By james art 
BOISE — A month ago, Nora Hyde was like most other Boise State student-athletes. The 20-year-old attended her visual arts classes, enjoyed drawing and taking photo shoots around the Treasure Valley and preparing for her sophomore season with Boise State’s beach volleyball team.
Hyde still enjoys doing these things, but her life has also changed dramatically. She’s been stopped on the street by people wanting to take her picture, has gained nearly 9,000 followers on her Instagram account, and recently taught rock band Simple Plan how to play volleyball at a music festival in Las Vegas.
She’s still the same Nora Hyde — except she’s also an Internet sensation known as “the goth beach volleyball player from Boise State.” And she is a woman who is taking advantage of sudden fame to try to help her teammates, the program and other young athletes.
Hyde went viral on social media in early October after a college sports account came across a photo of her on Boise State’s roster page. Hyde wears a face of white makeup, black eyeliner with large wings and a thick septum ring, and her hair is dyed hot pink on top and fringes.
“It was really weird, it was just shocking,” Hyde said in an interview with the Idaho Statesman as he recalled his many minutes of fame. “I didn’t know what to do, but I knew everything was going to change for me.”
She was not wrong. Life really changed for Hyde. The NCAA’s decision a few years ago to allow athletes to monetize their name, image and likeness led to unexpected opportunities.
About a week after going viral, Hyde released her first items — graphic tees, sneakers, and hoodies with her picture on the front. The graphic tee quickly skyrocketed to be the No. 7 best-selling item in the first week of October, according to The NIL Store. (The Broncos aren’t doing too badly selling merchandise — two of the top five selling items during the same period featured Boise State football player Ashton Janty.)
After that, other NIL deals started rolling in for Hyde. Fashion chain Hot Topic flew her and her best friend to Las Vegas the weekend of October 19-20 to attend the When We Were Young music festival.
While there, she hung out with some of the bands, including Simple Plan, who wanted to meet her and shoot a promotional video. Meanwhile, the group members were given a lesson in the basics of beach volleyball.
“It was really cool to meet everybody,” said Hyde, wearing a Hot Topic hoodie during the interview with the Statesman. “And I was there with all the bands. Everyone was super welcoming, super nice. I also had a lot of freedom to see all the bands perform and just be there and enjoy them.”
She has also been in talks with brands such as canned drinks company Liquid Death and sunglasses company Pit Viper.
With the latter, Hyde worked to get shades for his teammates. “I think (getting teammates involved) is one of the biggest things,” Hyde said. “I think for our sport as a whole, I like the support that has been shown to the team and even to beach volleyball as a whole.”
Hyde said she’s not much for money and fame — if nothing else, she’d be happy to just get on with college without any of that happening. But she wouldn’t replace the positives of the experience, like having people “reach out and tell me how inspiring I am.”
“How they’re also an alternative athlete and that it’s great to see representation,” Hyde said.
The spotlight that has been on the beach volleyball team over the past few weeks has also been very positive, said Hyde, who is from Bothell, Wash., just outside of Seattle.
A post on the X social media platform highlighting the team’s sophomores, including Hyde, garnered 3.5 million views and more than 11,000 likes. A post from last weekend about the team’s Surf City Challenge match in California, featuring Hyde in the artwork, saw 3.1 million views and more than 30,000 likes.
Hyde and junior teammate Aris Vetter won their respective pools at the two-day event. Fans looking to watch Hyde and the rest of the beach volleyball team will get their only chance of the fall semester this weekend.
Boise State hosts the third annual City of Trees Classic with competition at the Boise State Beach Volleyball Complex beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. Sunday.
Boise State coach Allison Voigt described the 6-foot-6 Hyde as “a very good offensive player.”
Hayd was recently named the Spokane AVCA Pairs Offensive Player of the Tournament.
“She’s a very good blocker, she’s very good at reading the net attackers,” Voigt said. “And she’s just a big presence, so it’s really hard to play around her.”
Of course, when you think of beach volleyball, Idaho isn’t first on your mind. This weekend’s tournament will feature morning temperatures around 40 degrees, with a chance of rain.
But the Broncos’ beach volleyball team, not even a decade old, is making strides — Boise State’s move to the Pac-12 Conference in 2026 could also provide a boost. Boise State is the only school heading to the new Pac-12 with a beach volleyball team.
It became an NCAA sport recognized in 2010 and the Broncos now play in the Southland Conference with the likes of Texas A&M Corpus Christi and New Orleans. Echoing the maxim that any publicity is good publicity, Hyde is hopeful for a positive future.
“Beach volleyball at Boise State has already grown tremendously in at least the last two years since I’ve been here,” Hyde said. “But I’m very excited for it to be seen more and to grow even more.”
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