Wednesday Weekly…July 2, 2025.
One year from today, Boise State will be one day into its membership in the new-look Pac-12. At that point it will have been 25 years to the day since the Broncos joined the WAC and 15 years to the day since they moved to the Mountain West. In 2001, it wasn’t your mama’s WAC, as the core of the conference at its peak had mutinied to form the MW. And in 2011, it wasn’t your mama’s Mountain West, as Utah and BYU had departed and TCU was about to. This, of course, will not be your mama’s Pac-12, but it is the best thing out there short of the Power 4. It isn’t about now—it’s about 2031, when many major media rights deals end and the next college sports upheaval is due. Boise State has watched a bunch of its former Group of 5 peers get into the Power 4. The Broncos are now a mid-major flagship. Will they ever get a chance?
PLANTING THE PAC-12 FLAG IN TEXAS
Texas State is indeed the eighth football-playing Pac-12 school. We’ve talked about them quite a bit, but one more thing, if I may. Former WAC and Sun Belt commissioner Karl Benson said on Idaho SportsTalk that the key to the Bobcats making this work is “coaching continuity.” You know that means football. Texas State coach G.J. Kinne just signed a seven-year contract extension, and maybe the move to the Pac-12 will inspire him to see it through. Boise State knows all about Kinne’s competitive spirit. He was the quarterback at Tulsa when the Broncos visited there in 2009. Kinne threw for a modest 154 yards that night, but he had two touchdown passes, the second one in the fourth quarter pulling the Golden Hurricane to within 28-21. It was the closest call of the regular season for undefeated Boise State.
HOOPS ARE IMPORTANT, TOO
Texas State, as you’ve heard, is coming off back-to-back bowl wins and an eight-win season under Kinne. But here’s something that has been back-burnered: the Bobcats will be the ninth basketball-playing member of the conference. So how the heck do they do in hoops? Texas State finished seventh in the Sun Belt last season and was 16-16 overall. The Bobcats were 17-18 two seasons ago and were 16-19 in 2022-23. So Texas State brings a lot more to the table in football than it does in basketball. In a Pac-12 that includes Gonzaga, San Diego State, Boise State, Utah State and the two holdovers, Oregon State and Washington State, there is some work to do.
WHAT ARE THE REBELS THINKING?
Mediation drags on between the Mountain West and the new Pac-12 over the latter’s exit fees, and the longer it lasts, the shakier it feels for the MW. In his Bald-Faced Truth column, John Canzano wonders what will happen if the Mountain West can’t keep its financial windfall promises to UNLV to help the Rebels out of an athletic department debt predicament estimated at $26 million-$31 million. The Pac-12 ship has probably sailed for them. One of the new Pac-12 ADs told Canzano, “UNLV was invited. It had a chance and didn’t want to come.” The Pac-12 is focused on other membership options at the moment, be it someone like Memphis in football only and/or Saint Mary’s in non-football sports. \But that won’t happen until the rest of the Pac-12’s media rights are finalized. It is a cliché…but…stay tuned.
EA REPORT CARDS
EA Sports player ratings are “in the game” today for College Football 26, and Kage Casey leads Boise State players with a 90. Casey, the two-time All-Mountain West offensive tackle is the Broncos’ top prospect in next spring’s NFL Draft, with some projections tabbing him as a first-rounder. Casey was also named a first-team Walter Camp Preseason All-American on Tuesday. Other EA ratings give credence to the notion that Boise State could see three guys go in the draft. Two who could join Casey are tight end Matt Lauter and edge rusher Jayden Virgin-Morgan, who each received grades of 89. Other highly-rated Broncos include running back Malik Sherrod at 88, cornerback A’Marion McCoy with an 87, quarterback Maddux Madsen and safety Ty Benefield at 86 and defensive tackle Braxton Fely at 85.
TYSON MAY STAY STATESIDE
Tyson Degenhart’s first pro basketball stop will not be overseas—it’ll be at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. The former Boise State star signed what’s called an “Exhibit 10” contract with the Toronto Raptors after the draft ended last Thursday. That means a bonus if a player makes the organization’s G League team next season. Degenhart, the Broncos’ career scoring leader with 2,037 points, says he worked out for eight NBA teams and loved every minute of it. All 30 NBA clubs will be at the 11-day summer league, with the Raptors entry opening against the Chicago Bulls on July 11. Degenhart should be in a comfort zone of sorts, as games will be played on the UNLV campus. The first will be in the smaller Cox Pavilion, but some will be played in the Thomas & Mack Center.
A DEGGIE SUCCESSOR?
The transfer portal guys get the attention, but Boise State men’s basketball incoming freshman Spencer Ahrens has his own spotlight right now as he plays for Canada in the FIBA U 19 World Cup. Degenhart is gone, but it sure looks like Ahrens aspires to be like him. As a four-star prospect, he’s the highest-rated player in the 2025 recruiting class. And SI.com’s Bob Lundeberg reports that at the tournament in Switzerland, Ahrens is averaging 10.7 points and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 46 percent from three-point range through three games. Ahrens is a forward who’s listed at 6-10, two inches taller than Degenhart. He’s 230 pounds—same weight as Tyson. Ahrens also had offers from Oregon, Washington and Colorado State before committing to Boise State right before Christmas.
‘AC BOISE’ IT IS
Boise Pro Soccer did it up right last Friday night, revealing the name, team colors and crest for its new entry in USL League 1 next year at the former Les Bois Park. Athletic Club Boise has kind of an “Athletic Bilbao” ring to it, and that was intentional, as the base color for the side will be “Basque Green.” The word “Boise” has a Basque-style font, too. It harkens back 10 years to the event that seems to have made this all possible: the “Basque Soccer Friendly” at Albertsons Stadium, when green turf was rolled out to cover the Blue and nearly 22,000 fans turned out to see Athletic Bilbao beat Club Tijuana 2-1. The crest has everything—a Peregrine falcon lightning bolt, a nod to the state gem, the star garnet, and a kind of a mountain peak at the top and kind of a Treasure Valley shape at the bottom. Well done.
BALLERS ROCK THE HAWKS
The Boise Hawks are trying to come up for air after being mauled by the Oakland Ballers, who won five of six games at Memorial Stadium last week. Boise pitchers allowed a whopping 60 runs over the first four games of that series. The Hawks’ homestand resumed Tuesday night with the first of a six-game set against the Billings Mustangs, who came to town with a 14-22 record. The Hawks got some mojo back with a 12-8 victory. The 19-hit attack included a home run by Max Jung-Goldberg that measured 458 feet, according to the team’s social media. The Hawks are now 21-16.
FROM THE STEELIES TO THE STARS
Former Idaho Steelheads coach Neil Graham has realized a dream, as he’s now on the staff of the NHL’s Dallas Stars. The Steelheads have long been affiliated with Dallas, and Graham has worked his way up through the ranks. He spent four years as head coach in Boise and won 166 games, including three straight 40-win seasons. Before that he was a Steelies assistant for two years after finishing his playing career here. Graham has been the head coach of the AHL’s Texas Stars the past six seasons and led them to the AHL Western Conference Finals last season.
APPROACHING FOUR DECADES
The Albertsons Boise Open has its 40th edition in sight. We know it’ll make it through 39, as it was announced Monday that Albertsons’ sponsorship of the Korn Ferry Tour tournament has been extended through 2028. The Korn Ferry was born as the Ben Hogan Tour in 1990, and the Boise Open is one of just four original events remaining from that first year. It has also donated more to charity than any other Korn Ferry tourney ($3 million in each of the last three years, for example). This year’s Albertsons Boise Open is set for August 14-17—this time it’s the tour’s last event of the regular season.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by BBSI BOISE…payroll, process and prosperity for your business.
July 2, 2020, five years ago today: Another gut-punch to college sports during the coronavirus crisis, as Boise State announces the elimination of its baseball and women’s swimming and diving programs. The university cited sustainability of the athletic department budget as the reason. Broncos baseball had just made its celebrated return four months earlier after a 40-year absence, going 9-5 before the COVID-19 shutdown. The swimming and diving program had been around for 13 years and had won two WAC championships and four Mountain West titles, the last one coming in 2018.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK. He also served as color commentator on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football for 14 seasons.)
