BOISE, Idaho » Hawaii athletic director David Matlin met with his Boise State counterpart, Curt Apsey, for 20 minutes Saturday prior to the Rainbow Warriors football game against the Broncos.

Apparently, Apsey divulged nothing that could help UH very soon, since Boise State did what it always does against Hawaii here: win. But it’s usually not crazily one-sided to the tune of 55-0.

Apsey is about as new to his job as is Matlin, being hired in June (incidentally, announced three days after it was made known his predecessor, Mark Coyle, would leave for Syracuse — how does that happen so quickly, magic? Or maybe three days is the norm, not three months).

Basically, Matlin wanted to pick Apsey’s brain.

"I am excited with the opportunity to spend time at Boise and learning from their successes. I will try to garner as much information from folks about what they have done to achieve at the highest levels in the collegiate football space," Matlin said in an email (which you probably knew, because no one talks like that). "Boise State has obviously been successful in marshaling the support to become one of the nation’s most successful football programs in recent years. I expect I will learn much while here that we can consider as part of our plans to improve our own program."

Although Boise is more isolated than most cities, Apsey probably can’t help Matlin with UH’s toughest challenge: geography.

But there are other things; like how to get everyone rowing together in the same direction. When you walk around sparkly new Albertsons Stadium, you get the impression anyone and everyone in the Treasure Valley pitched in. Everything but the urinals is named for a presenting donor.

Jeff Walker, 51, is a former high school football player and coach from the area, and a Boise State graduate. He’s also the restaurant manager at the Grove Hotel, where the Warriors stayed Friday night. And he also happened to live on Maui from 1982 to 1992, and remembers seeing Hawaii almost beat Notre Dame at Aloha Stadium.

"I think that the success that the (Boise State) football team had became circular," he said. "It affected our area and it came back full-circle. And what happens when you find success like that? Your enrollment goes up. I hire a lot of students here. On our staff of 12 about five or six are Boise State students.

"Football’s success helped the other sports, and not just because of revenue. It attracted good athletes in the other sports."

Business is booming in Boise. Information technology leaders Hewlett Packard and Micron have strong presences here.

Construction is up, and not because they’re building a rail system much of the public doesn’t want or condos for rich foreigners.

Downtown is bursting with new restaurants and shops.

And, eight years after shocking the college football world with its Fiesta Bowl win over traditional power Oklahoma, the Broncos are still humming along on their blue field — the stadium is significantly snazzier though, thanks to all those names on all those nameplates.

"It all happened together at a good time," Walker said. "The Treasure Valley is on an upswing."

And from all indicators, Boise State has built a program that can withstand the downswings, too.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.