[Vision2020] BSU President fires one across the bow

[Carl Westberg]

>From the Statesman.....doesn't seem very politic of a university president......
Kustra on the BSU-Idaho football rivalry: No reason to play it, even in BoiseStaff - Idaho StatesmanPublished: 07/27/10Boise
 State president Bob Kustra said he stands behind football coach Chris 
Petersen's statement that his team should no longer travel to Moscow for
 games, Kustra said Tuesday in a meeting with the Idaho Statesman 
editorial board.
The future of the 40-year-old series is in doubt 
after this season's trip to Moscow, with Boise State headed to the 
Mountain West Conference in 2011, while the Vandals will continue in the
 Western Athletic Conference.
"I frankly don't care whether we 
ever play 'em again as long it goes,'' Kustra said. "I don't see any 
reason to do it in Boise, but if somebody sees a reason to do it in 
Boise, fine.
"I guess (Idaho football) coach (Robb) Akey would 
argue that if he upsets Boise State, then that's a really big deal, but 
why is that to Boise State's advantage?''
Petersen said Monday, 
while in Salt Lake City for the annual WAC preview meetings, "Why would 
we (go to Moscow)? I don't think our fans even like to go up there. Most
 of Idaho's fans are in Boise anyway.''
Kustra said he and 
Petersen talked about the issue last month, on the same day Boise State 
was invited into the Mountain West. He said they are on the same page.
Kustra
 said it's a "cultural issue,'' pointing out an article last week in the
 Argonaut, the University of Idaho student newspaper. The headline of 
the article was, "Who do we hate?''
"This is a great example of 
why my wife and I no longer travel to Moscow games,'' Kustra said. "It's
 a culture that is nasty, inebriated and civilly doesn't give our fans 
the respect that any fan should expect when visiting an away team. ... I
 don't think at Boise State you're going to find that, so for me 
personally, when I read what Pete said I knew, I knew.
"For me, 
this is not about football. For me, this is a cultural issue. It's about
 fans having to learn how to treat other fans and universities. What 
bothers me more than anything else, is that the fans are not about 
denigrating our athletic program. ... What bothers me personally is the 
denigration of our academic programming. That's what I simply can't 
tolerate.
"I've seen rivalries all over America, Oklahoma-Oklahoma
 State, Texas-Texas A&M, Kansas-Kansas State, but you can go inside 
those rivalries and you'll find all kinds of slams and digs and 
whatever, but I've never seen the nastiness aimed at the quality of our 
academic program that I find here in Idaho from the University of Idaho 
Vandals and as long as that goes on, why would I want to encourage a 
game where people don't know how to act like grownups?''

 		 	   		  
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