New Boise State AD Curt Apsey "answered some hot-button questions" this week, including the school's prospects of joining a Power 5 conference, alcohol sales at events and the possible expansion of Albertsons Stadium, in a Q&A with Chadd Cripe of the IDAHO STATESMAN. Below are excerpts from the interview:
Q: What is the plan when you take over a program?
Apsey: I don’t believe in going about it where it’s Curt Apsey’s plan, take it or leave it. I really want input from our staff and our coaches -- then you can develop some kind of road map or strategic plan going forward. ... That’s very time-consuming, but what it does is it allows me to get a better feel for what this place is about right now.
Q: What does Boise State do well?
Apsey: Other than marrying my wife and having my kids, going to college was the greatest time of my life. I want to make sure kids that come here to Boise State walk away saying, "That’s the best four years I’ve ever had." I think we provide that.
Q: What's an area where Boise State needs to improve?
Apsey: We always can do a better job of customer service. We talk about that a lot because we are so reliant on community support to make this place go and it’s as easy as just saying "thank you" every time you see somebody walking by or saying "hello."
Q: How can Boise State keep increasing its revenue?
Apsey: We certainly need to grow our membership in the Bronco Athletic Association. We continue to do a really good job from a corporate sales standpoint, and that number can always climb. ... We need to improve in our fund-raising reach. We’ve got a lot of folks who have helped us over a long period of time and there’s new people coming into this Valley because Boise is such a great place to live and we’ve got to extend those arms.
Q: What kind of stress does the financial pressure put on the department?
Apsey: I don’t think the Boise State athletic department is ever going to say we have enough. If they did, that would probably be a first in college athletics. ... Once in a while we have game-changer gifts, but for the most part it’s this continued effort from this community to support our teams and buy tickets and believe in what we’re trying to do.
Q: What’s your take on the right time to add seats to Albertsons Stadium? (Home attendance has dropped 5 percent over the past two seasons).
Apsey: We’ve had stadiums that have increased 10,000 to 15,000 seats and went, "Uh-oh, that wasn’t a very good idea." ... Until we’re at a point seat-wise where you cannot get a ticket here, to me, I think you have to be very cautious about how many seats you have.
Q: What are your thoughts on eventually selling alcohol in the stadium?
Apsey: I have not had any discussions with anybody about serving alcohol inside Albertsons Stadium. I’m not aware of a plan to do that in the future. Will that ever happen? I don’t know.
Q: Is there something Boise State should be doing proactively with rumblings about possible Big 12 expansion.
Apsey: There’s a misconception that we choose that option. You have to be invited. ... And we need to continue to focus on being a championship program in the Mountain West. ... If there is ever a time a conference decided to expand, you always want to be one of the schools they’re considering. That has nothing to do with us wanting to leave the conference we’re in (IDAHO STATESMAN, 8/20).
