Progress, though no victories yet
It's obviously not showing up on the scoreboard, as Idaho's record is 1-9.
But interim Idaho football coach Jason Gesser said he's already seeing progress in other areas after just a couple of weeks as head coach.
"It is a process, and things are going in the right direction," said Gesser, whose Vandals (1-3 in the Western Athletic Conference) host WAC newbie UT San Antonio (6-4, 1-3) Saturday at the Kibbie Dome. "You don't see one step forward, three steps back. You're seeing two steps forward, another two steps forward.
"What I mean by saying that is ... some things you guys don't see ... the guys wearing the right stuff on the field. The guys hanging as a team. The guys hanging out together on the road, having each other's back, not throwing each other under the bus on the sidelines, picking each other up ... there's no bickering or whining in the locker room, guys are pushing forward ... doing those things, you see that progression taking place. Is the final outcome where we want it? - obviously not. But we're also changing that process and building that foundation to get to where we're consistently in ballgames and winning ballgames, instead of winning one and waiting for another six and then we'll win another one."
Gesser noted that the Vandals have pared their "dumb" penalties down to about one a game.
"Things off the field carry over to things on the field," he added. "They're starting to understand that taking care of little things off the field builds consistency in what we do ... and translates on the field."
Thinking of the future: Gesser is 0-2 as interim coach, with losses to San Jose State (42-13) and BYU (52-13). The Vandals have long been out of the running for a bowl berth, and Gesser is playing some of the younger players.
"I am looking it at as developing for the future," he said. "Whether I'm here or not here, that's the way I'm approaching it. It's not right for the kids if I'm not trying to develop them for the future, and develop the program for the future."
He said now that he's head coach in addition to offensive coordinator, he has more free rein in his offensive decisions. He said most of the offense he wants to run is in place, and he's trying to be more aggressive with his play calling.
"I do have to keep in mind we do have a young offensive line, we do have an inexperienced signal-caller, but we do have some talent in our tight ends and our receivers and our running backs, and we have to utilize that," Gesser said.
Notes: Gesser said starting quarterback Logan Bushnell and backup Taylor Davis would continue to divide the reps 60/40, with the plan for both to play in the game ... Gesser said the flight to Provo for last week's game vs. BYU was "a really bad trip. They tried to land the plane three times going into Provo; we had to turn the plane around and land in Salt Lake (because of the weather)." The team jumped on buses for the hour-long trip to Provo. "It pushed our meetings back, changed our whole schedule, and we were getting back 3, 3:30 a.m. on Sunday morning."