Boise State loses Athletic Director

Boise State announced Friday that athletic director Mark Coyle was leaving the athletic department to accept the same position at Syracuse University. In addition to the Syracuse opening, Coyle had also applied for the athletic director opening at Oregon State where it was announced earlier this week he was runner up.

Coyle was hired as the Broncos athletic director on Dec. 1, 2011, following the firing of former Boise State AD Gene Bleymaier. Bleymaier was released after the university athletic program was cited by the NCAA for a "lack of institutional control" and had received a number of sanctions in five of its sports that culminated by being placed on probation. That probation expired last September.

Coyle guided the Boise program back into compliance. While the Broncos were already a power when Coyle took over, he is credited with keeping Boise State among the elite football programs in the country. He made critical coaching hires in a number of sports, including securing football head coach Byran Harsin.  Coyle will be walking into a similar situation at Syracuse as he faced with at Boise State. The Syracuse athletic department was just placed on five years' probation for NCAA violations and he will need to bring that program into compliance as well.

"Mark has accomplished a great deal in his time as Boise State’s director of athletics, and we wish him, (his wife) Krystan, and their family every happiness and success," Boise State president Bob Kustra said in a statement.

No names of a possible replacement for Coyle has been floated, and an interim athletic director at Boise State has not been named.