Our Staff

Dr. Chris Haskell is the Head Coach and Director of the Varsity Esports at Boise State, 2022 Director of the Year (CECC), 2021 Esports Award Winner, 2020 Collegiate Esports Coach of the Year (NAECAD) and 2020 Esports Director of the Year (NACE). As a professor, “Doc” also focuses developing talented players, casters, and esports professionals. Boise State has national championships in Overwatch and Madden and is widely considered one of the top esports programs with nationally ranked teams in Overwatch, Rocket League, and Valorant.

After 10 years working in the League of Legends esports industry, Kelsey Moser directed her interests in building the developmental ecosystem to the collegiate level as a coach. She has experience scouting, building, and coaching professional esports teams on 100 Thieves and Evil Geniuses in the LCS, growing professional broadcasts, and designing programming to help future athletes excel. As a coach at Boise, she will support the program’s competitors as they continue to strive for titles and success in their future careers.

Veronica Roper (she/her/ella) is our Director of Esports Operations in the College of Innovation and Design, where she has been part of the Dean’s Office team since 2018. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from California State Polytechnic University, and a Graduate Certificate in Conflict Management and a Masters in Public Administration from Boise State University.

Riley Boyd was born and raised in the Treasure Valley. He obtained his udnergrad from Boise State, and then received his masters degree from Missouri Western State University. He has worked in esports and college atheltics for three years, including time in sports information and as an esports director.

Rae Barnes is one of the longest serving members of the Boise State Esports team and handles many tasks related to media production for the program. These tasks can range from running the control room for the program’s live broadcasts, editing together replay clips to post on social media, to producing graphics and advertisements for Boise State. Any bit of content that is released by Boise State Esports has most likely been created, edited, or overseen by them.

While most athletic programs have a sports information director (SID), Jacob Palmer serves as Boise State’s (and perhaps the nation’s) first ESID. He handles most matters relating to PR for the program. He writes news articles, puts out press releases, and maintains contact with various members of the local media for Boise State Esports. When he isn’t serving as the programs ESID, he can often be found on stage as a host and caster for live esports broadcasts.

Dr. Brett E. Shelton has been studying video games all the way back to 2004(ish). He taught classes at the university level in games and simulations for over 15 years. He has received national grants for building technology-based games that transform the way people learn about complex concepts. He was also an early researcher of AR and VR for education, and has published more than 50 peer reviewed articles.