Idaho football picks former assistant Thomas Ford to replace Jason Eck as head coach
MOSCOW, Idaho – Thomas Ford has big shoes to fill.
The University of Idaho named Ford – a former assistant – as its new football coach on Wednesday. Ford replaces Jason Eck, who lifted the Vandals from a near decade of mediocrity in the Big Sky Conference to new respect, including three straight FCS playoff appearances and back-to-back quarterfinal losses.
Eck resigned Saturday – a day after the Vandals lost to Montana State 52-19 – to become the head coach at New Mexico.
Ford played a part of Idaho’s resurgence under Eck. In 2022 and 2023, he was Idaho’s special teams and running backs coach before leaving to take an assistant role at Oregon State.
In a statement announcing his hiring on Wednesday, Ford said, “First, I would like to thank my wife Shannon and my kiddos (daughter Zoey and son Kingston) for being the support system most dream of.
“I would also like to thank (Idaho Athletics Director) Terry Gawlik and (UI President) Scott Green for the tremendous opportunity they have provided. I couldn’t be more excited to be coming back to the Palouse. This place is truly special, and I want to continue the standard of excellence that has been set by Coach Eck.
“We’re going to be aggressive in everything we do. Schematically on offense and defense and special teams and especially in recruiting! We will continue bringing in high character athletes that will help us take the program to the next level.”
Ford returns to Idaho after having spent the 2024 season as the running backs coach at Oregon State.
At Idaho, he had a record of developing players. In 2023, Anthony Woods ran for 1,155 yards and 16 touchdowns in a season that saw the Vandals rush for 2,077 yards and 22 touchdowns.
Two Vandals special team players who worked with Ford, long snapper Hogan Hatten and wide receiver and kick returner Jermaine Jackson, are playing in the National Football League, Hatten with the Detroit Lions and Jackson with the New Orleans Saints.
Ford enjoys a reputation as a formidable Northwest recruiter. This could be a key attribute, as Idaho has lost more than a dozen players to the transfer portal following Eck’s departure.
In a statement, Gawlik said, “It was clear during our interview process that Thomas is the man to lead Vandal football into the future. He knows what it takes to win at Idaho. He is an elite recruiter who was instrumental in laying the foundation of our recent success. We are confident in the future of vandal football as we look forward to working with Coach Ford and his staff.”
Ford played football at Linfield University, where he was a captain of Linfield’s 2004 NCAA Division III national championship team. His words carry weight with running backs. He set the Wildcats’ single-game rushing record, 237 yards against Redlands in 2003, and he was a two-time Northwest Conference all-star. He also played four years of professional indoor football, winning a National Indoor Football League championship with the Tri-Cities Fever in 2005.
After concluding his playing career, Ford turned to coaching and worked his way up the ladder. Ford coached running backs at Linfield in 2007-08. At Southeast Oklahoma State, he was wide receivers coach and special team coordinator from 2009-2012.
From there, he was defensive coordinator at Puget Sound in 2013, where his defense finished second in the Northwest Conference.
From 2014-17, he was the head coach at Stadium High School in Tacoma. He inherited a 0-10 team that had not enjoyed a winning season in two decades and took it to the playoffs in 2016-17.
In 2018-19, he was head coach at Simon Fraser University, an NCAA Division III school in British Columbia.
Prior to coming to Idaho as an assistant, he spent two years as a quality control analyst at Washington.
The school expects to shortly set the date for a news conference announcing Ford’s hiring.
“I can’t wait to get back home and get to work,” Ford said.