On April 4, 2013, J.W. Hardy, Boise State director of track and field and cross country, was relieved of his coaching duties immediately and replaced by assistant coach Jeff

Petersmeyer as interim head coach.

Meanwhile, in Ames, Iowa, Corey Ihmels is in the midst of his sixth season as the head coach for both the Cyclone cross country and track and field teams.

Despite Ihmel’s strong ties to Iowa State as a member of the Cyclone’s 1994 NCAA cross country national championship team and four-minute miler in a Cyclone jersey, the Boise State head coach opening intrigued Ihmels.

Boise was always a city he and his wife, Michelle, wanted to move back to after Ihmels spent 1999-2000 training in Boise while competing professionally for Nike.

However, Ihmels had a love for Iowa State, and  the decision to leave was one he went back and forth on for weeks.

“It wasn’t easy,†Ihmels said. “Anytime that you leave your alma mater, a place that not only was I able to have a lot of success there, but it gave a lot to me. It was a place that is special and will always be special to me. It was difficult.â€

Boise was an area he saw he could have success at, not only for coaching but also for his family. After nearly 20 years as both an athlete and coach at Iowa State, Ihmels decided it was the right time for change and accepted the job at Boise State.

“Boise is an anomaly. It really is a sleeping giant,†Ihmels said.

 The summer of uncertainty

Several weeks into the summer of 2013, Boise State cross country runners received an email from previous cross country assistant Brad Wick saying the school had hired a new coach.

Wick’s email was followed by an email from Mark Coyle, Boise State athletic director, stating the school had hired Ihmels as the new head coach.

“There was some mystery over the summer,†senior cross country runner Allan Schroeder said. “Nobody really knew anything and we didn’t hear a whole lot from Ihmels. It was two months of silence.â€

Several weeks before the end of summer, Ihmels emailed his new runners detailing when they should return to school for the the team’s cross country camp.

He then spent the summer building his staff, which includes two members of his staff from Iowa State: Travis Hartke and Grant Wall.

“It was a huge plus to have some of my assistants join me at Boise State,†Ihmels said. “We were able to hit the ground running.â€

 Transitions

Fortunately for the cross country team, the transition from Wick to Ihmels was a smooth one.

“Most distance coaches are pretty chill and go with the flow types,†redshirt junior cross country runner Emma Bates said. “It was a pretty smooth transition for us.â€

Bates was especially excited to work with a coach who had achieved a great deal of success in the past

“He has a lot of credibility which is good for us,†Bates said. “I hope to have the same success running under him.â€

Ihmels felt his previous successes were respected by the team from day one.

“They (distance runners) were pretty eager to jump in and hear what I had to say,†Ihmels said. “I couldn’t have asked for a group that was more ready for change.â€

The team also noted that Ihmels has fostered a much tighter-knit team and a more supportive and confident environment than Wick.

“He has us supporting each other,†Bates said. “Everyone on the team has the same goals now. Supporting each other, encouraging one another and motivating each other was what we really needed.â€

Those goals include an appearance at the national championship and a MWC title.

Early success in Oregon

To the surprise of many, Ihmels included, Boise State’s turnaround progressed quicker than imagined with an astonishing performance at the Bill Dellinger Invitational.

In the first meet of the season, where the entire varsity top seven raced, the men placed second to the University of Oregon and defeated recent national power Portland.

The women placed third behind Bates’ runner-up finish.

“Dellinger was just pure enjoyment,†Schroeder said.

Ihmels was shocked at the Broncos’ dominating performance at the Dellinger Invite. His goal for the fall was to see the program begin to make progress. He just figured it would be in practice, not races.

“My vision is we are going to beat Oregon and we are going to beat Stanford,†Ihmels said. “Those are the teams that we want to compete against because they are the standard. To get there that quickly, I didn’t think we would be able to do that.â€

Schroeder led the men with a fifth place finish and was the first of four Broncos in the top 10.

Bates and redshirt junior cross country runner Marisa Howard led the women with a 2-3 finish in the women’s race at Dellinger.

“It sends a message to the rest of the group what we are about and that’s where we are headed,†Ihmels said. “I think that was one of the biggest things with the distance group this fall, was just getting them to understand that they could be great and that we’re going to have success.â€

 The disappointment of defeat

The Broncos’ impressive season as a team however, would come to a disappointing end on Nov. 15 at the West Region Championships—the semi-final for the national championships.

With two kilometers remaining in the men’s 10 kilometer race, Boise State found themselves second in the team standings for the men’s race—behind Stanford but ahead of Portland and Oregon.

It was in those last two kilometers, with the finishing line growing closer and the thought of getting a team to nationals , that things fell apart.

Oregon closed hard to place four th in the top 20. They placed second as a team—earning the final automatic qualifying bid available.

Portland would also edge out the Broncos, 92-117 to claim the third spot in the West, and take the edge for receiving one of the 13 at-large bids for the national championship.

The next day, the Broncos learned they were the first team left out of the national championship. Only redshirt senior cross country runner Jeff Howard would go to Terra Haute, Ind. after placing seventh in the West Region.

“I felt bad for the group at the end because they did everything they could to get to nationals,†Ihmels said. “To be the first team to not get to nationals, that’s a tough pill to swallow.â€

Ihmels believes had the Broncos qualified, they would have been a top 10, top 15 team.

“It was honestly a bittersweet season,†Schroeder said. “It was awesome to run fast and see the culmination of all the hard work just come to life, but a day later when we found out we were the first team out of nationals, it kind of hurt.â€

The women’s team, with the exception of Bates, had an off day, and finished 10th.

Bates won the race for her third consecutive victory and punched her ticket to nationals, where she placed second.

 Looking ahead

Despite the disappointment of barely missing nationals, Ihmels believes Boise State’s cross country and track and field programs are on the fast track to national success, even if he believes the men’s team will take a step back next season.

The Broncos will graduate four members of their top seven on the men’s side.

“We may have to take a step back next year just because we’ll be pretty young,†Ihmels said. “I think the progress we made this fall exceeded our expectations.â€

For the women, they return Bates, Marisa Howard and freshman Shelby McIntyre in 2014.

“Next year we have a great shot at making it to nationals and winning a conference title,†Bates said. “I think with a couple more incoming freshmen that will help us get to the next level.â€

With the support of the athletic department and school administration, Ihmels sees the Broncos contending not at the regional level, but with top 10 finishes on the national level.

“I think we can do the same things here that we accomplished at Iowa State,†Ihmels said. “The administration and the athletic department want this program to reach high levels and we’re not going to back down from that.â€