It's a familiar scene in the business world. A company enjoys great success and decides to sell shares of stock to fund future projects. Since there are few college athletic departments as hot as Boise State University, perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that the Broncos are making their own stock offering.

As Athletic Director since 1982, Gene Bleymaier has overseen the growth of the department, which has been highlighted by the success of its football team. Since moving into the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) in 1996, the Broncos have won nine conference titles. From 1999-2008, they led all FBS programs in overall record (108-20), conference winning percentage (.933) and scoring (41.2 points per game).

But Boise State's success extends beyond the blue turf at Bronco Stadium. The school has finished first or second in the Western Athletic Conference Commissioners' Cup standings four of the past five years. Boise State won four WAC championships in 2008-09 and the wrestling team is the two-time defending Pac-10 champion. In the latest APR ratings, Boise State led the WAC in five different sports.

The 2008 NACDA/AstroTurf FBS Athletic Director of the Year for the West region, Bleymaier came to Boise State from UCLA, where he served as an Assistant Athletic Director. In this interview, he talks about selling stock, emphasizing academics, and college sports' greatest inequity.

AM: Why did you decide to start selling stock in the Broncos this fall?
Bleymaier: We're always trying to figure out ways to get fans and boosters more involved in our program. The Green Bay Packers have sold stock in their team, so we researched their situation, found it fit remarkably well with what we wanted to do, and modeled our stock offering after theirs.

How does it work?
We set up a non-profit corporation, Boise State Broncos, Inc., with a Board of Directors made up of prominent donors, boosters, and supporters of our program. This has worked out nicely because this group was already an inner circle that the president and I consulted with on a regular basis. The Board works with the university through myself and the president to determine capital projects to sell stock for. Then, it will transfer money to the university for our projects.

To start, we've issued 200,000 shares of stock at $100 per share. If all works out, we will generate $20 million.

What do shareholders receive in return?
The stock certificate is very attractive and suitable for framing, and our hope is that all boosters will want to have one in their home or office. Shareholders also have the right to vote on future openings on the Board of Directors at an annual shareholders meeting we'll hold every August.

So far, we've gotten a great response from our boosters and donors. We also think it will help us cultivate new and young donors--we're encouraging boosters to give shares of stock to their kids and welcome them into the Bronco family.

What was involved in setting it up?
It wasn't extremely difficult, but there was a lot of detail work in figuring out the state laws and forming a non-profit corporation. We also had to touch all bases on campus and with our governing bodies to make sure they were comfortable with what we were doing.

What has been the key to maintaining a high level of success in the football program?
It comes down to having great coaches and great support from the community, central administration, and booster club. You must have coaches who can recruit players who want to be successful. Fortunately, as with most of our sports, we have a rich tradition of excellence in football so everyone involved expects to be successful year after year.

How does it feel to go undefeated in the regular season and still not have a shot at the national title?
It's frustrating. The NCAA sponsors 88 championships, but they don't sponsor the biggest one, the Football Bowl Subdivision. We are certainly in favor of a playoff system that would name a national champion.

It's no secret that you have trouble finding teams willing to play you in football. How do you address that?
We will play anybody home and home--in a second. We are also looking for guarantee games as long as we can balance our schedule with home and away games like anyone else. That brings up another issue that goes beyond football--there are no real regulations on non-conference scheduling.

In every league I know of, whether it's professional or otherwise, you play half of your games at home and half on the road. And that's true everywhere except with non-conference scheduling in the NCAA. Then all of a sudden there are no rules.

In basketball, it really gets out of kilter. You can have big schools playing 12, 13, or 14 of their 15 non-conference games at home while other schools might have to play 11 or 12 of those games on the road. And that's a huge disadvantage. In the NCAA, we go to great lengths to level the playing field and yet when it comes to scheduling--one of the most critical areas of fairness--we seem to just turn our backs.

How would you go about changing this inequity?
First, I think we need to talk about it--expose the problem and get people to understand it. This is an issue that would shock the general public if they realized what was happening. We also need to explain to the presidents how it affects our student-athletes.

For example, in basketball, if you're not one of the top programs you might be on the road for three or four games right before final exams in December. These athletes could miss two weeks of class at a critical time in the academic calendar. But if you're at one of the big schools, you play all your games at home and don't miss class. It's a huge student welfare issue that we need to address as an organization.

I've suggested a rule where you can only schedule home and home. If you want to play somebody, you play two games--one at home and one on the road. It's a very simple rule, but it will be difficult to pass because it would impact schools that have enjoyed the system the way it is now.

How do you help student-athletes achieve academically?
First and foremost, we make academics matter. Our athletic department philosophy is based on three core values. The first is the welfare of the student-athlete. The second is academics. The third is compliance. Everything we do needs to start with those core values.

We look for coaches who will adhere to those values, which means making academics important. We then reward our coaches financially if they reach certain benchmarks in graduation rates and APR. When it's important to coaches, it then becomes important to student-athletes.

You're building a track and field facility that will also serve as a home to the city's high school football teams. How did that project come about?
We have four high schools that use our stadium for their football games and track meets, and we also host the city and state track meets. As we looked to expand Bronco Stadium, we decided to move the track out of the stadium. So we purchased 15 acres across the street from the school district, and we're building a new track facility over there, which will also accommodate high school football games.

We've been home to the high schools' football games for over 30 years and we want to continue to do that. But Bronco Stadium has 34,000 seats, and they would obviously prefer a smaller venue to compete in. So the new facility, with seating for about 5,000, will meet the university's needs as well as the needs of the high schools.

When you have so many people involved in a project, how do you get everybody to agree?
We've always worked very closely with the Boise school district. We've shared a number of facilities and continually look for ways to partner with them. For example, we recently renovated an old softball field that the district owned. We put more than $300,000 into the new field and it's now home to our new women's softball team in addition to the high school teams that have always played there. The key is to be creative and develop win-win situations whenever you can.

What did you learn in your time on the NCAA Division I Management Council from 2002 to 2006?
That a bureaucracy can be tough to change. You also learn how to work with people with different viewpoints and how to compromise for the common good. The goal is to not think about just one's individual institution or conference, but to keep in mind the welfare of all student-athletes.

You've raised four children during your time at Boise State. How did you manage the work-life balance?
Probably not as well as I should have. But fortunately, Boise is small enough that I can live close to work, and I don't have to spend a lot of time commuting. I was able to get to my kids' activities in the afternoons, come back to the office, and still get home at a reasonable time.

That was one of the things that attracted me and my wife to Boise. We both grew up in Los Angeles and had the opportunity to work there. But it would have been very challenging to be an athletic director and raise a family there.

Robert Kustra, the President of Boise State, is very active in the NCAA. How do you work with him?
I report directly to him, and I'm part of his administrative council. We interact on an almost daily basis and work hand-in-hand on all the major projects in athletics. I've been very fortunate to have tremendous leaders here at Boise State.

How do you develop a good relationship with your president?
Above all, you need to be honest and up front. Like any manager, I don't like surprises, and I don't want my president to be surprised by issues in athletics. I've found that forthright communication is key.