The “Pribble Plan” is underway as Alex Pribble has taken the Idaho men’s basketball head coaching position. Pribble comes to Idaho after a four-year stint as the associate head coach at Seattle University. He led the Redhawks to back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since the 1960s, and the team’s first Western Athletic Conference regular season title.
Coach Pribble has brought success to programs that haven’t been very successful. He took Saint Martin’s from a team that went 6-22 before he arrived to a team in the Sweet 16. With Idaho finishing the 2022-2023 season 10-22, Pribble is looking to bring this same turnaround to Moscow.
“As we begin this journey, I want to make one thing very clear,” Pribble said. “We are here to compete for championships at the University of Idaho.”
Before the Pribble Plan can commence, the Pribble Process must begin. In order to make Idaho men’s basketball the best it can be, coach Pribble has a three-step process when it comes to looking at players.
“One is academics, the second piece is talent and the third piece is character,” Pribble said. “We want to exhaust ourselves with the recruitment process with specific individuals. We want to make sure the people we’re interested in, we do all the research necessary to make sure they’re the right fit for the Vandals.”
In a room full of alumni, reporters and other coaches, coach Pribble spoke on the proud nature of being a Vandal.
“I want to hear from the alumni on what it means to them to be a Vandal,” he said. “I want our players to understand what it means to wear Idaho on their chest. When we hang the first championship banner in ICCU Arena, I want everybody in this community to take pride in that.”
Coach Pribble’s Vandals may not take the court until late in the Fall 2023 semester, but their coach is already getting to work. In just his first few days as head coach, he gave Jase Butler, a junior out of the Branson School in California, an offer. He followed that up by completing a request many Vandal fans asked for as he extended an offer to Kase Wynott, a junior in Lapwai, Idaho.
Coach Pribble’s staff hasn’t been set yet, but he’ll have someone helping him make decisions here soon as his wife is about to have a baby.
“We are unbelievably excited that our baby boy is going to be born a Vandal,” Pribble said.
James Taurman-Aldrich can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @jamesaldrich25