Boise State AD Apsey steps down to focus on fundraising; interim replacement named
Boise State Athletic Director Curt Apsey is stepping down from his current role and moving into a university-level fundraising position, the university announced Wednesday morning.
Senior Associate Athletic Director Bob Carney will step in as interim athletic director until a permanent hire is made. A national search will begin immediately.
“It has been a privilege for me to be a part of Boise State Athletics for the past 21 years, both as an athletic director and senior-level administrator,” Apsey said in a statement. “I am extremely grateful to have been able to work with such incredible people while serving our amazing student-athletes that wore the Blue and Orange.”
In August, Apsey said the university was in danger of losing at least $20 million if there was no football season because of COVID-19. In September, the Mountain West announced football season would begin on Saturday, but the Broncos are still dealing with a budgetary shortfall.
In July, the athletic department trimmed about $2.2 million from the annual budget by cutting its baseball and swimming and diving teams, and in September, Boise State announced a second round of furloughs and salary reductions among its athletic staff.
Carney said having an eight-game football season, which includes at least four contests at Albertsons Stadium, will help alleviate some of the budgetary shortfalls caused by the pandemic, but he couldn’t say if any more cost-cutting measures will be coming in the future.
“We’re trying to navigate what all that looks like and it will kind of be a day-to-day process,” Carney told reporters Wednesday afternoon.
Carney joined the department in 2005 and served in several capacities before being promoted to his current role overseeing facilities, operations and budgets in July 2018. He wouldn’t say Wednesday if he was a candidate to fill the role permanently, but he feels prepared for it after learning from Apsey the past 15 years.
“Curt has been a good friend, and he’s done an incredible job here,” Carney said. “You can see the rise of Boise State during his time, a lot of the great success we’ve had and the fundraising he’s been able to do.”
Apsey joined Boise State in 1998 as a senior associate athletic director, working with corporate and individual donors and to improve the university athletic facilities.
He spearheaded the “Initiative for Athletic Excellence” campaign to expand athletic facilities, including Caven-Williams Indoor Sports Complex, the Stueckle Sky Center, the Arguinchona Basketball Complex and the Bleymaier Football Center.
Apsey left Boise State briefly to serve as the Carroll College athletic director in 2014-15. He returned as athletic director in June 2015, replacing Mark Coyle.
“On behalf of our entire Boise State University community, I want to thank Curt Apsey for the tremendous role that he has played in helping our student-athletes achieve unparalleled successes over the past five years,” Boise State President Marlene Tromp said in a statement. “In this new role, he will continue to work on behalf of our athletics department but also can put his tremendous skill set to work for our entire university during this critical time.”
This story was originally published October 21, 2020 at 11:21 AM.
