By Chadd Cripe
ccripe@idahostatesman.com
© 2013 Idaho Statesman
Update: The State Board voted unanimously Thursday to approve the move. The facility will be called the Gene Bleymaier Football Complex.
“Danell and I want to thank Larry and Marianne Williams, and Jerry and Muriel Caven for this meaningful recognition,” Bleymaier said in a statement released by Boise State. “We are honored.”
“We are very proud to have the opportunity to contribute to the football complex. Under Gene’s leadership Bronco football became a household name throughout the country. He displayed remarkable vision, the highest integrity, passion for helping others, astute business sense and unwavering loyalty to the University and Boise community,” lead donors Larry and Marianne Williams and Jerry and Muriel Caven said in a statement released by Boise State.
Original post: Boise State plans to honor longtime, former athletic director Gene Bleymaier by putting his name on the new Bronco Football Complex, the school announced Wednesday.
Boise State will ask the State Board of Education for permission Thursday.
The idea came from lead project donors Larry Williams and Jerry Caven when they made their contributions in November 2010, according to the school.
Boise State Athletic Director Gene Bleymaier made the decision to add blue turf at Bronco Stadium. The iconic turf was added in 1986.
Bleymaier, now the athletic director at San Jose State, served as the Broncos’ athletic director for 29 years — overseeing the program’s rise to prominence and many of the facility upgrades that have helped sustain the football team’s recent success, including the football complex that is scheduled to open in July. Most famously, he installed the first blue turf.
But Bleymaier was fired in August 2011 in the wake of several NCAA violations, including a “lack of institutional control” charge.
“Besides enjoying unprecedented success on the field of play and in the classroom, Boise State athletics also significantly improved its facilities under Bleymaier’s direction,” Boise State Athletic Director Mark Coyle said in a statement.
Added President Bob Kustra, who fired Bleymaier: “Boise State owes a huge debt of gratitude to the Caven and Williams families for their ongoing generosity, and for suggesting this recognition of Gene’s work and accomplishments.”
The football complex behind the north end zone of Bronco Stadium will include 68,000 square feet of office and training space and cost $22 million.
The deal to build the football complex was finalized in January 2011, when coach Chris Petersen had been contacted by Stanford.
Kustra told the Idaho Statesman after he fired Bleymaier that he offered to let him resign and that his legacy would be celebrated in part through the naming of the football facility.
“I asked Gene to step down and suggested it would be best if he just said he was stepping down and no reasons were given and we’d be able to celebrate his years as athletic director and the naming of the football complex,” Kustra said then.
“He told me and his staff he wanted to be fired. He wanted that language to be used. He wanted to talk about the fact that it was for the compliance reason. People need to understand there were options here that weren’t chosen and I have no control over that.”
Money talks!
It sounds as though the Caven and Williams families are the ones that stipulated that the new complex be named after Bleymaier, not Kustra. Kustra is trying to shed blame by saying there were other options for Gene’s departure. In the end it is a classy move to honor Mr. Beymaier for all of his accomplishments at BSU.
I don’t see how he’s trying to shed blame. He says Gene was gone one way or the other. He had the option to resign and he didn’t want to do it that way.
No, I’d say it looks like the opposite. It looks like some donors forcing the University to be embarrassed by its actions. Looks like Gene is still bringing in donations even after he left.
Gene Beymaier was a fall-guy for Kustra. Kustra wanted a quick and easy “solution” to the negative publicity and he shanked Beymaier in the back to make it happen. I give Beymaier tons of credit for not “going gently into that good night” and forcing Kustra to show how he operates to the public. I am sick of so-called Boise fans who simply wrote Gene Beymaier off as the cause of these “institutional control” problems. From what I can see, Beymaier did a great job with a puny compliance staff …..and as soon as some pretty minor problems popped up Kustra and the University kicked him to the curb. I hope Beymaier graciously accepts this honor and flips off Kustra as he leaves the stage. Gene, you are an honest and decent guy, you put Boise football in the national spotlight, and BSU fans should remember you fondly instead of how Kustra tried to sully your legacy. Congratulations to the Blue Turf Master!
Sorry ….Bleymaier….I skipped the L every stinking time! :0(
No problem. Well written and I agree totally. If I were judged by my typing, Kustra would fire me as well.
Yeah, the issues were so minor that tennis was paying someone who wasn’t even a student to play and the football team lost 3 scholarships per year for 3 years. Then there was the track coach that sued (and basically won) for sexual discrimination when Gene fired her.
The tennis issue was NOT a minor violation. The law suit was a huge issue. These were big issues that occurred throughout the whole athletic program and all of them happened under his watch.
And all of that happened AFTER the first round of non-compliance issues. Bleymaier promised to tighten things up and fix it. Instead it got worse. It most certainly was a lack of institutional control and Bleymaier was the person most directly responsible for managing. He failed at his job.
A rogue tennis coach sacked the university. No AD can control a coach or employee that blatantly disregards the rules. The football program’s indiscretions amounted to kids sleeping on a couches a week before school started. They should have been given a hand slap at best. And the track coach was a wack job that had a history of filing lawsuits. In total, Gene’s record is sparkling and his integrity made BSU a better place. Kustra is a buffoon.
So you can agree that the athletic department had problems. And who was in charge of that troubled department? Gene.
Have you read the report? More than 75 violations in Track, Tennis and Football. It cost the university chances to recruit, scholarships, money… it was a big deal. No matter how badly you want to portray the NCAA the fact is the athletic department made a number of mistakes over a period of years.
If you, in your job, screwed up that many times, for that long you’d be fired too wouldn’t you?
Gene did a lot of good for the university. But he made two critical mistakes. 1. He got on the wrong side of the boss. 2. He gave his boss a reason to terminate him.
This is the real world and Gene screwed the pooch. Deal.
Well stated….couldn’t have said it any better!
A classy move in honor of a classy guy. Too bad it came too late. When are they going to replace that interim Mark Coyle guy who said so much about how he was going to interact with Bronco Nation and then disappeared?
The whole affair was basically butchered by BSU. It’s nice but doesn’t redeem the whole mess.
FIRE KUSTRA!!! BLEYMAIER SHOULD STILL BE HERE!
ceesey-you’ve called for Kustra’s head for quite a while now. Your complaining and ranting about Kustra on an internet blog board will not make BSU or the SBOE change their minds. If you are as smart as you think you are, you would have figured that out by now. You can continue to complain if you want, but it will not change anything.
Saw the headline last night and had to chuckle…King Bob is still sick to his stomach I bet. Old Guard donors tell him to stick it they want it named after Gene. the past is just that,but it has to be a little sweet revenge…errr I mean recognition for GB supporters.
Nice pay of respect but it was time for Geno to be gonzo.
A good gesture, indeed. Also, a hardy thumb in the eye to the NCAA morons who are the real culprits. Bleymaier’s name, along with his untarnished reputation, will be front and center on that impressive building for the “nation” to see.
I didn’t know the State Board of Ed. had to approve a name on an athletic building. Interesting.
They have tp approve darn near everything. It is a state school.
A fitting tribute to an outstanding individual. Gene was more than an Athletic Director elevating a football program through well planned and executed phases. He was a tireless representative of Boise State University. Bronco Nation loved this man who was of the people and would take time to talk with and listen to fans, young or old, middle class or rich. BSU lost a great asset with the petty unjustified firing of this fine man.
I agree with Larry and Marianne Williams, and Jerry and Muriel Caven, the lead donors who said “We are very proud to have the opportunity to contribute to the football complex. Under Gene’s leadership Bronco football became a household name throughout the country. He displayed remarkable vision, the highest integrity, passion for helping others, astute business sense and unwavering loyalty to the University and Boise community.”
“The Gene Bleymeir Center of Underachievment”
Certainly some interesting perspectives given – in light of naming of the complex after Gene, I would suggest the new athletic training room that will be built be named after Gary Craner, ATC – longtime head athletic trainer and NATA Hall of Fame member. Near the end of his career when he was all set to retire and ride into the proverbial sunset, he was greatly disrespected by the Bronco admin. It would be most fitting that if the complex can be named for Gene then the athletic training facility should bear the name of Gary Craner, ATC
That’s what would be truly fitting.
I might be in the minority, I believe Gene should have been fired, but I also believe that this building should be named after him……
I agree 100 percent Funky. Maybe I am in the minority too.