Idaho Has Sustained Its Identity with New Head Coach

In the ever-changing world of college football that wants players and coaches to adapt accordingly with changing of times, Idaho is one of those programs that has bucked the trend, as it has not forgotten where it came from. While Thomas Ford, who became the 37th head coach of Idaho’s storied football program back in mid-December of 2024, like any new head coach, Ford hopes to sustain Idaho’s brand and tradition-rich identity, while in the process elevating it to a height it has not yet reached.

You see, Idaho’s story is unique. A one-time FCS power program in the late 1980s and early ‘90s, it would find itself in FBS exile some two decades later, left to go the way of others that had been forgotten when making the move up to the FBS level, but the Vandals made the decision to return to their successful roots that brought them so much glory during a golden era for Big Sky football in the early-mid 1990s.

The Vandals would spend 21 years plying their trade as an FBS member from 1996-2017 before making their return to the FCS ranks in 2018. It would take Idaho five seasons before they would once again find the successful path they had once traveled throughout the 1980s and early-mid 90s in the Big Sky Conference. The Vandals have reached the penultimate stage of the FCS Playoffs (formerly the Division I-AA Playoffs) in 1988 and ‘93, losing both games on the road in 1988 at Furman (L, 38-7) and ‘93 at Youngstown State (L, 35-16). Both the Paladins and Penguins went on to win the national championship in those respective seasons. 

The Vandals, who are off to a 2-2 start under first-year head coach Thomas Brown, will see things come full circle this Saturday, as Idaho will be at the mouth of Hell’s Gate Canyon to take on Montana for an absolutely monumental Big Sky tilt at Washington-Grizzy Stadium–a bitter border war.

Ford knows a thing or two about identity and not changing what has worked in the past, as he learned from one of the best, in former head coach Jason Eck, who rebuilt the Vandals into both a Big Sky and FCS power over the course of three seasons, leading the Vandals to a 16-9 record during his three seasons in charge, and that included a three trips to the FCS Playoffs. The Vandals made back-to-back quarterfinal appearances in the FCS postseason in 2022 and ‘23

I was able to catch up with coach Ford earlier this season, as the Vandals got ready to open up the home portion of their slate against St. Thomas out of the Pioneer Football League. I wondered if, even though he had been an assistant at Idaho previously, if there were any nerves returning as the head coach of the Vandals. Ford had been Idaho’s special teams and running backs coach during the 2022 and ‘23 seasons before leaving to join the Oregon State staff in 2024.

“Honestly, I will be excited more than anything else…Not nervous though…It’s a place that I know Kibbie will be electric, as our fans always show out and perhaps that’s what I am most looking forward to,” Ford said during game week leading up to the home opener with St. Thomas.

It would be a game that the Vandals would go on to narrowly win, 37-30. 

I have had the opportunity to follow the Vandals through the early portions of the season, and prior to it, Idaho was a program that I felt could be a dark horse national title contender. At 2-2 with losses to FBS members Washington State and San Jose State by a combined six points, I haven’t changed that line of thinking. In fact, I am even more convinced.

When I flipped on the TV for a late-night football fix on the east coast in Upstate South Carolina, I found what I was looking for on the CW, as the network was broadcasting the Idaho-Washington State game. Who knew the same network that once was made famous for Dawson’s Creek filmed in Wilmington, N.C., would now be covering college football, and at that, a major game of interest for me.

It was abundantly clear the Vandals had what it took to upset the FBS Cougars. It was even more apparent when you focused on the defensive side of the football for the Vandals, and in particular, the defensive front. The Vandals defensive front was pillaging the Cougars offensive line, and that wasn’t true on just one series in the game, but it was starting to become a real problem for the Cougars. While the offense struggled to find consistency against the Cougars, it was Idaho’s defense that made sure it stayed in the game throughout the duration of the evening. 

“I thought our front seven played exceptionally well against Washington State and they played with great effort and were very physical and I thought really on both sides of the football we were able to dominate the line of scrimmage and were certainly the more physical team,” Ford said of his team’s performance in Pullman.

While the Vandals came up just short in a 13-10 setback, the physical dominance was astounding. Idaho had looked like the power four team when viewing the game, and that stats would back up what my eyes had seen. The Vandals held a whopping 188-3 advantage in rushing yards, while possessing the football for almost 11 more minutes (35:11-24:46). The Vandals also held a narrow 221-211 advantage in total yards, snapping the ball 11 more times than the Cougars (65-54).

Heading into Saturday’s game in Missoula, the Vandals rank 32nd nationally in total defense (337.5 YPG) and tied for 24th in scoring defense (20.0 PPG). Leading that Vandals defense this season are a pair of the best in the league at their respective positions, in defensive lineman Zach Krotzer (7 tackles, 1.0 TFL, 2 QBHs) and linebacker Isaiah King (27 tackles, 4.0 TFL, 1.5 sacks, 1 FF)

The FCS version of Jake “The Snake” Plummer?

One of the apparent things you notice about an offense at any level of football is the quarterback spot. Of course, sometimes you have to wait until that team goes on offense to see who that quarterback is and what he does.

But quarterback is so much more than what a player does with his arm or legs, and reveals the most in what he does with his mind and how he conveys his personality. Which brings me to Joshua Wood, who is the latest in a great lineage of signal-callers that includes 2022 Jerry Rice Award winner Gevani McCoy, 1993 Walter Payton Award winner Doug Nussmeier, and legendary and College Football Hall-of-Fame inductee John Friesz (1986-90) is now getting his chance to lead the Vandals offense after transferring into the program from Fresno State.

One thing that struck me is how elusive, quick and courageous Wood was as a runner. In fact, his running ability and his bit of “riverboat gambler” in him reminded me of former Arizona State quarterback Jake Plummer (1993-96), but however it was that the casual football fan perceived him, the one thing you couldn’t deny is his talent and the fact that he had the “it” factor, and by that I mean his personality and energy fueled the Vandals offense, and that was true even on a night when the Vandals struggled to find consistency moving the football. 

“Whenever you can have a quarterback that can be a threat on the ground it just makes the defense a little more tentative and I think you’re going to get some looks that you might not have seen on film just because they are preparing for that and a lot of the times you know…you may lose someone either in the pass coverage game because they want to spy him and so I think that opens up some things in the passing game in terms of one-on-one matchups and then in the run game as well because you have to account for that plus-one every time and I definitely think a quarterback of Wood’s skill-set definitely puts a lot of stress on a defense,” Ford said of his quarterback.

So far this season, Wood has connected on 64-of-102 passes for 665 yards, with six touchdowns and only one INT.  He is also the team’s leading rusher, having amassed 314 yards and scored three touchdowns on 36 rush attempts this season, as he averages an impressive 8.7 YPG.

Ford has a team to be reckoned with in 2025, and the Big Sky is officially on notice if they weren’t already. I think this has a chance to be a special season for the first-year head coach and Idaho. When I think back to the few first-year head coaches that have come in and won a national title in FCS, Ford has a legitimate shot to be the next Chris Kleiman (NDSU/2014), Mike London (Richmond/2008) or Tim Stowers (Georgia Southern/1990).

“I think anytime you become a head coach or see yourself in that role, it’s important to not try and re-invent the wheel…Especially if the program you’re walking into is and has been a successful one, but at the same time, I want to take the great work that coach [Jason] Eck did and set a new bar and a new standard of achievement for the future.”

Sustaining a winning culture while the culture around you is constantly in-flux is a challenge in any venture in life, but in the world of college football, it’s a type of artform. As much as coaches are lauded for continuously changing like an amoeba, the coaches that make little or no change to a program yet still manage to raise the level of the program should be lauded even more. I think Ford falls in the latter more than the former. Get your potato chips ready, it’s going to be a fun run in the Big Sky for the Vandals!