Idaho Football is at a Crossroads…Again

[@BrokenGoldfishFilms]

Love the vandal coverage! Sad to see Eck go, but do hope he does well at New Mexico, realistically we were never gonna keep him with this level of success at the D2 level

[@thetouchback]

Completely agree. It is also far better for a coach to be hired away by a bigger program than to have to fire one.

[@ez_febrezey]

Love the Idaho content!! Please keep it up!

[@Vandal-ml3mb]

Loved the Dennis Erickson reference at the end!!! 🤣🤣🤣

[@whalesequence]

This sounds like being a Raiders fan

[@noahkowatsch7391]

Brother we’ve won 3 potato bowls in over 100 years of football, it’s been rough lol

[@collin9324]

I’m a lifelong Boise State fan, but I also enjoy seeing the Vandals have success. I just really hope they can figure something out so they can keep representing the state. I think if they hire on a new HC and they default back to having a losing record then they need to make some serious changes, like maybe firing their AD for an example.

[@ezekielloseke5514]

I’m a lifelong Boise State fan. Ten years ago, I’d have reveled in the probable regress to the mean of Idaho Vandal football. But even I am sick of laughing at Idaho’s failures. It’s getting sad, and without Eck what will Idaho do? Rehire Tom Cable?

[@cedricbelleblazerfan]

Hey man can you do a video on UAB football. Is currently going downhill in Birmingham and your coverage would be great.

[@thetouchback]

I'm still confused as to why Bryant Vincent wasn't given the job full-time, especially considering how he managed to drag Louisiana-Monroe to five wins this year (including stomping the Blazers). Meanwhile, Dilfer is giving strong McCaffery at Northern Colorado vibes. UAB will be on my to-do list for early next year.

[@cedricbelleblazerfan]

@ lol the whole thing is confusing to our fanbase😂

[@24vand]

The current AD at Idaho does not inspire much confidence in me. As mentioned in the video she: Let the football coach drive the program into the dirt so his 5’9 son could play QB Fired the long term although somewhat mediocre MBB coach and replaced him with his 3rd assistant coach and let that guy drive the program into the dirt. Also: Ran off the long time WBB coach and replaced him with maybe a decent coach but then never got the coach actually sign the contract and she bailed after year. Although the AD managed to face plant into what seems to be a good season so far for the WBB team. Hired a good football coach and gave him an extension but left a low buyout in place so he could get easily poached away. Then volleyball……oh boy was/is that a debacle. How does a low visibility sport like volleyball turn into such a side show.

[@pursang6792]

I love the Kibbie Dome but its 15,250 capacity can be a problem if you want to go FBS. Minimum attendance to remain in FBS is 15,000. Looking around it appears that they had around 6,890 to a little over 10,000 fans during the FBS years. I checked and this requirement is for home games only. So this would require sellouts every game which could be hard to do. I don't know how UI stayed in FBS with those attendance figures before but if the NCAA gets picky attendance could be a problem. Plus it now costs $5M to move up to FBS now, up from $500K so that's another thing to think about. I think UI fits perfectly in FCS since the Montana schools and ISU remain in the Big Sky. We'll see though I guess.

[@isa-mf5vq]

Attendance minimums aren't a thing anymore, there were 15 teams in the FBS this year with under 15,000 attendance. It's just a money issue, if it's ever financially beneficial to go back they will.

[@pursang6792]

@@isa-mf5vq You are correct and I appreciate the correction. I did check to see what the requirements were and nothing came back saying it was no longer a requirement. When I searched under "was it still a minimum attendance requirement" then of course it came back with what you noted. Well I learned something so thanks!

[@thetouchback]

And just to add, Idaho got around those requirements back in the day by playing some home games at Martin Stadium in Pullman.

[@georgeblangfordjr.1771]

Except for UC Davis football team,they are still playing in the Big Sky Conference and and their basketball team is going to the Mountain West

[@joelacord]

It’s hard to see the brighter side of what will come. Was at UI during part of the Akey and then Petrino eras and it was an embarrassing time to be a vandal. Eck did a lot for the program in a short time and my family went to every home game this season and two away games. If we go back to what was before, I cannot stomach going to the games. It’s way more than just being a loyal fan. Gawlik did nothing to keep him when they renewed his contact. Keeping base salary at $175k was a slap in the face. He’ll never make millions in FCS, but that was plain arrogance or maybe she doesn’t even care if he gets ran off. Then lots of talk from the administration of upgrading facilities, but no action or timeline to do so. Hoping for the best, but losing all key players and starting from scratch is hard to by optimistic about.

[@gakster29]

I remember the Kibbie Dome well...I got into my first car collision on the road right next to it getting in my car to go back to Pullman after Philosophy of Language. lol

[@thetouchback]

I was all about the free Moscow-Pullman shuttle bus or whatever it was called. There were definitely times when it seemed the service's only function was shuttling a handful of Idaho philosophy students to Wazzu and back.

[@gakster29]

@@thetouchback Yeah, the first year I was there I took the bus a lot because we had people in the MA program going back and forth. When they cut the program that summer (I was allowed to finish), it wasn't as fun and inconvenient with the schedule. It was seeing my current grad school team (UAlbany...going on 10 years there 😵‍💫) knock out Idaho last year. I was thinking "hey, I got into car accidents in eye sight of both their stadiums!"

[@Em-Jayyy]

I don't get the Vandal fans that want to go back to the FBS level. I like the Vandals and Moscow is a great town but we have to be honest about how rough it was when they were an FBS team. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see Idaho in CFB 25 but they feel at home in the Big Sky. They have some great rivalries in a regional conference that they can easily compete in. Whatever the Vandals do, I just hope they can find a place that feels like home. Side note, I loved hearing the digs at Doug Wilson

[@razzlejazzled]

Rationally I understand being in the Big Sky. Emotionally though, we were in the WAC when I was a student. Those schools that were in the WAC circa 2010 are the ones I naturally think of when I think of athletic peers (not just in football). Based on my experiences as a student the Big Sky most certainly does not feel like home, the WAC does. (Yes, I know the WAC is completely different now, and yes, I know we likely will never be in a conference with any of those schools ever again. Emotions are fickle things and that knowledge doesn't change mine.) Again though, rationally I understand things. There is a part of me that looks at NMSU and can't help but be bitter. They were in the same boat that we were, but they found a way to make it work while we just gave up and self-relegated. I totally get why people who were students during the old Big Sky days are ecstatic to be back in the conference now, and why people who are students now buy into rivalries with EWU and ISU, it matches up with their student experiences. For me though, it feels very strange.

[@thetouchback]

In many ways, we will end up being the lost generation of Idaho alums in terms of sports. Like you said, I get why old timers and current students like the Big Sky. But I wouldn't trade seeing Colin Kaepernick, Robert Turbin, Bobby Wagner, Ryan Mathews, and Derek Carr, to name a few, for a million FCS playoff appearances. I also think people focus on the losses of that era or "Nasty and Inebriated". However, with even remotely competent leadership, the school could have been competitive.

[@WestofEast]

If UI was smart, they'll go after Ryan Olson at SDSU. Bring in some firepower on offense and pray they can find a gem in a younger and hungry defensive coordinator.

[@razzlejazzled]

This video is how I found out that Eck left. Obviously I'm sad he left, but I had a pretty strong feeling that he would not be our coach beyond the 2025 season.

[@BrokenGoldfishFilms]

Sucks to cause he just signed an extension before the year started

[@brodyjames4126]

I want that Frankfurt Galaxy flag so bad

[@thetouchback]

If I ever see a second one floating around, it's yours.