Behind the glass doors of Boise State’s Esports Arena, the smell of pizza lingers in the halls and loud cowbells sound as a team of focused faces glow from the bright lights of computer monitors.
The award-winning esports team has invited students to compete in video game tournaments against other colleges, participating for over a decade. Specializing in a variety of video games, the team currently focuses on games like Rocket League, Overwatch 2, Super Smash Bros. and Valorant.
Before leading the team, Head Coach Chris “Doc” Haskell previously held coaching positions in other student-focused activities and sports. While the medium may be different, he notes the experiences are similar.
“This was kind of connected to my area of research; games and learning,” Haskell said. “This is like coaching football and band, it’s getting really talented people prepared and on the same page.”
Player on the team Emiliano “Durtho” Flores enjoys the skill component of competing, specifically in Rocket League.
“If you lose, it’s your fault — you didn’t lose to somebody having a better gun or somebody having a better character,” Flores said.
Taking their skills and applying them to the national stage, the team often gets the opportunity to travel for championships. New memories are expected to be made on the road.
“Doc says a lot, especially when we travel across the nation, ‘Remember that time in college?’,” Flores said. “There are a lot of people that work very hard to make this all happen, but it’s really about the memories made and looking back like, ‘Wow, I remember that time in college’. I’m super blessed.”
Reminiscing on unique team traditions, Haskell explained the origin of the cowbell noisemakers at every game, a tradition that began at a Rocket League match seven years ago.
“Some parents brought them in and started ringing them during one of the matches, and we just love that it continues,” Haskell recalled.
The esports team has fostered a community beyond the screens, being even more connected to each other offline.
“There are people who go their entire lives without feeling that camaraderie with a group of people. But it’s when everybody puts down the controllers — no one can ever take away those moments,” Haskell said. “This year, we won our first PEC national championship with [Rocket League] and so it was the huddle after — only five people in the world know what that [feeling] was. …[The team] is family, they’re not a work obligation.”
The teams’ diligence shows. Earned this year, four Mountain West awards for outstanding achievements sit nicely in the entrance to the arena, as well as trophies from years past.
Investing time and energy into their passion, that effort has come back to the team tenfold. Haskell won Coach of the Year for Overwatch 2, Kelsey Moser won Coach of the Year for League of Legends, Austin “Prestige” Julian won Player of the Year for Valorant and the Rocket League team championed against San Diego State in the finals, 4-1. In 2024, Scholars Collegiate Gaming Awards presented Boise State Esports with the Institution of the Year award.
“The real joy is the preparation for the next [match],” Haskell said when asked about the teams’ achievements. “The wins make it sweeter, but the pursuit is the real fun. Even now, we just finished [a match], I’m more excited about the next one than I am satisfied with the one that just happened.”
The team invites students, gamers and non-gamers to check out the Esports Facility on Capital Blvd. Broncos can check out the latest games with high-powered technology such as the RTX 5070 Ti computers found on the arena stage, which help the team “compete at the highest level”, according to Business Development Coordinator Riley Boyd.
“[The Esports Center] is open to everybody. Any one of us is open to converse and give [visitors] the time of day,” Flores said. “People don’t know about [the team], but when they know about it, they love it. The fans that we have are great, and they support us 100%.”
“I’ll be contrarian,” Haskell said when asked the same question. “There are very few people who I meet who don’t know what we do. They may not understand the games fully, but they know that Boise State is playing against Colorado State or Michigan State. They know it’s the Broncos against the world, and they can get behind that.”
Students can watch the teams’ tournaments in person at the arena or on their Twitch and YouTube channels.
“My buddy Emiliano is on the team. He’s the best guy on it, I heard, so we had to come out and support,” said first-time esports fan Brian Boehm at the arena. “[The arena] blew me away. I didn’t know this was such a great setup, the lights and everything is really cool. I’m coming back — no brainer.”
