Vandals nailed with bowl ban
By MARK NELKE
Sports editor
Hours after an encouraging final scrimmage to cap spring football practices, the University of Idaho announced Saturday morning it has been banned from postseason play for the 2014 football season due to low Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores.
In addition, the Vandals will lose four hours of practice time per week - hours which must be dedicated to study hall.
Idaho athletic director Rob Spear said the Vandals appealed to the NCAA, citing "extraordinary mitigating circumstances" - including loss of revenue from going independent, upheaval in general among intercollegiate athletic conferences, and "significant behavioral issues within the football program" - but the appeal was denied.
"It wasn't a surprise," Spear said of the NCAA's actions against Idaho. "We knew it was an uphill battle. But with what coach (Paul) Petrino has done, we are well-positioned for the future."
The football scores that led to the APR sanctions for this season were 971 in 2009, 921 in 2010, 881 in 2011 and 838 in 2012 for a four-year average of 903.
The Vandals were coached by Robb Akey from 2007 until the middle of the 2012 season, when he was fired with a 20-50 record.
see VANDALS, B6
Idaho was 1-11 last season, Petrino's first as Vandal coach.
The maximum APR score a school can receive is 1,000. In general, teams with an APR score below 930 can lose scholarships, and teams with APRs below 900 face additional sanctions, such as loss of practice time and banishment from postseason play.
"That is a hard penalty," Petrino said of the loss of practice time.
He said of the four hours per week taken away from practice and added to academics, three would be used for study hall on Sundays, as well as a half-hour on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
"It takes away from 'Get Better Sunday,'" Petrino said, referring to Sunday night practices where those redshirting, and those who played little or not at all on Saturday could get extra work. Now, that time will be reduced to one hour, used for practice and perhaps film study.
The Vandals have played in just two bowl games since moving up to NCAA Division I (now Football Bowl Subdivision) in 1996 - the Humanitarian Bowl in 1998 and 2009 (under Akey).
Idaho is entering its first season in the Sun Belt Conference in football, after playing last fall as an independent.
Spear was notified of the sanctions by the NCAA on Thursday. He informed the team in a 9 a.m. meeting Saturday, and addressed the media an hour later in a quickly called news conference. He said the NCAA will announce APR results May 14.
He said he talked to the seniors collectively, and some - like center Mike Marboe, defensive end Maxx Forde and wide receiver Dezmon Epps - and told them they were eligible to transfer if they wanted to.
But, "I feel like all the seniors will be Vandals," Spear said.
Petrino said when he took the job, in December of 2012, that the Vandals needed to improve their APR score, and "have an academic plan from Day 1."
Spear said the Vandals began the process of correcting academic deficiencies as far back as 2011 through several means, including increasing academic support, increasing tutors, investing $110,000 to upgrade academic facilities, and taking "decisive action in October 2012 after a disproportionate number of student-athletes had failing grades at mid-term."
Petrino said progress has been made. The football team's GPA went from 2.5 in spring 2013 to 2.89 in the summer and 2.52 last fall.
"We feel like we'll get a 960 (APR) this year," Petrino said, referring to 2013.
If so, Idaho's four-year APR average would be 900 - lower than the recent four-year average of 903 because the 2009 score of 971 would come off the books. But at least it would show a step in the right direction.
Petrino said a bowl game "was definitely one of our goals," but he said the team will now focus on four other goals - win every day, go undefeated at home, win the Sun Belt, and win enough games to be bowl-eligible.