For the first 31 seasons of Boise State football, the Broncos competed at the two-year junior college level.
Under head coaches Dusty Kline, Max Eiden, and Harry Jacoby, the Broncos only saw modest results.
In the early 1940s, the program was disrupted by the outbreak of World War II—in 1941, coach Jacoby was called into Army service, forcing George "Stub" Allison to fill in for the remainder of that season.
In 1946, with the war over, the program returned under Jacoby, and in 1947 first-year assistant Lyle Smith was promoted to head coach.
It was also Smith's final year as a coach, as he moved full-time into the athletic director role at Boise.