After a near six-week search it’s safe to say Idaho Athletic Director Rob Spear found what he was looking for in a head coach. In fact, it seems he got even more than what he was looking for.
President Nellis congratulates Paul Petrino, new head Vandal football coach, during the press conference Monday in the Kibbie Dome.
He reached in to the Southeastern Conference and pulled out an offensive coordinator with a decade of experience coaching in a BCS conference, with a year in the NFL as icing on the cake.
“When you get a chance to meet him and his lovely family you’ll understand why we’re so confident about this hire,” Spear told reporters, boosters, students and fans Monday afternoon at the Litehouse Center inside the Kibbie Dome. “He’s a gentleman who can get his teams to compete at the highest level, he’s a gentleman who can and will get his athletes to graduate.”
That gentleman Spear is referring to is Paul Petrino, who accepted his first career head-coaching job when he agreed to take on the Idaho job.
“It’s something I’ve worked for since I was a little kid, I’ve dreamed about it, it’s all I ever wanted to do was be a head coach,” Petrino told the crowd on Monday.
Petrino grew up in a football-centric family. His father was the head coach at Carroll College in Montana, where Petrino was born and raised, eventually playing quarterback for his father.
“A lot of parents would take their kids out hunting and fishing, our dad would take us to the office and first teach us how to play the game but then teach us how to coach the game,” Petrino said.
Then of course there is older brother Bobby, who is one of the more well known coaches in college football with his stints at Louisville and Arkansas. The younger Petrino often accompanied Bobby on most of his coaching stops.
“To me he is still the most brilliant coach in football. His offensive mind is far above anyone else,” Paul Petrino said of his brother. “He taught me so much about paying attention to every last detail. In everything you do, it’s that you understand every last detail is what makes it important.”
His first job without father or brother was in Moscow in 1992, when then Idaho coach John L. Smith offered Petrino the opportunity to join his staff to coach running backs, receivers and special teams. He was most recently with the lovable Smith this last season as offensive coordinator at Arkansas.
During the last two decades, Petrino has grown into one of the better offensive minds in football. In 2009, his final season as offensive coordinator at Arkansas with his brother, the Razorbacks ranked in the top 10 in the country in points-per-game.
Results since then haven’t been as top notch as Petrino would have liked, two years at Illinois and then back at Arkansas last season, but he has a vision of Idaho’s offense getting up and down the field at will, playing to its quarterback’s strengths and playing off playmakers.
“What we really calll FTS, and that means feed the studs,” Petrino said. “So we want to find the biggest studs we got and get the ball in their hands. What we tell the players is the film is their resume. Show us what you’re good at.”
“Feed the studs” has produced 1,000-yard receivers such as Harry Douglas at Louisville, A.J. Jenkins at Illinois, and last year it was Cobi Hamilton at Arkansas, who will likely be drafted.
“Definitely the kind of vision I’ve been planning to see,” Idaho left tackle Cody Elenz said “It seems to me he’s definitely projected that and he’s going to bring it to the table.”
What Idaho also got in Petrino is a highly connected and ambitious head coach who on the surface plans on digging in for the long haul at Idaho.
“When me and (my wife) Maya sat down with the family and each other, it was all about a fit. Our goal was to be head coaches by the time our kids were in high school,” he said. “We told them this is the last time you will move, that was always a goal for us.”
He turned his attention to his family sitting in the front row and told his son Mason he would be graduating high school in Moscow.
A committed coach was a fine line Spear had to navigate during the search process. Ambitious, young, first time coaches at the mid-major level are apt to jump on offers from bigger schools. Older, experienced journeyman coaches will provide stability, but aren’t usually the jump starter, high reward options who are able to accomplish a lot with a little.
Petrino just might be the best of both worlds.
“We’re going to play by the rules, we’ll play between the lines, but we’re going to hit you. When people play the Vandals they’re going to fear the Vandals,” Petrino said.
“We want to get that excitement and that fire and that vision and people want to watch us.”
The new Idaho coach wants to be a presence in the community, something the Vandal faithful loved about Petrino’s predecessor.
“I want to be there, be in this community, I want you behind us. Myself, my wife, my family we want to be a huge part of this community. We want to be around, we want to be talking,” he said.
Monday was just a glimpse of who Paul Petrino really is. If Petrino has his way then Idaho fans will have plenty more time to get to know their new coach better.
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]
Jesse Hart | Argonaut
President M. Duane Nellis congratulates Paul Petrino, new head football coach, during a press conference Monday in the Kibbie Dome.