identity around recruiting OKGs - “our kinda guys.” The idea was simple: talent matters, but the real edge comes from filling the roster with team-first players who can be coached hard and coached well.
The school has also poured into facilities across sports, helping support the broader rise.
That football success has been matched by steady work in other sports. Men’s basketball has been a reliable winner under Leon Rice, with 20 or more victories in five straight seasons and in 14 of his 16 years at the helm, even if an NCAA Tournament win has remained out of reach. Gordy Presnell’s women’s team has reached the NCAA Tournament five times in 21 seasons, though it too is still looking for that first tournament victory.
Boise State’s profile fits the Pac-12 in more ways than one. It sits in Boise, the capital of Idaho, in a metro area of 860,000.
The school is a public, R2 research university with programs in health sciences, business and engineering, plus offerings such as raptor biology and cyber operations. It has 18,729 undergraduates, 180,000 living alumni and an endowment of $185.7 million.
Albertsons Stadium seats 36,387, and in May the school hired MMQ Group to study modernization possibilities for ExtraMile Arena and the east side of the stadium, including possible expansion.
The Broncos also bring a respectable media footprint. Boise is the 98th largest designated market area in the country, reaching about 345,250 TV households.
Here’s the path that got them here: Big Sky from 1970 to 1996, Big West from 1996 to 2001, Western Athletic from 2001 to 2011 and Mountain West from 2011 to 2025.
The athletic department’s leadership is built around acting president Nancy Glenn, who is expected to be succeeded by Dr. David W.
Hahn, and athletic director Jeremiah Dickey. Spencer Danielson leads the football program at $2.1 million per year, Leon Rice is at $1.25 million, and Gordy Presnell heads the women’s basketball team.
There are also a few familiar ties to Pullman. Rice is a WSU graduate.
Men’s basketball assistant Roberto Bergersen is the father of WSU director of player personnel Rylan Bergersen. Defensive line coach Frank Maile worked at WSU from 2023-24, and running backs coach James Montgomery played at WSU from 2008-09.
Over the last five years, Boise State has gone 46-22 in football, 119-52 in men’s basketball and 89-74 in women’s basketball. Against WSU, the recent results are mixed: Boise State beat the Cougars 45-24 in Boise in 2024 in football, while WSU leads the series 5-2.
In men’s basketball, WSU won 74-69 in Boise in 2024. WSU also beat Boise State 62-55 in Pullman in women’s basketball in 2021, 2-1 in women’s soccer in Pullman in 2016 and 3-1 in volleyball in Boise in 2009.
Dickey has made clear why Boise State made the leap. “The goal is always to be elite,” Dickey said in an article on the Boise State website.
“That’s the ‘why’ behind making this move. I felt like we had done everything we possibly could within the Mountain West.
It was a great spot for us at the time and will forever be part of our history. The goal was to monetize our operations differently and think more creatively and innovatively in terms of what was next for our industry and that’s what led to the Pac-12.
""We’re approaching it very differently than an established conference. Yes, the Pac-12 has this brand with a strong history and tradition that’s very similar to ours, but that means nothing.
I don’t want us to live in the past. We want to elevate that and use that as a foundation to build off of."
That’s a business-minded answer, but the football message is even louder: Boise State expects to win, and win right away. For a league trying to redefine itself, the Broncos look like the standard on the field - and the toughest obstacle standing in the way of anyone chasing the Pac-12 crown.
In Other News...
WSU Just Landed A Big Western Washington Boost For Coug Fans
Washington State is giving Cougar fans in western Washington a much easier way to follow the schools biggest teams. The university and Bonneville Seattle Media Group announced a multi-year partnership that will put all Cougar football and mens basketball games on 710 ESPN Seattle, with live streaming also available through the Seattle Sports app. It is the kind of arrangement that should make it simpler for fans around the Puget Sound to keep up without having to hunt for broadcasts.
The deal goes beyond the main fall and winter properties, too. WSU womens basketball will be available on the Seattle Sports app for the first time, and one baseball game will also be carried on 710. The partnership adds a weekly video interview with offensive coordinator Kirby Moore as well, giving Coug followers another regular touchpoint as the school expands its reach in a crowded sports market. [Read more 🡒]