It’s tee time, Bronco Nation.
With only ten players on their 2025-26 roster, the Boise State men’s golf team may be small, but these athletes are making a name for themselves. Across the first three tournaments of the fall season, the team had a 29-20-2 record. But the men’s golf team at Boise State isn’t just focused on scores and star players; it’s about a love for the game.
Head Coach David Trainor exemplifies that attitude. After earning a four-year letter at the College of Charleston and leading the Akron Zips to an individual MAC championship as head coach, Trainor began his journey at Boise State in 2022.
Over the last three seasons, he’s led the team to five top-three finishes and one victory in 10 regular-season tournaments, as well as an 88-62-3 win-loss record.
But coaching is about more than just achievements for Trainor — it’s about culture.
“Our culture is outstanding, all of their shared beliefs are the same, their shared goals are the same. They root for one another,” Trainor said.
This ‘all for one, one for all’ mentality isn’t just talk. Trainor highlighted a tournament in Santa Barbara where junior Luke Cushman parred the 18th hole and secured the victory, beating out senior Cole Rueck, who was thrilled for his teammate.
“The first person beside me to congratulate him was Cole,” Trainor added. “It’s things like that, I would expect nothing less, but there was zero animosity of Cole being like ‘Oh, I wish I had won’, he might have been as happy as Cush was because his best friend won.”
As much admiration as Coach Trainor has for his players, the feeling seems to be mutual.
“It’s been awesome,” Cole Rueck said of working with Trainor. “Coach Trainor and I both came in the same year. Growing up in golf, I didn’t really have a coach. In high school, your coach does a little bit but not a whole lot, so it was my first experience really having a coach, and it’s just been great.”
With access to 13 outdoor courses throughout the Treasure Valley and an indoor practice space located in the Varsity Athletics Center for the winter season, Trainor said the team’s aim during conditioning is to “practice with a purpose”. Establishing strong players who can handle the attention is a key focus for the team.
“It’s kind of like a Broadway play. Once those curtains open up, you want the person who’s going to have their shoulders back, their head out, they want the spotlight,” Trainor said.
Trainor joked that at his previous institution, he had a player who reminded him of the Lady Gaga song “Applause” because he loved the adrenaline and attention of competing. Trainor explained he still wants “the guy who lives for the applause”.
Cole Rueck just might be the guy for the job. Recently capturing his second consecutive top 10 finish, shooting 7 under and tying for fifth at the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational, Trainor described Reuck as easy to cheer for.
“He’s such an easy young man to root for. As good of a player as he is, he’s a better person — and that’s saying something because he’s a heck of a player,” he said.
For Rueck, golf has never been a have-to type of sport. After his dad started taking him out to the course, he found his love for the sport instantly.
“My dad got me into it when I was two or three because he loved to play. I’d tag along when he went to the course,” he said. “After that, it was just my love of the game that kept me driven, and when I got the opportunity to come here, I didn’t have high expectations. I wanted to get in the line-up and play as many tournaments as I could, but I didn’t have my sights set on trying to be one of the best in program history.”
While some wouldn’t deem golf an especially physical sport, Rueck explained the endurance and stamina are what really take a toll.
“It’s the duration of how long we compete,” he said. “Basketball and football games last two to three hours; we’re out there, including the warm-up, six to seven hours in the heat or the cold rain. That takes a physical toll.”
But golf is not just about the physicality, Rueck noted. It’s a mental game too. “It’s as much mental as it is physical. You’ve got to be constantly locked in; if you take one shot off mentally, it just has such an effect on your score.”
As a senior, Rueck has had time to define his legacy and establish training routines, but sophomore Reese Knox is just getting started.
Knox, known affectionately by his team as “Big Red”, described the team’s relationship as more like brothers than teammates or competitors.
“I look at how other teams are at tournaments and it makes me realize how lucky I am,” he said. “We talk about everything when we’re hanging out outside of golf, it’s usually with everyone, it’s not just one guy with one other guy.”
The last game in Colorado was a special one for Knox, as it was twenty minutes from the golf course he grew up playing on. Even when he’s not on the road playing, he said, it’s easy to root for the other players on his team.
“It’s a competitive sport. Every time you tee up, you want to go out there and beat them, but at the same time, even when guys are on the road and you’re not, you’re supporting them. You want the best for them,” he said.
