Connie Thorngren worked at Boise State from 1970-2000. As coach and then athletic director, Thorngren oversaw the transition of women’s club sports into a fully recognized athletics program following the passage of Title IX.
Connie Thorngren attended Butte County High School in the small town of Arco, Idaho. During her sophomore year, she had her first female physical education teacher, who served as an inspiration and role model to Thorngren. After graduating from high school, she went first to Utah State University and then Idaho State University, where Thorngren earned her B.S. in Physical Education. As she advanced in her studies, Thorngren’s focus remained on gender equity and women in sports. She wrote her master’s thesis on that topic: “A Study of the Status and Leadership of Girl’s Athletics and the Attitudes of Teachers of Girl’s Physical Education Towards Girl’s Athletics in the State of Idaho.”
After earning her M.E.D. from Central Washington State College and teaching at secondary schools throughout Idaho, Thorngren got a teaching position at Boise State College in 1970. In her first few years of teaching, Thorngren coached four women’s sports teams: volleyball, track and field, basketball, and field hockey. At the time, women’s sports at the college were practically non-existent and received no funding. She and her students made their own uniforms and carpooled to games, and Thorngren used a storeroom as an office. Despite the difficult conditions, her teams fared well competitively. Although Thorngren had no previous experience playing or coaching field hockey, the Boise State women’s team only lost two of fifty-one games between 1973 and 1975—an impressive record even for a coach with a rich background in the sport.
During the same period, the basketball team became the Pacific Northwest Champions, with a three-year record of thirty wins to five losses. Under her direction, the women’s field hockey, gymnastics, badminton, and softball teams all placed first in the ICWSA (Idaho College Women’s Sports Association) championships.
Thorngren then took a hiatus from coaching in 1974 to work as Boise State’s first women’s athletic director. However, she stepped down from the position to return to coaching basketball full-time in 1978. She continued coaching the team until 1983 when she returned to teaching health, sports skills, and other areas of physical education. She concluded her coaching career with a basketball career record of 171-121.
As she continued to teach classes at Boise State, Thorngren did research on the status of female coaches in Idaho. She wrote papers about why fewer women were coaching women’s sports teams after Title IX was passed, while women were simultaneous underrepresented as coaches of men’s and boy’s sports teams. She also wrote about homophobia in the public perception of female athletes, as well as female athlete’s perceptions about themselves and obstacles to their success. Thorngren continued to advocate for increased funding in women’s sports programs and greater numbers of female coaches on school teams.
Thorngren was inducted into the Boise State University Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993 and retired in 2000. She passed away in 2017.
Sources:
Patricia K. Ourada. The Broncos: An Illustrated History of Athletics at Boise State University. 1994.
Glen Barrett. Boise State University: Searching for Excellence, 1932-1984. 1984.
Written by Rachel Taylor, Summer 2019 intern