VANDAL NOTES: Petrino apologizes to New Mexico State, QB

Idaho football coach Paul Petrino started off this week’s media obligations by apologizing to New Mexico State and Aggies quarterback Andrew Allen.

Allen suffered a sprained knee when he was tackled by Idaho linebacker Marc Millan in their Oct. 31 game in Las Cruces, N.M.

Millan was suspended one game by the Sun Belt after the conference said he “committed multiple unsportsmanlike acts” in the New Mexico State game.

Three days later, Petrino defended Millan, saying “I didn’t see anything. That’s how the Seahawks teach tackling. That’s what we teach — you tackle and you roll.”

On Monday, two weeks later, Petrino said, “I was misunderstood; in no way did I want Marc to tackle that way. We play by the rules. We are the least penalized team in the league; we do not teach that. I called (New Mexico State) coach (Doug) Martin and apologized, and I want to apologize to Andrew Allen.”

Idaho (3-7) plays at Auburn (5-5) on Saturday.

Petrino on Malzahn: Auburn’s Gus Malzahn is in his third season as head coach at Auburn. And like just about any opposing coaches, the paths of Petrino and Malzahn have crossed before.

“He’s done a good job everywhere he’s been; when he’s been at Shiloh Christian in Springdale (Ark.), and then at Springdale High. I remember when he had that unbelievable team at Springdale, I was at Louisville and I remember walking into his office and trying to recruit some of those guys. He did a great job as an assistant at Arkansas and Tulsa, then was offensive coordinator when they won it all at Auburn. He did a really good job at Arkansas State.”

Proud family moment: Petrino has been involved in a lot of letter-of-intent signings, but one last week was a little different. This one was for his daughter, Anne Mari, an outfielder at Pullman High who signed a letter of intent to play at Montana.

“Family is the most important thing ever, and that was a great day for our family,” he said. “She worked hard, and deserved it. It was the (culmination) of a lot of travel softball games … she played travel softball games in five different states for a lot of good teams.”