Dear Boise State University and President Bob Kustra and Mascot Buster Bronco,
It has recently come to my attention that you have fired Bronco athletic director Gene Bleymaier for reasons that you have nicknamed "presidential decision." It is not my place to judge or second-guess, and I do not mean to tell you how to run your school ... although while we're on the topic, what would it take to get a working sound system in Bronco Stadium? Or a churro machine? I'm willing to compromise.
There is no doubt that things at the athletic department were not going swimmingly these last few months what with those rogue air mattresses and that cursed Jack In The Box dollar menu wreaking havoc through Bronco recruiting. Was it enough to axe the man who brought blue turf to Bronco Stadium and oversaw the greatest rise to college football prominence in the history of the sport? We'll never know, at least not until 10 years from now in the KTVB tell-all iPad book, Gene B. Free.
But the reason for Bleymaier's firing is not my point. My point is this: When did Boise State outgrow one of its most legendary employees? And what would it take to go back to the way things were?
I became a Boise State football fan for the football, not for the HR drama, so you'll have to excuse me if stories like this make me break out in hives and pen open letters on my blog. The drama of hiring and firing and NCAA investigating is one aspect of college sports that I can do without.
And I thought I was doing without it by being a fan of Boise State football. People wear camo to games, for crying out loud. How much more grounded can you get than that? But silly me. It would seem you cannot escape The Machine when your team is as good as Boise State's. As the Broncos have grown, so have the headlines. Now here we are turning 29-year-tenured employees into lame ducks and scrambling like mad to keep up with the Joneses (whom we never liked in the first place). It feels like a mini-Ohio State around here.
All we Bronco fans wanted was to see our team compete at the highest level of college football, to keep the small-school drama-free vibe of the Golden Era, to have a piece of cake, and to sit down and eat it while watching our Fiesta Bowl DVDs. Was that too much to ask?
Part of me (the part that hates change) thinks firing Gene Bleymaier was wrong. And part of me (the part that loves football) has a hard time caring about this story. But I do care about this story and I do see the rationale behind moving on with a different AD. I guess I just wish we could go back to the way things were six months ago when the only thing that mattered was the football.
Speaking of which, how's that kicking competition going?
Sincerely,
Kevan Lee
Ps. I was serious about that sound system / churro thing. Let me know.