UI goes back to the future

With “Go, Vandals, Go” blaring from the speakers, Jason Eck beamed as he and athletic director Terry Gawlik held up a black-and-gold Vandal jersey for the cameras, matching the black suit and gold tie the coach was sporting for his formal introduction as Idaho’s 36th football boss Monday.

Snow blanketed the UI campus and continued to fall outside the windows of the packed ICCU Arena Alumni Club Room, which was hosting its first major event in the arena’s young existence.

The former South Dakota State offensive coordinator spoke with gratitude, optimism and eagerness about the challenge of getting the Vandals back on a winning path.

“From my time here in the past and how I’ve followed this place, I really do think this is a sleeping giant in FCS football,” Eck said. “There’s great things ahead for this place and I’m honored to be here with you guys to be a part.”

Eck, a 1999 graduate of Wisconsin and former UI offensive line coach in 2004-06 under Nick Holt and Dennis Erickson, replaces Paul Petrino, who was fired after nine years and five straight losing seasons, including four losing campaigns since UI dropped down to the FCS in 2018.

The Vandals went 4-7 this season, 3-5 in the Big Sky Conference and haven’t won more than five games in a season since their 2016 trip to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

Eck acknowledged the road to the FCS playoffs isn’t easy, but said Idaho isn’t far off, pointing to a seven-point loss to Montana State on Nov. 13 — a Bobcats team that will play for a national title in three weeks. MSU beat Eck and the Jackrabbits 31-17 in the semifinals Saturday.

“It’s competitive to be one of the top teams in FCS football,” Eck said. “I’ve been fortunate to be in the FCS playoffs the last six years. We’re going back there soon, but it’s going to take a lot of work. It’s going to take everybody pointing the arrows in the right direction, getting on the right course of success.”

Eck, whose personality seems to point to more of a players’ coach than a disciplinarian like his predecessor, stressed that everything starts with the student-athletes.

“Players are the program and we’re going to invest in those guys,” Eck said. “We’re going to love them, we’re going to believe in them, we’re going to hire coaches who are going to work on their behalf to help them.”

The details of Eck’s supporting cast and the style of football he’ll install remain to be seen. With a four-week dead period in recruiting and players gone on winter break, Eck said he wants to make sure he gets his staff right. He said he’ll talk with the remaining assistants from Petrino’s staff today. He spoke to the current players via Zoom on Sunday.

In his three years as SDSU’s offensive coordinator, Eck adapted from a mostly passing attack early on to a rushing-oriented offense the last couple of years to match the personnel on the Jackrabbits’ roster.

Whatever direction he chooses to go with UI, he said it all starts in the trenches.

“Football starts at the line of scrimmage,” said Eck, who has molded offensive linemen for the majority of his 20-plus years of collegiate coaching. He continued to coach SDSU’s O-line even after taking the coordinator position in 2019.

“It doesn’t matter what offense you want to run — you want to run it all the time, you want to throw it all the time, you better have a good offensive line.”

A coach’s son, Eck seemed destined to eventually lead his own program. He thanked a long list of coaches he’s worked with or played for, including Wisconsin legend Barry Alvarez.

His father, Jay Eck, coached college basketball for 20 years with stops that included Toledo, Pitt, Loyola of Chicago and Towson.

“I grew up in a coaching family,” Eck said. “My dad, he was my old basketball coach. Just as I grew up, I became more of a pulling guard than a shooting guard and transitioned away from hoops to football.”

A proven winner, Eck won a Rose Bowl with the Badgers as a player during the 1998 season.

Now, he’s back with the Vandals at the place where he got his first full-time coaching start in 2004.

“We’re all in this together,” Eck said in front of a collection of former UI players, boosters, administrators and coaches from other Vandal teams. “We’re all a part of Vandal football and the future here is going to be very bright.”

Wiebe may be contacted at (208) 848-2260, swiebe@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @StephanSports.