[Vision2020] BSU President fires one across the bow

Tue Jul 27 16:29:51 PDT 2010

Actually, the unfortunate animosity has not been a one way street.  Neither side has clean hands.  The response to this will be interesting, as there is much intermarriage between the two schools, both literally and figuratively.  Could make for some interesting family reunions in our state.  I'll probably have to disown my BSU graduate niece now.  BTW, here is the response from President Nellis............“I was disappointed to learn of President Kustra’s reported remarks 
during his meeting with the Idaho Statesman editorial board. I’m sorry 
to hear that Bob feels so negatively about his visits to Moscow. Both 
the University of Idaho and the city of Moscow take great pride in the 
friendly, welcoming and warm environment that a quintessential college 
town like ours can uniquely provide. 

“Bob is right that athletic
 rivalries bring out passion in people for their alma maters; I’ve seen 
this first-hand between national rivals like West Virginia and Pitt, or 
Kansas and Kansas State. And I’ve experienced this here in our own state
 – both positive and negative. People with passion for their institution
 can say and do things that they regret. It’s unfortunate that this 
happens and all of our institutions should work to ensure that we don’t 
accept this unacceptable rhetoric. Late last week, I reached out to Bob 
to let him know that I was personally disappointed in the student 
opinion piece published by our student-run newspaper. I shared that 
disappointment with the Argonaut editorial board as well. 

“In-state
 rivalries are meant to be fun. Our long-time rivalry with BSU is 
important to the state, the economy, and the fans from both teams. We 
embrace and celebrate that rivalry and I very much hope it continues. It
 goes without saying that we value our relationship with Boise State 
both on the field and court and in the many ways in which our two 
institutions work together to serve our state and its citizens.”

From: reggieholmquist at u.boisestate.edu
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:34:18 -0600
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] BSU President fires one across the bow
To: sunilramalingam at hotmail.com
CC: bear at moscow.com; idahovandal1 at live.com; vision2020 at moscow.com

Win at football.

I keed, I keed.
Seriously, though.  I just transfered up here from BSU, and I think the animosity exhibited by UI boosters toward BSU in general is kind of silly.

-Reggie

On Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 4:30 PM, Sunil Ramalingam <sunilramalingam at hotmail.com> wrote:

What have they done to achieve this?

Sunil

From: bear at moscow.com
To: idahovandal1 at live.com

Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:16:32 -0700
CC: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] BSU President fires one across the bow

Carl,
This is a surprise to you?  Just look at a comparison between not just athletics  but also academics at both schools, and you'll see that Boise State is planning to, if it hasn't already,

become the premier flag ship university in Idaho. And we have "US" to thank for it........

On Jul 27, 2010, at 2:31 PM, Carl Westberg wrote:

>From the Statesman.....doesn't seem very politic of a university president......
Kustra on the BSU-Idaho football rivalry: No reason to play it, even in BoiseStaff - Idaho StatesmanPublished: 07/27/10

Boise State president Bob Kustra said he stands behind football coach Chris Petersen's statement that his team should no longer travel to Moscow for games, Kustra said Tuesday in a meeting with the Idaho Statesman editorial board.

The future of the 40-year-old series is in doubt after this season's trip to Moscow, with Boise State headed to the Mountain West Conference in 2011, while the Vandals will continue in the Western Athletic Conference.

"I frankly don't care whether we ever play 'em again as long it goes,'' Kustra said. "I don't see any reason to do it in Boise, but if somebody sees a reason to do it in Boise, fine.
"I guess (Idaho football) coach (Robb) Akey would argue that if he upsets Boise State, then that's a really big deal, but why is that to Boise State's advantage?''

Petersen said Monday, while in Salt Lake City for the annual WAC preview meetings, "Why would we (go to Moscow)? I don't think our fans even like to go up there. Most of Idaho's fans are in Boise anyway.''

Kustra said he and Petersen talked about the issue last month, on the same day Boise State was invited into the Mountain West. He said they are on the same page.
Kustra said it's a "cultural issue,'' pointing out an article last week in the Argonaut, the University of Idaho student newspaper. The headline of the article was, "Who do we hate?''

"This is a great example of why my wife and I no longer travel to Moscow games,'' Kustra said. "It's a culture that is nasty, inebriated and civilly doesn't give our fans the respect that any fan should expect when visiting an away team. ... I don't think at Boise State you're going to find that, so for me personally, when I read what Pete said I knew, I knew.

"For me, this is not about football. For me, this is a cultural issue. It's about fans having to learn how to treat other fans and universities. What bothers me more than anything else, is that the fans are not about denigrating our athletic program. ... What bothers me personally is the denigration of our academic programming. That's what I simply can't tolerate.

"I've seen rivalries all over America, Oklahoma-Oklahoma State, Texas-Texas A&M, Kansas-Kansas State, but you can go inside those rivalries and you'll find all kinds of slams and digs and whatever, but I've never seen the nastiness aimed at the quality of our academic program that I find here in Idaho from the University of Idaho Vandals and as long as that goes on, why would I want to encourage a game where people don't know how to act like grownups?''

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