Staben: 'Right decision' for Idaho to return to FCS

Two decades of the University of Idaho struggling to gain a foothold at the highest level of college football essentially came to an end on Thursday.

Idaho president Chuck Staben announced Idaho is dropping back down to the FCS level in football, and has accepted an invitation to join the Big Sky Conference in football in the fall of 2018, pending Idaho State Board of Education approval.

Idaho was a member of the Big Sky Conference in all sports from 1965-95. Idaho moved up to NCAA Division I (now FBS) in 1996, and has played football at that level ever since.

“(Idaho) has always been one of the lowest resourced FBS teams, and therefore has struggled to achieve a winning record during our time in the FBS,” Staben said Thursday in a news conference in Moscow, also attended by Idaho athletic director Rob Spear and football coach Rob Spear.

“To become successful enough to be able to affiliate with any FBS conference would entail unjustifiable, unsustainable expenditures. Competing as an independent with an uncertain conference affiliation would be irresponsible, particularly when we have the alternative of joining one of the most prominent, stable FCS conferences.”

In 20 football seasons in FBS, Idaho has an overall record of 73-162, with four winning seasons — and only one in the last 16 seasons. Since the start of the 2001 season, the Vandals are 41-138. Idaho played in two bowl games, winning both.

Idaho played in the Big West Conference from 1996 to 2000, when that conference abolished football. Idaho landed in the Sun Belt from 2001-04, then moved to the Western Athletic Conference from 2005-12, when that conference dropped football. Idaho played as an independent in 2013, then rejoined the Sun Belt under a four-year deal the following year.

In March, the Sun Belt announced it was terminating the membership of Idaho and New Mexico State (who were football-only members) following the 2017 season.

Since then, the Vandals have been weighing their options.

“We can’t provide stability by hoping another conference will ask us to join them, or that an FBS conference might be realigned in the future, to better fit the U of I,” Staben said.

Idaho’s other sports moved back to the Big Sky two seasons ago.

In saying moving to the Big Sky is the right decision for the Vandals football program, Staten added, “The University of Idaho’s prestige and relevance will be complemented by our football program, not defined by it.”

Idaho faced a May 4 deadline from the Big Sky Conference to accept its offer, and Staben said the Vandals made the decision last weekend. The school has already been in discussions with Big Sky commissioner Doug Fullerton, as well as presidents of conference schools.

Petrino said he told his players of the move at a team meeting Thursday morning, and has been meeting individually with players all week. The decision affects the freshmen and sophomores on the team, as the junior and seniors will be gone by the time Idaho drops to FCS.

Petrino’s five-year contract ends with Idaho’s final season in FBS. He recently turned down a chance to join his brother, Bobby, as offensive coordinator at Louisville. His team is coming off its best season (4-8) under Petrino, and has hopes of a bowl game this fall.

Still, he said he’s “looking forward” to the move to FCS.

“My job really doesn’t change,” Petrino said. “We’re going to make sure we bring ‘em in, we graduate ‘em, we help them grow and become better men, and then we put out the best football team we can. … I’m going to keep doing my job the best I can.”

FBS schools can offer up to 85 full-ride scholarships. FCS schools can offer up to 63. Spear said the Vandals have a transition plan in place to get down to 63 football scholarships by the 2018 season, and Idaho would immediately be eligible to compete for a conference title.

Spear said the Vandals would still be in compliance with Title IX after dropping down, even with the lost football scholarships.

“We have no plans at this time to eliminate any sports at the University of Idaho,” Spear said.

Idaho has several “money games” scheduled versus bigger FBS schools in upcoming years that would pay the Vandals in excess of $1 million per game. Spear has said these games, while not desired, are necessary to pay the bills. Idaho could lose out on some of that money if the bigger schools decide to back out of their games with the Vandals, because of them dropping to FCS.

Spear said making up for that lost revenue “will be financially challenging.”

“It is going to be a challenge,” he added.

Eastern Washington football coach Beau Baldwin said the addition of Idaho is “all positive,” in part because it will give the Big Sky 14 teams — and the flexibility of perhaps creating two seven-team divisions.

“That’s going to be a program that’s going to just add to an already incredibly strong conference,” said Baldwin, whose Eagles came to Moscow and beat the Vandals 20-3 in the season opener in 2012. “They’ll play at an extremely high level, just like they did when they were in the Big Sky before.”

EWU athletic director Bill Chaves said upcoming games with Idaho will be ones in which “the fan bases will certainly circle calendars, and be excited.”

“It seems like there’s some things happening in Division I right now where I think there’s some institutions that are going to have to make some choices and decisions on how they want to go about funding their athletic program,” Chaves added. “Who knows, this could be a domino that cascades with other institutions around the country.”

Reaction to the move — pro and con — has been rampant on social media, especially since the news surfaced Wednesday. Some boosters have threatened to stop supporting the program financially if the Vandals dropped back down to FCS.

“The game that we signed up for has changed over time,” Spear said. “It is really impossible for us to afford to stay at that level and be competitive.

“We’ve got some work to do (with any upset supporters). We’ve got to engage them, and get them back.”

Said Staben, “I’m confident our alumni will line up behind us and support our students, and support our student-athletes.”