Bronco Olympics: The Real Competition in Fall Camp
For nearly two decades, Boise State football uses Bronco Olympics as team-building as well as a test for adversity faced during the season
Chris Kutz
The first game of the 2025 Boise State football season is 29 days away.
But for the Broncos, the competition started three days ago.
An annual rite, Bronco Olympics is how the Broncos inject friendly team competition into what can be a monotonous experience known as Fall Camp.
“Bronco Olympics is a unity event that ties in all the players and all the coaches,” said Keaton Davis, Boise State football’s operations coordinator and one of the organizers of Bronco Olympics. “Fall camp is such a pressing time for us to get ready for the season, but it's also a time for us to remember we're still a team and where we can do fun things. And so it gives the guys a different way to compete against each other.”
Bronco Olympics has been a mainstay in the Boise State football program since the Chris Petersen era. Head coach Spencer Danielson, who is a mentee of Coach Pete’s, made sure to keep the team-building initiative as part of the Bronco experience when he took over the full-time coaching duties last year.
“It's a good little reminder to just take a step back and enjoy what we have, and the team that we have, and the family,” said Davis. “It builds camaraderie so much more. And I think any previous group of people can attest to that.”
This year’s Bronco Olympics process started in June. The 10 position assistant coaches, who are paired with another assistant coach, enter a staff meeting that is unlike the others throughout the year. A draft is held, establishing the 10 teams who will compete in this season’s Bronco Olympics.
“It's literally like the NFL draft - we make it as fun as possible,” said Davis. “The past couple years, we've determined the team coaches by the order of the assistant coaches that come through the doorway. So if, like, Coach Chins (defensive coordinator Erik Chinander) is the first pick, whatever assistant coach comes through the door first, he's assigned to work with Chins.”
Rules of the draft are simple: coaches are not allowed to select a player from their position group or someone they recruited. It ensures everyone is comfortable with the uncomfortableness of competing alongside someone they may not be as familiar with.
Over the course of three weeks of fall camp, 10 teams - known as Unity Groups - enter four different competitions to settle a winner. Points, called unity points, are awarded on a 10-to-one point scale. The winning team receives 10 points, second place nine points, and so on until the last-place team gets one point.
“If you don't have unity points and you need to win events, you learn to fight back, and that's important for them to know what place they're in and how they need to perform,” said Davis. “And that translates to the field. If we're down a touchdown and late in the fourth quarter, how can they as players bounce back and go win the game.”
This year, the Bronco Olympics kicked off on report day on July 27. In the midst of meetings and check-ins, the Broncos marched over to the Arguinchona Basketball Complex to take to the Aux Gym hardwood and participate in shooting competitions. Players and coaches were forced to come together in a new environment - and somewhat unfamiliar sport.
It started with a game of knockout, trimming the field from 10 teams to five. It was followed by a minute’s worth of free throw competition where the advancing teams were determined by how many free throws were made in 60 seconds. The deciding competition was a game of “around the world” as the final two teams took four shots from one spot on the court, such as from one of the corners, before another set of teammates took shots from the next spot such as the elbow until a final score was accumulated.
Report day can be a whirlwind day, but it’s the first time competition is injected into the schedule. Everyone was put into an unfamiliar situation, while also putting the “athlete” back into “student-athlete” as football players and coaches became basketball players.
“It's good to see (special teams coordinator) Stacy Collins get after it on the basketball court,” said Davis. “It's fun to see (offensive coordinator) Nate Potter talk some trash in dodgeball. It forces them to not be coaches, but also competitors. The players get to see the competitive side of them as a coach.”
The basketball piece was the first of the four events in this year’s Bronco Olympics. The next three are all surprises to the team, leveling the playing field and keeping the Broncos on their toes. Davis, along with chief of staff Charlotte Siegel and head coach operations and program engagement coordinator Bailey Hawkins, help lead in the planning, organizing and execution of each Bronco Olympics event.
Past events are usually showcases of athleticism, such as dodgeball, a home run derby or basketball. But last year, the team competed alongside another set of athletes: the prestigious Boise State Esports team.
The team leaned into the re-release of the EA Sports college football video game and competed in a bracket-style tournament as they played as Boise State - and for the first time, as themselves as their likeness was on display in the game - in the esports team’s downtown arena.
“The esports event (last year) was probably my favorite event that we've done,” said Davis. “I’m a video game nerd myself, and so to work with the esports team and be in their world, and to allow our guys to see their world. To see a Division I college football player step into their world and be like, ‘Oh, this is kind of cool.’”
While there is a winner determined at the end of Bronco Olympics, the Unity Groups carry on into the season. The groups are an opportunity for teammates from different position groups to spend time with one another, such as the normal Wednesday night dinner held at the Bleymaier Football Center during game week.
“Coach D does such a good job of ensuring that we want to care about who we are as people, not just players,” said Davis. “And so you really connect and really get down and have deep talks.”
The Unity Groups are also another phase of intentional team-building in place by Coach Danielson and the Bronco coaching staff. In the spring, they are placed in Connection Groups, allowing for older and younger players to have direct, one-on-one conversations following provided prompts that cover a wide range of topics in and outside of football.
“It all comes back to building those connections, building the relationships, developing the trust,” said Davis, “because you want that guy to have your back when it comes to late in the fourth quarter game, and you've got to face adversity.”
“Coach D does such a good job of ensuring that we want to care about who we are as people, not just players,” said Davis. “And so you really connect and really get down and have deep talks.”Keaton Davis, Boise State Football Operations Coordinator