Spring practice has just started, but Head Coach Paul Petrino is already making moves.
The coaching staff will feature two brand new faces on the defense and a former graduate assistant will now be coaching the wide receivers full-time.
John Graham was added to Idaho’s staff to coach inside linebackers and Vernon Smith is defecting from Northern Arizona to coach Idaho’s cornerbacks.
Graham is a veteran coach from the inland northwest. Graham started his career as a player at Walla Walla Community College before transferring to and eventually coaching for Central Washington. He coached for 13 years in Ellensburg, including stints as a defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. Graham’s defenses helped the Wildcats win five conference championships and an NAIA title in 1995. He spent his last nine seasons in Cheney as Eastern Washington’s defensive coordinator for seven seasons. His career with the Eagles was highlighted by a 2010 run to the NCAA FCS national title and they finished leading the league with 47 forced turnovers and 26 interceptions.
Vernon Smith brings more experience to Idaho’s secondary after stints coaching the secondaries at Northern Arizona and Portland State. He has found success at most of his coaching stops, including FCS Playoff appearances in 2017 with NAU and in 2015 with Portland State. Smith was also a three-time All-Big Sky Conference winner during his time at Montana and was part of the 2001 FCS National Championship team. Smith also began his coaching career at Central Washington as a graduate assistant from 2008-2010.
Brandon Mitchell has also been elevated from an offensive graduate assistant to wide receivers coach.
Mitchell has stuck around Idaho’s program for the last two seasons, but his playing days are much closer in the rearview. He started his playing career at the University of Arkansas as a football and basketball player. He played quarterback for two seasons before switching gears to wide receiver in his junior season. Mitchell graduated and transferred to North Carolina State and ended up back under center. An unfortunate foot injury shortened his season, but he still finished with 1,191 yards through the air and 10 touchdowns through the air. Mitchell also played for the Colorado Ice in the Indoor Football League prior to coaching for the Vandals. He started 11 games and finished second in the league’s rookie of the year race and fourth in the MVP voting.
Jonah Baker can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @jonahpbaker