WRESTLING: A lesson learned from Boise State leadership

On Saturday hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Idaho Board of Education building in Boise.

They were not protesting pipelines, climate, or taxes. No they were protesting a recent decision made by Boise State University president Bob Kustra, who abruptly canceled the school’s tradition-rich wrestling program earlier in the week, stating that it would be displaced by baseball, Kustra’s prefered sport.

OUR STORY actually begins in the summer of 2015 when President Kustra shared with the media his “pet project” of having a baseball team at Boise State. Boise State athletic director, Curt Apsey, at that time, pointed out this particular discussion dated back to at least the previous year.

In the Idaho Statesman Kustra bemoans the fact that Idaho baseball players have to leave the state if they want to play Division I baseball. The biggest obstacle to Kustra’s pet project? Funds. Baseball at the collegiate level is costly. Very costly. From where could such funds be acquired?

THE FOLLOWING spring, Boise State announced the firing of longtime BSU wrestling coaches Greg Randall and Chris Owens. Although the program had fallen on hard times in the very recent years, the program had produced multiple top-20 finishes, multiple All-Americans, and a pair of Olympians. Next to BSU football, no program at Boise has been as consistently successful as BSU wrestling.

What was equally shocking was the “national search” for a new coach that followed. Coaches with resumes marked by international-level success were ignored. Former BSU wrestlers with community ties, coaching experience and All-American-filled resumes couldn’t get in the door for an interview.

Instead Boise State went with Mike Mendoza, a 14-year coaching veteran at Cal State University Bakersfield. Mendoza had proven himself a quality coach but just didn’t seem to have the same caliber of success or Idaho ties as the other candidates. The choice struck many in the Idaho wrestling community as odd but if anything has emerged in the era of Kustra-Apsey it’s that the Idaho wrestling community will not have a voice in the school’s wrestling program.

NONETHELESS, IN May of 2016, Mendoza resigned his position at Cal State and moved his family, two toddlers and wife, to Boise. And why not? Apsey assured Mendoza that he had the school’s full support. In the months that followed, Mendoza hired former BSU wrestlers Levi Jones and Andrew Hochstrasser as assistant coaches. In meeting with both boosters and the team, Apsey again stressed that the program had the full support of the school, that BSU was like a family, and that he was excited about the future of Boise State wrestling.

Embracing the trust and commitment of the BSU leadership, including their urging to sign national-level talent, Mendoza went about the business of guiding BSU and recruiting wrestlers. While Boise State did not set the wrestling world on fire what became abundantly clear to those who followed BSU wrestling was that it was not only a program on the mend but that Mike Mendoza can coach, lead, and recruit — all to the chagrin of many but maybe none more than the BSU leadership.

After landing two nationally-ranked recruits from Ohio and New Mexico this spring, Mendoza also collected in-state talent, including Sammy Eckhart, a four-time state champion from Fruitland. Oh, and he also led the team to the highest grade point average in program history. And then ... it happened.

AFTER SIGNING coaches to contracts, and six days after signing student-athletes to scholarships, and hours after the program was recognized for its grade point average, Kustra canceled the program. Kustra mourns the timing of the cut but that he and Apsey needed a few months to figure out how to make the announcement.

And after a few months of deliberation what did the $700,000 think-tank come up with for the announcement? They sent a compliance officer to the wrestling room to see if the kids wanted to sign their release papers. You can’t make this stuff up. Following that erratic behavior, Kustra announced that there would be no discussion on the matter as they had been considering it for 2-3 years and that it was time to move forward. Months after hiring new coaches, days after signing kids to scholarships, hours after national recognition for grades, and minutes after a North Idaho recruit was meeting with BSU coaches, the program is over, done, finished. Nothing unusual here, folks, just keep moving on.

IN RATIONALIZING his decision, Kustra relies on a litany of Kustra-isms: claims that don’t quite reveal the whole story. First, he speaks to baseball’s popularity in the Boise Valley, which is true. The unspoken side of that claim is that in Idaho (the state that pays Kustra’s $396,000 salary) wrestling and baseball have roughly the same levels of participation (per NFHS).

Second, Kustra again bemoans the fact that Idaho baseball players have to leave to play D-I baseball, which is true. What he doesn’t mention is that four other colleges in Idaho offer baseball while one (NIC) offers wrestling — although, again, the sports have the same levels of participation. Add BSU to that picture and soon Idaho high school baseball players will have five times as many places to play baseball beyond high school as high school wrestle will have to wrestle — although they have the same participation levels.

Next, Kustra makes the claim that the addition of baseball will put the school in better alignment with the Mountain West Conference. What Kustra doesn’t mention is that no team in the Mountain West Conference is in perfect alignment with the Mountain West Conference. As a matter of fact, not many years back Boise State football was considering a move to the Big East — was that going to help with alignment? Several schools in the Mountain West do not offer men’s track, the four most northern schools presently don’t offer baseball (might geography and climate contribute to this?). Wyoming, Fresno, and Air Force offer wrestling, and the list of inconsistencies goes on but somehow Kustra’s pet project will right this ship.

Kustra then hops to yet another claim, the rumor that the Pac-12 conference might drop wrestling. Generally speaking, educational leaders (and leaders in general) do not act on rumors, especially decisions deemed as controversial as this one. But let’s join Kustra’s gaze into his crystal ball and pretend the rumor is true. Could the wrestling team maybe compete in the Big 12 or would that somehow undermine the school’s alignment as well?

MAYBE THE most disconcerting claim made by Kustra has to do with budget. The school, Kustra laments, simply does not have the funds to maintain both baseball and wrestling. What Kustra doesn’t mention is that D-I baseball is the costliest of all D-I men’s sports, conservatively losing an average of $700,000/year — or more than two times what BSU wrestling lost.

When called out on this, Kustra points out how he has met with Boise Hawks owners and “people of means” who can help with costs. Busy meeting with private owners and “people of means” in the baseball community evidently prevented Kustra from meeting with anyone from the wrestling community over the last three years. Maybe if Kustra had met with wrestling stakeholders like he had baseball stakeholders than funding would ... well, too obvious. Never mind.

Kustra recently spoke confidently about the decision, using the phrase “long term planning.” This coming from a guy whose school signed kids and then cut the program six days later. I am not sure if I should laugh or cry. If you can’t see a week ahead, do you really think you should be throwing around phrases like “long term planning”?

AT THE end of the day, this decision has nothing to do with Boise State and everything to do with Bob Kustra’s pet project. In an interview with KTVB last fall Kustra speaks passionately of baseball, its bonding effect in his own family, and the baseball memorabilia that adorns his office, characterizing himself as the area’s biggest Cubs fan. Likewise, there’s what appears to be Kustra’s lone literary credit where he is quoted about the time commitments of the student-athlete in Kelly Pfaff and Peder Piering’s, The Mental Road to the Major Leagues: A Guide for Rising Ballplayers. I am starting to think this guy likes baseball.

As for those who supposedly oversee Boise State, the Idaho State Board of Education? They have seemingly absolved themselves of the entire issue, quoting policy, stating that such decision-making powers have been vested in BSU leadership. Much like the Kustra-isms used to justify the decision, there is something noticeably missing from the SBOE policy that was sent to me — the next sentence. The next sentence in this policy states that such decisions must be consistent with SBOE policy.

So evidently, committing kids to four-year scholarships and less than a week later cutting that program is consistent with SBOE policy. Hiring wrestling coaches while the school considers cutting the wrestling program is consistent with board policy. The double standard of meeting with stakeholders from one sport and having zero communications with the other is consistent with board policy. The Board representative did point out to me that the scholarships and contracts would be honored. Noble? BSU floods the village and then hands out life jackets and seems to pat itself on the back. In fairness to the board, I question whether they understood the route Kustra took in eliminating the program and the bias that he carried in tow.

The Idaho wrestling community is supportive of baseball at Boise State. Who wouldn’t be — but not like this. If Bob Kustra wants to add baseball then he and Curt Apsey should fundraise for that pet project — without hijacking the dreams of student-athletes from any other sport. Growing a baseball program at BSU should be pursued but Kustra has fertilized the program’s seeds with so much manure, the smell is overwhelming all involved. Ultimately, I believe the Kustra legacy left at BSU won’t be about baseball or wrestling and certainly not the anemic graduation rates but really about making and implementing decisions. His Kustra-isms and decision-making prowess, rumor has it, will be discussed in leadership classes across the Northwest. You can learn something from anybody — sometimes that lesson is what not to do.

Mike Randles is an assistant principal at Coeur d’Alene High, and a former wrestling coach at Sandpoint High.