The Petrino era of Vandal football came to an end on Nov. 20 in Pocatello, Idaho, with one last win in the Battle of the Domes. Idaho beat Idaho State 14-0. It was not only a good showing for head coach Paul Petrino, but also for those who played their last game with the Vandals.
In his final game in an Idaho uniform — redshirt senior Charles Akanno had one of the best games any defensive lineman can have. He had four of the team’s seven sacks — two of them being strip sacks.
Akanno also recorded a fumble recovery and had seven total tackles on the day. Akanno finished his final season at Idaho with 11 total sacks, 19 tackles for loss, and four forced fumbles.
Akanno was not the only player suiting up for the Vandals for the last time.
The trip to Pocatello was junior linebacker Tre Walker’s last game with Idaho, as he will likely enter the NFL Draft. Walker had five total tackles including a highlight QB hit.
Senior defensive back Jalen Hoover was another player who made a highlight play in his last appearance as a Vandal — getting a piece of the ball on an Idaho State field goal attempt that ended up no good due to the block.
As the clock hit zero in Pocatello’s Holt Arena, the Vandals hoisted Petrino onto their shoulders for a proper sendoff to his tenure as head coach. It gave a powerful final image to the Petrino era of Idaho football.
Petrino’s tenure was not marked by an incredible winning percentage, going 34-66, but Idaho did get a Bowl win. While his success on-the field was questionable, his success off the field, specifically the continued academic success of his players, was undeniable. In 2014, the NCAA imposed a postseason ban on Idaho due to poor academics in the 2009-2012 seasons. After four semesters with Petrino at the helm, Idaho football was able to pull its GPA up and the postseason ban was ultimately lifted.
This trend of improving academics continued — with the Idaho football program recording a 3.13 GPA in the spring 2020 semester — a record for the program. Not only did Idaho football turn around its academics, but under Petrino, it has seen more NFL representation than ever. Idaho has four former football players on active rosters in the NFL and several more on practice squads.
Petrino may not have succeeded on the field. But he did succeed to prepare his players for the future, as professional athletes or simply professionals.
As the Vandals set Petrino down, and he ambled off the field, his era as head coach concluded. Now the question remains: who will be the next head coach?
On Nov. 19, before the Idaho State game, UI Athletic Director Terry Gawlik held a press conference and talked on the future of the program.
Idaho athletics will be working with a firm, College Sports Solutions, to help streamline the search for a new head coach.
Gawlik said the new head coach would need to be a good fit for Idaho. They would need to fit the community, with integrity and promote student-athlete success. Gawlik specified that student-athlete success meant both on-field success and continued success in academics and graduation rates.
She said it was also likely that the rest of Idaho’s coaching staff would not return to the program. Though, some staff could be retained based off the wishes of the next head coach.
Idaho finished this season 4-7, going 3-5 in Big Sky competition. Whoever the future head coach is, it’s one that both Gawlik and many Vandals fans hope can bring postseason and FCS success in addition to the continued success in the classroom and off the field.
Teren Kowatsch can be reached at [email protected]
John Anderson
Idaho, and their history of tradition, needs to be D-1. Lets raise the money for an outdoor stadium and other needs to become a valid D-1 program. It is time for this.
Stephen Conklin
Idaho Vandal football have to temper ourselves when the school finds a new football program. Paul Petrino was given 9 years to coach the Vandals, and he had to guide the Vandals through a difficult transition of the football the program from FBS back to FCS, which we have to acknowledge our time as a FBS program was an overall failure. I could not blame the Sun Belt Conference for throwing us out of the conference because of the expenses of travel for other teams to travel playing games in our home field when we only averaged 11,500 in our best year with Petrino in 2016, and the Vandals were 9-4 winning the Potato Bowl, but we also were crushed by UW and WSU from the PAC 12 in football games that year. In 2016, there several FCS programs that higher home attendance than FBS Idaho, two were James Madison U that won FCS that averaged over 25,000 as well as a 6-6 Montana program in the Big Sky. In our 20 years being an FBS football program, very rarely did we meet the 15,000 average home attendance required by FBS. Our support was not there, and I could not blame the Mountain West refusing to give Idaho an invitation into the conference because the lack of support shown for the football program. Full return to the Big Sky Conference was logical being conference that has school in similar structure as Idaho, problem was in our return to FCS play, the football program lost a lot of support from alumni angry at Vandals return to FCS. The Vandals will have to improve the facilities in the athletic program to help upgrade the football program. As an alumni, I like to see Idaho invest in an outdoor football stadium, I think that would add to atmosphere of the games, and add to on campus experience. I love our Big Sky rivals with outdoor stadiums. We need a coaching change, and hopefully find the right person that could attract players that could build Idaho into a winning program in the Big Sky Conference, again Vandal fans have to be patient, we do not have the money for football programs like Alabama and Ohio State.