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Eck: ‘I don’t think we’re that far off’

| December 21, 2021 1:30 AM

By MARK NELKE

Sports Editor

Jason Eck said in watching tape of Idaho’s football games from this past season, he noticed in particular how competitive the Vandals were in a seven-point loss at UC Davis, which nearly made the FCS playoffs, and in a narrow loss at Montana State, which is playing for the FCS championship next month.

“I don’t think we’re that far off,” Eck said Monday, at a news conference in Moscow to introduce the 36th football coach in Idaho Vandals history. “The cupboard’s not bare.”

Eck, 44, replaces Paul Petrino, who went 34-66 in nine seasons in Moscow. This past season, Idaho finished 4-7, 3-5 in the Big Sky Conference and hasn’t qualified for the FCS playoffs since returning to the FCS level in 2018, after 22 years in FBS.

“A lot of close games comes down to coaching,” said Eck, the Vandals’ offensive line coach from 2004-06 during those FBS days, and an assistant at South Dakota State the past six seasons — the last three as offensive coordinator. The Jackrabbits’ season ended Saturday with a loss to Montana State in the FCS semifinals.

“You have to be good in situational football. You have to be good at fundamentals; a lot of times games are won by the team that protects the football better, and commits the fewest penalties. … A lot of these games come down to 10 plays, and you’ve got to have your players ready for those 10 plays.”

As he said Saturday in a school news release to announce his hiring, Eck repeated Monday that “I really do think this is a sleeping giant.”

Asked how he plans to wake up the “sleeping giant,” Eck said with “a lot of entergy, a lot of passion and a lot of hard work.”

Eck was offensive line coach his first three seasons at South Dakota State.

“Football starts at the line of scrimmage,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you want to throw it a lot, it doesn’t matter if you want to run it a lot — you’d better have a good offensive line.”

Eck said his offensive and defensive philosophies will be built around what the players can do, rather than make them fit his particular schemes.

As for assistant coaches, Eck said he has a few in mind from the outside that he’d like to bring in, and also plans to meet with the current assistants to gauge whether to keep some of them.

As for recruiting, Eck said he’d prefer to build with high school players, while mindful of the talent available in the transfer portal.

“I still think the key in FCS football is player development,” Eck said.

Eck played for and coached under Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin, graduating in 1999, and was on Dennis Erickson’s staff at Idaho in 2006. In comments included in UI’s Saturday release, both praised Eck.

"Jason is an outstanding coach and has done a great job at every place he's been,” Erickson said. “He brings experience and the right personality where the players will love him and play hard for him. He's a great guy and brings an awesome family back to Moscow. He will do a great job for the Vandals."

Added Alvarez:

"Jason played for me and later coached with me as a graduate assistant. His father was a coach and he's always been a student of the game. I've followed his career closely, and he's been successful everywhere he's been. He's innovative, he's creative, and he's a great teacher. This is a fantastic hire for the University of Idaho."

Eck, who started coaching in 1999, also coached at Colorado, Winona State, Ball State, Hampton, Western Illinois, Minnesota State-Mankato and, in 2015, at Montana State.

photo

Photo courtesy South Dakota State athletics New Idaho football coach Jason Eck was an assistant coach at South Dakota State in Brookings, S.D., for the past six seasons.