Commentary: Mishandling of Eighmey’s contract is another lowlight for UI

The departure of Idaho women’s basketball coach Carrie Eighmey is another lowlight in a slew of blunders made by its athletic department in the last year.

Eighmey left the Vandals for a head coaching gig at South Dakota, UI confirmed Monday.

The Edgar, Neb., native spent one year in Moscow and helped the Vandals to a 15-16 overall record and an 8-10 mark in Big Sky play.

Eighmey leaving the Moscow-based university for South Dakota isn’t what makes this move catastrophic (however, two new coaches in two years isn’t ideal). It was the timing and seemingly avoidable errors Idaho made along the way.

The skipper’s contract was approved by the Idaho State Board of Education on an Oct. 18 meeting at Lewis-Clark State College.

According to the agenda notes, Eighmey and the Vandals agreed on a five-year contract with a base salary of $120,016 per year. She received an additional $30,000 per year from media obligations.

The problem? Eighmey never signed the contract.

The Vandals and Eighmey would routinely have conversations about her contract, according to an unnamed source.

The Moscow-Pullman Daily News’ attempt to contact Eighmey was unsuccessful.

It isn’t clear why Idaho and Eighmey couldn’t agree to terms. But it did seem obvious that she wasn’t going to come back for another season.

After the board approved Eighmey’s contract, she allegedly had no intentions of signing, according to the unnamed source.

Since Eighmey never signed, UI did not receive a buyout, which would’ve resulted in her having to pay $500,000 “to the university as liquidated damages and not a penalty,” according to her contract.

It seems UI’s athletic department anticipated Eighmey’s departure but did nothing about it.

Without Eighmey’s signature, Idaho wasn’t liable to pay a buyout to the coach who seemingly already had one foot out the door.

Instead, the Vandals let her stay without anything in writing, allowing her to pursue other opportunities while building a roster for the upcoming season.

Idaho signed seven players in April, some of whom were transfers in their last year of eligibility.

That’s not fair to the athletes, who probably thought their new coaching staff was stable.

The players also won’t have ample time to pursue other opportunities because the transfer portal closed on Tuesday.

It is hard to imagine how UI let this situation reach such a boiling point, especially with its recent string of missteps.

From the volleyball coach Chris Gonzalez scandal to entering the late stages of the offseason without a women’s hoops coach for the second straight year, you would think the Vandals would try to get something right. Or at least make a move that isn’t considered a head-scratcher.

It’s tough to see players brought in on the pretense that the coaching staff has long-term stability — just to see their coach walk out the door three weeks after signing. But it’s just another blemish on what has been a scandalous year for the Vandals.

Pixley may be contacted at (208) 848-2290, tpixley@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @TreebTalks