When you think of Boise State athletics you probably think of football of basketball, but the job of running a multi-million dollar budget responsible for 18 different programs takes someone with a lot of vision and patience.
Jeramiah Dickey took over the jobas Boise State Athletic Director just over a year ago. He said he really didn't have time to settle in to the job because there was so many things happening in January.
"I arrive the first time ever because I interviewed on Zoom," Dickey said. "First time to Boise that Sunday I did my press conference and that afternoon I had my first head coach interview so we were off and running and then by Friday we committed to Andy and signed that deal I believe on Sunday and jumped on a plane and was back in Waco to close out my time at Baylor."
Even during his years in Texas, he kept a close eye on the Blue.
"Coming from other institutions in my career I always followed what this place was doing because they were always a level above everyone else," he said.
Dickey spoke fondly of mentors who helped shape his career — including his father.
"My faith, my family, and this job," he said.
And a big part of this job is to elevate all of the school's sports program.
"We've been working on lights at softball working on lights at soccer were working on video boards, upgrading our technology at this space and Extra Mile so in three years we should not look the same."
But make no mistake, football is the center piece. Dickey wants to provide a better fan experience at Albertson's Stadium, starting with the East Side renovation project. When asked about increasing attendance from 36,000 and beyond, Dickey didn't back down.
"If we build it to 50,000, can you fill the place up?" he said. "Let me say this— unrealistic expectations produces epic results, and we're going to be epic. I will never settle so if we can build 50,000, we will get 50,000."
Building a program that can compete for a National Championship every year, regardless of the challenges of not being in a power conference.
"We're going control what we can," he said. "We assume it's going to happen hopefully the playoffs will expand and a Group of Five will have a seat at that table."
When asked about the possibility of a baseball future at Boise State, Dickey said the future is unclear.
"I'm positive, I don't want to say never but there's a lot we need to dig into," he said. "We're doing a tittle nine assessment budget implications facilities there's a lot of moving pieces to that."
The bottom line for the Dickey is simple.
"We're a National program and we have high expectations."
