‘Heart of a lion.’ Boise State’s Presnell checks off another milestone in storied career
At any other time, ExtraMile Arena would have been filled with cheering fans. There would have been a postgame ceremony with congratulatory hugs and lots of photos.
But perhaps what transpired Friday afternoon was more fitting.
In the same way he has quietly and humbly lead the Boise State women’s basketball team to four regular-season titles (2007-08 WAC; 2018-19 Mountain West) and six conference tournament championships (2007 WAC; 2015, 2017-20 Mountain West) over 16 seasons, Gordy Presnell checked off his 700th career victory as if it were just another game.
“It’s been a long run, and I’ve been so fortunate to be around great coaches and great players and have a great wife that is a part of every game,” Presnell said in a postgame Zoom interview. “It’s hard to believe that I’m in the fourth quarter probably of my career and 700 wins is a lot. When you’re starting out you think you’re gonna coach 1,000 games and no one really gets to do that, and I’ve been really fortunate and blessed with health.”
The Broncos defeated Nevada 73-63 in a Mountain West game Friday at ExtraMile Arena to end a four-game losing streak and assure their coach a milestone win.
“We made him wait, and I feel so bad,” Boise State junior Jade Loville said. “I mean, four games we were waiting for that dub to finally make it 700.”
Presnell walked off the court toward the locker room by himself as longtime arena announcer KJ Mac declared Presnell had just won his 700th game. The half-dozen or so fans permitted to attend after testing negative for COVID-19 — including Presnell’s wife, Susan — cheered as loud as they could and clapped their hands.
That was it, and Presnell couldn’t care less.
“He’s so soft spoken, but he has the heart of a lion, and I think that’s something you can really appreciate,” Loville said. “He’s not the loudest in the room. He’s not gonna boast, but you know he’s a confident man. His mentality is hard driven, it’s work driven and he’s taught me a lot just in three years, and I really appreciate him for that.”
In his 34 seasons as a head coach between Boise State and Seattle Pacific, Presnell has compiled an overall record of 700-313 — a winning percentage of nearly 70%. He is 304-186 at Boise State, and has 29 winning seasons in all. He is only the 35th coach in all divisions to reach 700 wins and the 26th fastest to do so.
Presnell-led teams have made 21 postseason appearances, including six NCAA Tournament trips and 10 NCAA Division II Tournament tickets. He’s received coach of the year recognition 17 times.
Winning, he says, is just a product of doing what he loves.
“Getting to be a part of the transition of a kid going from being a dependent to being independent and getting to be a part of that and then watching them go into the world. That is really fun,” Presnell said. “Obviously the wins are fun but the wins let me keep doing the other thing, and that’s watching that transition in life. It’s really a special thing, and I’m just so fortunate to be a part of kids’ lives in this short period.”
Presnell’s first collegiate win, at Seattle Pacific, was a 75-50 victory over St. Martin’s in 1987. At the time, he was working nights loading ice cream trucks just to get by financially.
“I loaded ice cream trucks from 9:30 to six in the morning, and then I’d sleep from about six to about noon and then go to practice,” Presnell said. “We had one scholarship. We drove in vans. I drove vans like crazy. I won’t touch a van now. I have some horrible stories about me trying to chain up a van over Snoqualmie Pass. I mean, I’ve worn chains right through the fenders of vans. And so, times have changed a lot in my 34 years.”
Friday’s win was also significant to Presnell for a more practical reason. Win No. 700 helped the Broncos avoid their first five-game losing streak since the 2012-13 season and break out of an extended shooting funk.
The Broncos shot a combined 47.6% from the field against the Wolf Pack led by a 10-for-17 shooting performance from Loville, who notched a game-high 20 points.
“Practice was difficult this week. We were playing hard, we had a lot of competition at practice, playing five-on-five and just trying to make each other better,” Loville said. “We got a lot of shots up — after practice, before practice — people were really putting in that work. I think it was actually good for us to get a positive out of it. I mean, we flipped the switch and we put in the work and we did what we could to turn it around.”
The Wolf Pack (8-8, 4-7 MW) closed within two points twice in the third quarter, at 38-36 and 44-42, before the Broncos went on a 9-0 run for a double-digit advantage. Loville scored the Broncos’ first two baskets to start the fourth quarter, and 10 in the frame, as the Broncos built as much as a 16-point lead.
Redshirt senior center Mallory McGwire only played three minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, but she still managed to total 12 points, four assists, three rebounds, two blocked shots and a steal. Freshman forward Abby Muse added 10 points, and nine of the 10 Broncos who logged playing time scored two points or more.
The Broncos (9-5, 6-5) face Nevada again on Sunday at ExtraMile Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for noon, and a live stream of the game is available at BroncoSports.com/mwn.
BOISE ST. 73, NEVADA 63
NEVADA (8-8, 4-7 MW)
Da’Ja Hamilton 9-22 0-0 19; Amaya West 4-8 2-2 11; Nia Alexander 3-7 4-4 10; LaPraisjah Johnson 3-5 2-2 8; Megan Ormiston 2-11 2-2 6; Leta Otuafi 2-4 0-0 4; Lexie Givens 2-3 0-1 4; Kenna Holt 0-3 1-2 1; Dom Phillips 0-4 0-0 0; Gabby Rones 0-0 0-0 0; Bethany Carstens 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-69 11-13 63.
BOISE ST. (9-5, 6-5 MW)
Jade Loville 10-17 0-0 20; Mallory McGwire 3-7 5-6 12; Abby Muse 4-7 2-2 10; Anna Ostlie 3-7 0-0 9; Mary Kay Naro 3-9 1-2 8; Kimora Sykes 2-7 0-0 4; Elodie Lalotte 2-2 0-0 4; Alexis Mark 2-3 0-0 4; Rachel Bowers 1-3 0-0 2; Cristina Gil 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 30-63 8-10 73.
Nevada........................ 17 16 15 15 — 63
Boise St...................... 20 18 17 18 — 73
3-point goals — Nevada 2-13 (Hamilton 1-7; West 1-2; Phillips 0-1; Carstens 0-2; Alexander 0-1), Boise St. 5-17 (Ostlie 3-6; McGwire 1-2; Naro 1-4; Gil 0-1; Sykes 0-4). Fouled out — None. Rebounds — Nevada 44 (Alexander 7), Boise St. 32 (Sykes 6). Assists — Nevada 7 (West 2; Hamilton 2), Boise St. 13 (McGwire 4; Naro 4). Total fouls — Nevada 11, Boise St. 14. Technical fouls — None.
This story was originally published February 5, 2021 at 4:22 PM.
