Idaho State Bengals football

Guy Wicks

Idaho State first started fielding football in 1902, just one year after the school was established as the Academy of Idaho. From 1902 to 1934, the program had 10 different head coaches, seven of whom coached for less than three seasons. The Bantams and Tigers, as they were known until 1904 and 1934, respectively, were quite successful during this era, with a total record of 117–70–10 (.619). Herbert Cheney, the program's first ever head coach, has the highest winning percentage of any coach in program history, with a record of 5–1–1 (.786).

Guy Wicks spent six total seasons with the Bengals, and was also quite successful, accumulating a record of 29–17–1 (.628). He only had one losing season with the program, during 1940 when he went 3–5. Wicks was also the head basketball coach at the school from 1931 to 1941.

Wick's successor, John Vesser, stayed nine total seasons with Idaho State. He was the head coach when Idaho State moved from being an independent program to being a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC). In total, he had a record of 41–27–6 (.595).

Babe Caccia played as both a center and a linebacker when he played for Idaho State (then known as Idaho Southern Branch) in 1936 and 1937, and he was arguably the most successful head coach in the history of the program. Babe stayed with the Bengals for 14 seasons, the most of any head coach, and saw six conference titles during his stay. This included the first ever Big Sky title in 1963. After his run as head coach, he became assistant athletic director for Idaho State from 1965 to 1979, and athletic director from 1979 to 1986.[5] For one year in 1976, he acted as line coach for the Edmonton Eskimos (now Edmonton Elks) of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He boasted a fairly successful record of 79–38–2 (.664) with Idaho State.

Leo McKillip only coached for two seasons, having a losing record in both of them. He was Idaho State's first head coach to have a winning percentage below .500 since 1904, totaling 4–15 (.211).

Ed Cavanaugh took over as head coach in 1968, and he vastly improved over his predecessor, going 20–19 (.596). He was the head coach when Idaho State opened the ASISU Minidome, renamed as Holt Arena in 1988.[6]

Bob Griffin took over in 1972, and he remained with Idaho State for four total seasons, accumulating a 21–20 (.512) record. He went on to have a successful career with the Rhode Island Rams after his stay at Idaho State.[7]

Joe Pascale holds the record for the lowest winning percentage in program history. During the lone season he led the Bengals, he only earned one win, a close 27–22 triumph over Nevada,[6] and finished with a mark of 1–9 (.100).[8]

Bud Hake did not post a win percentage much higher than Pascale, but he did lead the team for a total of three seasons. In 1978, the team traveled to Japan, where they played the Utah State Aggies in Nishinomiya on September 3, losing by a score of 10–0.[9][10] Hake's three-season stay saw a total record of 5–27 (.156), including a winless 0–11 season in 1979.[7]

After Hake went winless in 1979, Idaho State fired him and hired Dave Kragthorpe in his place. During his first season, he went 6–5. The 1981 Bengals had a nearly undefeated 12–1 season, and won the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship, beating Eastern Kentucky, 34–23, in the 1981 championship game.[11] However, the team finished at 3–8 the following season. Across his entire career with the Bengals, Kragthorpe went 21–14 (.667). As of 2022, Kragthorpe is the most recent Idaho State head coach to finish above .500 for his Bengals career.

Jim Koetter replaced Kragthorpe in 1983, and led the Bengals to the Division I-AA playoffs in his first season at the helm, where they lost in the first round against Nevada. Koetter finished his run with Idaho State at 23–32–1 (.411).

Garth Hall was formerly an offensive coordinator at both Tulane[12] and Oregon State before he took his place as head coach in Idaho State. He failed to find much success, finishing 9–33–1 (.214), going 0–11 during his first season as a head coach. Garth coached the last Bengals game that ended in a tie, 24–24 against Portland State.

Brian McNeely took up as head coach after Hall. He was able to find a bit more success, going 21–34 (.382).

Tom Walsh was the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Raiders of the National Football League (NFL) before he started his career in Idaho State.[13] He totaled 6–16 (.261) during his two-season stay with Idaho State.

Larry Lewis took over after Walsh, and he stayed eight total seasons with the Bengals. In 2002, he and the Bengals were tri-Big Sky Champions, sharing the champion title with Montana and Montana State.[5] However, Idaho State was passed up for the playoffs in favor of the other two. Lewis ended his run with a record of 40–49 (.449).

Idaho State (in white uniforms) playing the Oklahoma Sooners in 2009

John Zamberlin was head coach at Central Washington before he went to Idaho State. He was highly successful with Central Washington, winning four conference championships with them, but he struggled when he went to Idaho State. Zamberlain's contract was originally going to run out in 2009, but Idaho State extended the contract by two seasons. The choice was very controversial among students due to the team's lack of success. He averaged only 1.5 wins per season, and he ended his career 6–39 (.133), the second-lowest winning percentage in program history. He was later a linebackers coach for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL from 2012 to 2013.[8]

Mike Kramer was previously head coach at both Eastern Washington and Montana State, winning one conference title with Eastern Washington and three with Montana State. He had one 8–4 season, coming with the 2014 Bengals, who finished the season ranked 25th in FCS, but overall he totaled 18–50 (.265).

In 2017, Kramer resigned as head coach, and Idaho State promoted wide receivers coach Rob Phenicie to head coach the same day. After five seasons with a cumulative record of 16–35 (.314), Phenicie was fired on November 20, 2021.[14]

On December 10, 2021, former California special teams coordinator Charlie Ragle was hired to be the Bengals' head coach.[15]

Idaho State has won eight conference championships, spanning two conferences.[16]

Year	Conference	Overall record	Conference record
1952	Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference	8–0	5–0
1953		6–2	5–0
1955		8–1	5–0
1957		9–0	6–0
1959		6–2	4–0
1963	Big Sky Conference	5–3	3–1
1981		12–1	6–1
2002		8–3	5–2

Co-champions

Idaho State has had seven undefeated seasons, under five different head coaches.[17]

The Bengals have appeared in, and won, two bowl games.

Date	Bowl	Opponent	Result	Ref.
November 24, 1949	Bean Bowl	Chadron State	W 20–2	[9]
December 19, 1981	Pioneer Bowl	Eastern Kentucky	W 34–23

Pioneer Bowl was an alternate name for the 1981 championship game, below.

The Bengals have appeared in the I-AA/FCS playoffs two times with a record of 3–1. They were National Champions in 1981.

On November 4, 1922, the football team played its first game on Hutchinson Field, named after head coach Ralph Hutchinson.[23][22] There were separate football and baseball fields, surrounded by a quarter-mile track, and provisions for bleachers to hold 5000 spectators along with automobile parking.[22] This field was used until partway through the 1936 season. The area is now the Hutchinson Memorial Quadrangle (located at 42.861°N 112.434°W / 42.861; -112.434).[24]

Hutchinson Field was replaced by an outdoor stadium in 1936. The first game held there was a 19–32 loss to the Montana State Bobcats on November 11, 1936.[25][26][27] Newspaper reports indicate the stadium was named the "Spud Bowl" during the 1946 season.[28] It remained the team's home field through the 1969 season. At the south end of campus, the former Spud Bowl is now Davis Field (named for William E. Davis and located at 42.859°N 112.431°W / 42.859; -112.431), which continues as the home venue for outdoor track and field and soccer.[29]

Holt Arena in 2008

The team's current home venue is an indoor arena that was conceived by ISU athletic director Milton W. "Dubby" Holt in 1966. ISU students voted to appropriate not more than $2.8 million to the project two years later. Originally named the ASISU MiniDome, it was renamed Holt Arena in 1988 to honor Holt. The arena replaced the Spud Bowl as the Bengals' home football stadium in 1970.[30][31]

The arena is an indoor multi-purpose athletic stadium located on the north end of the ISU campus. Completed in September 1970, it is the oldest enclosed stadium on a college campus in the United States and the second-oldest overall. Only the Astrodome in Houston, completed in 1965, predates it.

Idaho State and Idaho have a rivalry that can be traced all the way back to 1916 when they played their first game against each other, with Idaho winning, 32–0. They have played 42 rivalry games since then. Idaho won the first 8 games in the series, but Idaho State snapped that winning streak in 1969 with a high scoring 47–42 victory. The rivalry remained competitive throughout the 1970s and 1980s, neither team three-peating throughout that period, but the rivalry entered another stale stretch in 1988, Idaho winning the next 7 games. Idaho State ended the streak in 1995. In 1996, Idaho moved up to Division I-A, now the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), and the rivalry halted. The two schools played each other only 4 times during Idaho's stay in the FBS, Idaho winning all of them. In 2018, Idaho moved back down to Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), and rejoined the Big Sky Conference. Since then, they have played an annual rivalry game dubbed "Battle of the Domes", Idaho State winning the first game under that branding, 62–28.[32]

Idaho State and Weber State first played each other in October 1962.[33] However, the two teams weren't really rivals until Idaho moved to Division I-A in 1996, leaving Idaho State without an interstate rival, which left Weber State as the closest in-conference school to Idaho State. Weber State is Idaho State's most played rival, as they have played each other annually since both joined the Big Sky Conference as charter members in July 1963. The rivalry is also protected by the conference, so they are guaranteed to play each other once per season.

Portland State first joined the Big Sky Conference in 1996, and has become one of Idaho State's conference protected rivals.