Title IX Celebration: Connie Thorngren
As part of its year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX, Boise State Athletics is celebrating the rich history of Bronco women in sports. Each month (July 2022-June 2023), the Broncos will feature a select woman or group of women whose contributions paved the way for future generations of female student-athletes, coaches and administrators.
In fall 1970, Connie Thorngren became the fourth women’s physical education faculty member at Boise State. The 1970-71 season also marked the men’s varsity intercollegiate programs competing at the NCAA level for the first time.
Thorngren coached basketball, field hockey, track and field and volleyball. Along with fellow instructors Phyllis Bowman, Jean Catherin Boyles and Pat Holman, Thorngren laid the foundation for Boise State women’s athletics.
In 1974, she became the first women’s athletic director for the Broncos while retaining her coaching duties for basketball and field hockey.
A year later, the Boise State men’s and women’s programs were brought together and Thorngren was named assistant athletic director for women under Bronco Athletic Director Lyle Smith.
In 1978, Thorngren focused solely on coaching basketball, a position she held until 1983 when she returned to the classroom.
Despite being a novice to the sport when she began coaching field hockey in 1970, Thorngren’s teams posted a 75-6-9 record, including a 48-2-1 run from 1973-75.
On the hardwood, Thorngren produced a 179-121 record and reached the 100-win plateau in her eighth season, despite averaging just over 15 games a year. The highlight of her coaching career came in 1975 when Boise State won the Northwest Large College Tournament and was one of 16 schools to advance to the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women National Tournament in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Thorngren was inducted to the Boise State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993.