‘Tired of coming close’: Despite coaching change, Idaho enters season with sky-high goals

Accoutrements of the University of Idaho’s recent football success decorated the Vandals’ media table at the Big Sky Conference football kickoff at Northern Quest Casino Monday.

New coach Thomas Ford was flanked by living examples in senior defensive lineman Sam Brown and six-year offensive lineman and captain since 2023, Nate Azzopardi.

Big dudes, who played significant roles in Idaho’s 10-4 record last year, 6-0 record at home and run to the Football Championship Subdivision playoff quarterfinals.

The 2024-25 Big Sky President’s Cup dominated a corner of the table. The Vandals won the league’s 22-year-old all-sports award for the first time, and the football team had a hand in that.

And this fall Idaho can refresh the event that started them off on this journey. The Vandals open the season Aug. 30 against Washington State.

In 2022, Idaho, coming off five straight losing seasons, also opened with the Cougars. The NFL Tennessee Titans’ first-round draft choice, quarterback Cameron Ward, had to throw for 215 yards and three touchdowns to eke out a 24-17 win in a game that was up for grabs until the final possession. The Cougars intercepted the Vandals at the goal line with 12 seconds to play.

Azzopardi played in that game and still lights up in recalling what it meant to the Vandals. He recalled what former coach Jason Eck told his players beforehand: “A lot of you don’t think we have a chance in this game. When it’s close at halftime, you will.”

The Vandals have been through – and learned a lot about themselves – since that day.

“This time when we are going (to face WSU), we know we are capable of winning,” Azzopardi said.

Ford was an assistant coach on that Idaho team.

“You never know what you are capable of being until you play someone else good. That game opened my eyes,” Ford said. “(This year) we’re not going there to be competitive. We are going there to win.”

So, with summer workouts nearly behind them, and preseason camp opening at the end of this month, the Vandals are brimming with high expectations. Idaho has 56 returning players, second most in the Big Sky. Like every team, Ford expects to have newcomers with breakout seasons.

None will be watched more closely than Fresno State redshirt sophomore transfer quarterback Joshua Wood, a 6-foot-2 dual-threat, from Graham, Washington, who flashed potential in his lone start in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl last season.

Wood completed 16 of 23 attempts for 180 yards and a touchdown and added 11 carries for 54 yards and another score in a 28-20 loss to Northern Illinois, the plucky Mid-American team that knocked off national runner-up Notre Dame early in the year.

“I would be pretty surprised if he is not our starting quarterback,” Ford said. “He has had a phenomenal summer.”

In addition to absorbing the Vandals’ offense “like a sponge,” Ford said Wood has taken a big role in player-led workouts and has been a hit with his teammates.

“He is humble, puts his head down and goes to work,” Ford said.

Brown and Azzopardi agree the Vandals head into preseason camp as a tightly bonded team.

“It’s not the most fun part of football,” Brown acknowledged of summer. “But this is the place to build that brotherhood.”

Something as simple as gathering at a Moscow apartment complex, where several players lived, and hanging out at the pool helped forge ties. Azzopardi added that regular 15-minute locker -room sessions among offensive linemen before heading out to workouts “are a clear-cut sign of how close we are.”

Take a peek in the weight room and the Vandals are “dancing, singing, throwing the weights around. Having fun,” Azzopardi said.

Ford sees the same thing.

“We are together,” Ford said. “We enjoy being with each other. At the same time, we hold each other accountable.”

Brown recites a Ford aphorism “team, unit, me.”

Brown said the phrase “is in that order for a reason.”

And it’s with that the Vandals enter the next phase of the year. Preseason camp is on the horizon.

There’s a new man in charge of Idaho, but coach Ford and his returning players still believe they’re on an upward trajectory. Finishing third in the league last year and reaching the FCS quarterfinals are stepping stones. The players and coach hold out the goal of a Big Sky championship.

The Vandals envision more.

“The most important thing each and every time when you lace up your cleats is believing we can do it. I am tired of coming close,” Azzopardi said.