College of Idaho Reinstates Football Program

Idaho Statesman, Brian Murphy

http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/05/15/2117735/stay-and-play.html

In the final years of the College of Idaho’s first football program, the team was filled with junior-college transfers from places like New York and Hawaii.

“A good portion of the recruiting was done out of state. A lot of the (high) schools in the Valley were relatively small,” said John Bequette, a defensive back on the 1975 and 1976 teams, himself a junior-college transfer. “Around the Valley most people didn’t have a connection to a lot of the players here.”

The second version of the Coyotes’ football program doesn’t figure to have that problem. The school announced Monday it is restarting the program, which disbanded after the 1977 season, with the goal of keeping more Idahoans in state to continue their college football careers.

Instead of going out of state to Willamette or Linfield or Carroll College, locals “will now have an opportunity to play before their friends, before their families,” said Athletic Director Marty Holly, long a supporter of bringing back football to the Caldwell campus.

“Boise State’s success has created a void for Idaho high school football players. Smart kids that have nowhere to go.”

Those local ties, school officials hope, will provide a connection to the Treasure Valley, fill Simplot Stadium and make the Coyotes competitive when they begin play in 2014. The College of Idaho will provide opportunities for players not good enough to play at Boise State, Idaho or Idaho State, all several levels above NAIA.

The Coyotes hope to join the Frontier Conference in June. The league has schools in Oregon and Montana, including Carroll College in Helena, Mont., a perennial power that had 32 Idahoans on its roster in 2011.

“There is a tremendous belief, and I believe rightly so, that there’s an awful lot of good football players here in the Valley,” Eagle High coach Paul Peterson said.

“There’s a lot of guys from a lot of institutions from around the region, small college football, that are coming in here that know that as so. This will be a great local option for those kids that aren’t BSU-caliber but their careers should go on and have opportunities, especially at a great academic institution.”

Carroll College Athletic Director Bruce Parker said his school welcomes the added exposure in the Treasure Valley and the heightened competition.

“All those Boise kids are going to go there? I don’t think that’s necessarily the case,” Parker said. “We welcome the challenge of them having a program.”

TIMELINE

• Monday: The College of Idaho announces it is restarting its football program, which was disbanded in 1977.

• June 9-10: Frontier Conference meets to discuss allowing the College of Idaho to join as a football-only member.

• January 2013: College hopes to hire a full-time coach. There will be a large selection committee, including faculty, students, coaches, administrators and city officials. “The whole key to the success is the coach,” Athletic Director Marty Holly said.

• Fall 2013: College will welcome its first recruiting class, likely anywhere from 35 to 50 players. “I’d suspect they’d all be freshmen. That year is pivotal to us,” Holly said.

• Spring 2014: College will hold spring practice.

• Fall 2014: College will play its first football game since 1977. “It’s a great timeline. We copied it. We didn’t invent it. It works,” Holly said.

SIMPLOT STADIUM

The 6,000-seat stadium in Caldwell, which housed The College of Idaho’s football program before it was disbanded in 1977, will be used for the Coyotes’ reinstated program.

Caldwell Mayor Garret Nancolas said the city has been upgrading the stadium in recent years, including replacing wooden bleachers with metal ones, remodeling bathrooms and adding new paint. The city also plans to make safety improvements and make it easier for those with disabilities to get around the stadium.

Larger projects, such as adding lights or a press box, will be done in partnership between the school and the city, Nancolas said. The stadium is currently used for Coyotes’ soccer, youth football and soccer and occasional concerts.

“I don’t see any reason why you can’t win and be successful and put people in the stands in this valley,” Holly said. “You’re making excuses if you can’t.”