THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: A rebuilding job at ISU — have we heard this before?

Since you don’t want your first question to a coach you’ve never met before to be your last, it was noted to new Idaho State football coach Charlie Ragle that the Bengals have, um, struggled in football for most of their history.

“That’s putting it mildly,” Ragle replied with a laugh.

SINCE IDAHO State won the national (then called I-AA) championship in 1981, the Bengals have had eight — 8! — winning seasons, the best being 8-4, three times.

The last winning season was a 6-5 campaign in 2018 under Rob Phenicie, and provided the latest in encouragement to the eastern Idaho fandom.

But alas, ISU went 3-9, 2-4 and 1-10 in the next three seasons, and Phenicie, a nice man and fun to talk annual at media day, was “relieved of his duties” after five years in Pocatello.

Enger Ragle, special teams coordinator at California for the past five seasons.

So how does Ragle hope to make things different at ISU under his watch?

“It starts with our president, Kevin Satterlee, and our AD, Pauline Thiros, they know what it takes to win,” Ragle said last month, at the Big Sky Football Kickoff in Spokane. “President Satterlee, being at Boise State and watching them come onto the national scene and what that requires is a big deal. And Our AD’s a winner; she’s a worker. And when you have those two people supporting you, good things can happen. I think we’ve got a community that’s hungry to win, and wants to support Idaho State football.

“I think the fans of Idaho State, I compare them to a kicked dog — the dog still wants to love you, but after being kicked so many times, it’s apprehensive to come back.”

Or the dog just leaves a giant mess somewhere.

THE FIRST three years Ragle was at Cal, Beau Baldwin was there as offensive coordinator. Baldwin, who coached Eastern Washington to the FCS championship in 2010 during his nine largely successful years as a head coach in Cheney, is now in his third season as Cal Poly’s head coach.

So he knows the lay of the land in the Big Sky in general, and how ISU fits in particular.

“I think Charlie’s going to do great,” Baldwin said. “The one thing that jumps out is how much passion he has, but you don’t want to get that mixed up with the fact it’s just passion, it’s passion with a lot of substance. He knows ball. He’s been a part of offensive football, defensive football, and most recently in the time I spent with him, was special teams, but he also spent some time with me on offense, too, coaching tight ends. He is a well-rounded coach; he connects with guys so well. It’s just impressive. I think the sky’s the limit for what coach Ragle can do there.”

Better players obviously helps.

“We have to enhance the talent,” Ragle said. “We’ve signed 11 or 12 guys since spring ball was over — older guys, JC guys, couple transfers, we’re going to try to upgrade this thing, and we’re going to go try to win some games this fall. You watch college football, with the transfer portal, you’ve got to instill your culture, and the building blocks of your program, but kids are coming and going every year, and that kinda goes against what a team and a program is.”

HOLT ARENA, the former Minidome which turns 52 next month, is getting a massive upgrade this year and next — including new seating, suites, a president’s box, upgraded offices, a new artificial turf field, among other things.

It’s a start.

“You’re certainly overcoming a tradition of losing, certainly overcoming facilities that aren’t ideal,” Ragle said. “But we’re starting to make headway with that with the remodel of Holt, and I’ve got big plans and big visions of what we can do there … and I think we’ve got good days ahead.”

Ragle said raising money is what he does best — aside from coaching.

“As a head high school coach, I raised over $2 million and we built a new turf field, football-only fieldhouse,” he said.

How that translates to the win-loss column …

“We have to win some games and get some buy-in and get a belief that this guy can back up what he’s saying,” Ragle said. “The goal is to create a buzz every year, and you do that by producing results. That buzz comes naturally when you hire a new coach, but the honeymoon phase is over; we’ve got to win some football games. We certainly understand that, and that’s what we intend to do.”

Many have tried in Pocatello. Can Ragle finally be the one, nine coaches after ISU’s national title season 41 years ago?

“I think he’ll bring an attitude, he’ll bring a mindset, they’re going to believe,” Baldwin said. “And if certain results aren’t going the way you want them to be, they’re going to keep fighting. Shoot, even through all our successful years at Eastern, we still went through lulls at certain times. But the mindset is, how are we going to pick ourselves back up.

“And coach Ragle, if they’re winning, he’s going to keep them humble, and if they get down a little bit, they’re going to keep fighting, they’re going to keep swinging. They’re going to be just fine over the course of his time there.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.