Excitement is in the air as the roar of the Bronco faithful and chants of “Boise!… State!” ring loud and clear, but Bronco Stadium isn’t the source of the
pandemonium.
No, the hardwood at Taco Bell Arena provides Bronco fans with their fix of blue and orange from November through February each school year as the men’s and women’s basketball teams are in the spotlight. And with the basketball season brings one of Boise State’s most exciting student clubs, The Corral.
Founded in 2010, The Corral is a student club dedicated to attending every home men’s and women’s basketball games and cheering the Broncos on to victory.
With basketball season fast approaching, The Corral is once again looking for students to bring their energy to Taco Bell Arena and join in on the excitement.
Founding member Tyler Pagel, senior, has a lot of positivity toward the future of The Corral and the upcoming season.
“The Corral is now at the point where we need to take the next step forward,” Pagel said.
The Corral received national attention last season when they performed a flash mob during the men’s home conference game against UNLV. The flash mob gained so much attention that a blog article on ESPN.com was written on it and even got a shout out on Twitter from Kentucky men’s basketball head coach John Calipari.
“Well Boise State almost beat UNLV last night in men’s basketball and their student section did a flash mob,” tweeted Calipari to his 1.2 million followers.
With hundreds participating, the flash mob exceeded expectations.
“For our flash mob last year, we easily had a thousand students standing and chanting,” said Pagel. “We’re going
to do another flash mob this year, lots of free stuff, corral shirts again. We just want people to come to the games.”
Boise State basketball is clearly not the top dog on campus. And with the Broncos having a combined 50-47 record over the last three seasons and only making one NCAA tournament appearance in the last seventeen years (a 79-61 loss to Louisville in the first round in 2008), it can be tough to generate an excited fan base while living in the shadow of a successful football program.
The Corral is on a mission to change the view of Bronco basketball and generate a buzz on
campus.
“We would love to see a thousand students there and we don’t think it’s unrealistic,” Pagel said. “We want to make it as welcoming as possible for students to come down and chant and yell and get rowdy during the games.”
Only being in their third year of existence, The Corral knows they have not reached their full potential.
“We have a lot of plans for The Corral this year,” The Corral President, senior Steven Anderson, said. “We want to build off of last year and continue to build up our student section and make Boise State known for being a tough place to play for our opponents.”
With a new season comes a new opportunity for bigger and better things for The Corral, starting with a kickoff event for students next month.
“Our first planned event is going to take place on Nov. 5 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Jordan Ballroom in the SUB,” Anderson said. “We want to bring students together for the upcoming basketball season and our plan is to try to get Coach Rice, along with some members of the basektball team, together to have a preseason pep-rally.”
As the basketball program continues preparation for the upcoming season, The Corral is not far behind. “We’ve changed the perception already a little bit and we still have a long way to go,” Pagel said. “But we’ll get there.”
The Boise State men’s and women’s basketball teams open up with an exhibition doubleheader matchup on Nov. 2 at Taco Bell Arena when the men face off against Saint Martin’s University and the women take on Lewis-Clark State College.
For more updates, students are encouraged to join The Corral’s Facebook page and follow them on Twitter.
