The Untold Story of the 1994 Boise State Bronco Football Season
From the voice of Jarett Hausske, Co-Captain
Coming off the worst season in Boise State Football history with a disheartening 3-8 record, the 1994 team faced low expectations, projected to place 5th in the Big Sky Conference. Head Coach Pokey Allen and his staff had recruited some promising new players to fill key gaps, but most of the leaders were returning from a team that had barely scraped together a win the year before.
So, how did the 1994 Broncos go on to claim the Big Sky Championship, compete for the National Championship, break a 13-year losing streak against in-state rival Idaho, and
pave the way for Boise State's rise to the Big West Conference just two years later?
Until now, the full story has never been told.
November 21, 1993
The night after another crushing defeat by the Idaho Vandals, my roommate, close friend, and future co-captain Joe O’Brien and I decided we’d had enough. We called a players-only meeting under the stadium with the teammates who’d be returning the following season.
Along with the other ‘rising seniors,’ it was now our team, and we were done with the mediocrity. No more losing. No more bad behavior. No more bad actors who didn’t put in the work or buy into the vision. The trajectory for Boise State Football was about to change, and we would be the ones to make it happen.
Unlike the modern-day Boise State Football facilities, we didn’t have a fancy media room with cushy cinema seating. Just a dank, musty, windowless space under the cold concrete bleachers, with plastic chairs and an old portable TV to review game film. But that didn’t matter. Football wasn’t a luxury for us; it was oxygen.
The message was simple: everything was about to change. Come hell or high water, we would be a championship team. No longer would we be 80 individual players; we would become one force, bound by sweat, blood, and sacrifice. We would hold each other accountable. But more importantly, we would have each other’s backs. We had 286 days until the 1994 season opener, and we were going to use each and every one of them—stacking one winning day onto the next, and the next, until our actions matched our ambitions. We made it clear: we would never lose another game on the Blue turf, and we definitely wouldn’t lose another game to Idaho. Ever. Before we ended the meeting, Joe pointed to the door. If anyone wasn’t fully committed, this was their chance to leave.
The silence was deafening. Nobody moved. The brotherhood had begun. And so did the work. Under the guidance of our Strength and Conditioning Coach, Joe Kenn, affectionately called “Big House,” we began “stackin’ days.” If Big House wasn’t in someone’s ear pushing them on, one of the seniors was. No missed reps. No half efforts. Nobody was off the hook.
January 10, 1994
Throughout the season and over the holidays the coaching staff had been busy recruiting several junior college transfers to fill essential roles that couldn’t wait until August. Those recruits were greeted on day one, with the same players-only meeting in the same dark, windowless room. Time for indoctrination.
Unlike previous years, there would be no hazing, no ‘earning’ respect. No posturing or petty antics. Just straight talk about our ambitions and commitment to one another. These new players were brought in to win starting positions, many in direct competition with others in the room. But we made it clear: we would welcome them with open arms, teach them everything we knew, and rise together. If it meant losing our own positions, we’d do it knowing it was for the betterment of the team. The brotherhood was crystallized.
May 31, 1994
Under Big House’s watchful eye, and in partnership with a hands-on coaching staff, we kept grinding through the winter and spring. Leading into the summer break, Big
House asked the seniors to write letters to our fellow teammates, with the hopes of inspiring and motivating them over the months to come. Each letter was written with an intensity and
passion that had become our collective identity. Mine was titled: To the 1994 Big Sky and Division I-AA National Champions (see below). Given all the work we’d done over the last six months and the intentions we set, this title was written with complete sincerity and received with complete conviction. It was only the press that found it surprising and prescient (giving it more attention than it deserved) when it surfaced and published days before we played for the National Championship.
August 9, 1994
Another group of new junior college recruits and freshmen arrived for two-a-days, and just as before, we were the first to meet them with the same players-only
meeting in that same musty room. Expectations were set. The brotherhood was now complete.
September 3, 1994
The night before our first game, and every Friday night after that, we gathered as players-only under the stadium, continuing the momentum we’d built over the prior 286 days.
The previous season, it often felt like players weren’t showing up to games fully focused. Friday nights were usually filled with distractions—family and friends arriving in town, demanding of players’ time and energy between the afternoon walk-through and gametime the following day. So we decided that, after dinner and family time, football—and specifically the job at hand—would be the last thing on everyone's mind.
At 8 p.m. we met under the stadium to watch highlights from the previous week and set our intentions for the game ahead. The seniors led the conversation, but it was an open forum for anyone inspired to speak. The intensity in those meetings was palpable. Each night ended with a rousing prayer led by Cliff Robinson, one of our defensive linemen and our self-proclaimed team minister.
When we stepped out of that room into the dark, empty stadium at 9 p.m., we felt invincible. Success felt inevitable. And some unfortunate team was about to face a united force they never saw coming.
September 4-December 17, 1994
From this point forward, the story is well known. Our team fought as underdogs to win 12 out of 13 games, earning our place in the National Championship. Though we fell 14 points short of our ultimate dream, the journey was nothing less than extraordinary. Our coaching staff crafted brilliant game plans and set the tone at practices, while our fans showed up in droves, their cheers fueling our every play.
The season’s headlines echoed words like “Miracle Season” and “Boise State on a Magical Carpet Ride.” But to the players in that locker room, it was no miracle. It was intentional, if not inevitable. We set our goals, put in the work, held each other accountable, and had each other’s backs. Every Saturday, we walked onto that field ready for battle, driven by an unshakable confidence that we’d be the last ones standing. We were a force to be reckoned with—a brotherhood that defined the undeniable power of unity.
November 9, 2024
The players, coaches, trainers, and key media figures from that era will be descending on Bronco Stadium to celebrate the 30th anniversary of that unforgettable season. We will be cheering on a Bronco team that seems to imbue many of the same characteristics, as they march towards the football playoffs. And just like in January of 1994, we will embrace each other with open arms. Reunited by friendship, love and passion. Knowing that the power of brotherhood lives on. And always will.