Boise
State
has hired J.W. Hardy as the man to guide the Broncos to the next level of
the national track and field scene, Athletic
Director Gene Bleymaier announced Friday afternoon.
Hardy will replace Mike Maynard, who stepped down to
go to UCLA. Hardy, the head track
and field coach and director of cross country at
Northern Arizona
, comes to
Boise
State
with excellent credentials.
Last season, Hardy’s NAU team was sixth in the
nation at the NCAA Championships while the women finished 23rd.
Northern Arizona
was just ahead of teams like
BYU,
Alabama
and
Oklahoma
State
. UCLA was 25th.
The Lumberjack women finished just ahead of
Iowa
and
Nebraska
. Neither of the
Boise
State
teams finished in the Top 25. Hardy
has led his team to three other Top 10 finishes—in 2007, his men’s and
women’s teams finished fourth and seventh respectively and his 2006 women’s
team was 10th.
Hardy has led his team to 16 Big Sky Conference
Championships. His student-athletes
have earned 18 All-American awards, 107 Big Sky Conference individual
championships, have set 22 school records and seven Big Sky records in the last
five years. In addition, his
student-athletes have received over 60 All-Big Sky academic awards with his
program averaging a 3.0 grade-point average.
"I'm very excited about the
opportunity to work with the student-athletes at
Boise
State
and look forward to the challenge
of moving the program to an even higher standard of excellence," Hardy
stated. "I want to thank the administration at
Northern Arizona
for providing me the opportunity to
grow as a coach, which has made this new opportunity at
Boise
State
possible."
Coach Maynard built
Boise
State
into a national power in track and
field. Coach Hardy begins work
Monday to take the program even higher.
Welcome to
Boise
, Coach Hardy!