By Bob
Evancho
In the summer
of 2003, just a few weeks into his presidency at Boise State
University, Bob Kustra was already drawing comparisons
between his new place of employment and the University of
Louisville.
The first
time he did so publicly was in August during his initial
speech to the school’s faculty and staff, when he announced
that one of his top priorities would be to make Boise State
a metropolitan research university of distinction.
“In keeping
with this vision … I asked the Board of Education recently
to allow us to amend our list of peer institutions,” he said
in his address, “and substitute the University of
Louisville, the University of Cincinnati and [Detroit’s]
Wayne State University — institutions, like Boise State,
with missions and roles which are deeply rooted in the
history, politics and economies of their respective
metropolitan communities.”
Fast forward
to December 2004. Kustra has 17 months under his belt at
Boise State’s helm and the school’s football team is
preparing to play Louisville in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl on
New Year’s Eve — the irony of which is not lost on the BSU
president.
“I’d
like to take credit for predicting this whole outcome,” he
said, “but of course it’s a complete coincidence that one
school I asked to add to our list of peer institutions was
the University of Louisville, which would a year later wind
up being our competitor in the Liberty Bowl.”
Coincidence
or not, the game between the unbeaten Broncos and the 10-1
Cardinals has been called a dream matchup, second only, many
say, to the Bowl Championship Series title game between
Southern Cal and Oklahoma. And with this high-profile bowl
contest and a month’s worth of pregame hype comes the
media’s inevitable and obligatory comparisons between the
two opponents, which often extend to the institutions
themselves.
Which brings
us back to those comparisons between BSU and Louisville that
Kustra mentioned in 2003. We have
already heard and read plenty about the nationally ranked
football teams and what they have in common: That the
matchup in Memphis pits Boise blue turf against Kentucky
bluegrass. That the Liberty Bowl will feature the nation’s
top two offenses, two of college football’s up-and-coming
coaches in BSU’s Dan Hawkins and U of L’s Bobby Petrino, and
a pair of programs that were on the cusp of crashing the BCS
party along with fellow mid-major Utah.
But what about the rest of the story?
“The University of Louisville is a great
school for us to look at,” Kustra said. “It is a true
metropolitan research university, and it was a private
school once upon a time just like Boise State.”
But what about the institutions’ most
recent facts and figures? Their academic offerings, their
enrollment numbers and financial figures? To wit:
Enrollment: U
of L — 21,464, BSU — 18,456
Faculty and
staff: U of L — 5,521, BSU — 2,206
Alumni: U of
L — 100,000, BSU — 52,223
Operating
budget: U of L — $573.1 million, BSU — $201.2 million
Foundation
assets: U of L — $475.2 million, BSU — $65.1 million
Research
grants/contracts: U of L — $69.4 million, BSU — $25.5
million
State
resident tuition/fees: U of L — $5,040, BSU — $3,520
Tuition/fee
revenue: U of L — $105 million, BSU — $47.9 million
State support
per student: U of L — $11,139, BSU — $5,451
Graduate
programs: U of L — 60, BSU — 51
Degrees
conferred last year: U of L — 3,629, BSU — 2,850
Athletic
budget: U of L — $31.3 million, BSU — $12.1 million
“If you
look at it in those terms, there is quite a contrast,”
Kustra allowed. “Louisville certainly has got the
jump on us in many areas.” But don’t forget, he adds,
Louisville was established in 1798 and BSU was founded 1932,
which gives the Kentucky school a 134-year head start.
Having served as the president of one of
U of L’s sister institutions, Eastern Kentucky University,
from 1998 to 2001, it’s not surprising Kustra would know
such things. Nevertheless, the parallels to which he refers
have to be more than metropolitan settings and stellar
football teams. Right?
Absolutely, he says. Perhaps the most
important link between the two schools is what the BSU
president calls their growing
“reputational
currency,” a less tangible but equally crucial factor for
institutions like Louisville and Boise State — schools that
have previously functioned in the shadows of larger, more
powerful and prestigious sister institutions but are now
higher education heavyweights in their own right.
“Like Boise State, Louisville is truly
integrated into the life of its community,” Kustra said.
“One of the things that impressed me when I was in Kentucky
was the presence the University of Louisville had not only
in metropolitan Louisville, but also across the entire
state. In spite of the fact that it is not technically the
state’s flagship university, it is empowered by the
tremendous metropolitan economy and ties to the Louisville
community. It really does stand along with the University of
Kentucky as one of the two premier institutions in that
state.”
And now, he says, it’s BSU’s turn.
“Take a look at Boise State and how it
has come up over the years,” he said. “At one time it was
the stepchild of the University of Idaho. No one believes
that anymore and everyone recognizes how we, too, have been
empowered by virtue of this metropolitan economy in
southwestern Idaho, which gives us the credibility, the
reputation and the clout we now have in our state.”
So, here’s what Boise State and
Louisville really have in common: Given where they
have come from in their respective state’s higher education
pecking order, it seems only appropriate that they’re
playing each other in the “Liberty” Bowl.
Bob Evancho is Boise State’s associate
director of communications.
