The Idaho Vandals are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing the University of Idaho, located in Moscow, Idaho. The Vandals compete at the NCAA Division I level as a member of the Big Sky Conference.
The football team was an independent for the 2013 season due to a major wave of departures from the Western Athletic Conference that left just two football-playing schools. In July 2014, Idaho returned its football team to the Sun Belt Conference and the other sports rejoined the Big Sky Conference.
The university's official colors are silver and gold, honoring the state's mining tradition. Because these metallic colors in tandem are not visually complementary for athletic uniforms, black and gold are the prevalent colors for the athletic teams, with an occasional use of silver, similar to Colorado, whose official colors are also silver and gold. When Idaho moved out of the Big Sky to the Big West in 1996, the yellow "Green Bay" gold was changed to metallic Yellow gold and black were the colors used by most of the varsity teams from 1978 to 1996, initiated by first-year head football coach Jerry Davitch's new uniforms for 1978.
On April 27, 2016, it was reported that the Vandals would become the first football program to voluntarily drop from the FBS level to the FCS level, beginning in 2018. All previous programs which have moved from FBS down to FCS did so because the NCAA downgraded either the individual programs or their conferences.
Conference affiliations From 1922 through spring 1959, Idaho competed with the original eight schools of the Pac-12 as a member of the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC). The PCC disbanded in the spring of 1959 and Idaho competed as an independent for four years. The Big Sky Conference was founded in 1963 and Idaho became a charter member, though it did not play a conference schedule in football until 1965.
From 1963 to 1977, the Big Sky Conference was a "college division" (later Division II) for football. Nevertheless, Idaho maintained its "university division" (Division I) status, with its additional football scholarships, by playing a non-conference schedule of Division I teams. An exception came in August 1967, when the football program was involuntarily dropped to the college division for two seasons. Idaho was elevated back to university status in July 1969 and continued as Division I when the three numbered divisions were formed in 1973. Five seasons later in 1978, the Vandals were dropped to the new Division I-AA, as the Big Sky moved up from Division II.
In 1996, Idaho joined the Big West Conference in order to move to Division I-A after 18 years in I-AA. The Big West discontinued football after the 2000 season, so Idaho became a "football-only" affiliate member of the Sun Belt Conference for four seasons (2001–04). The Vandals joined the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in July 2005.
After nine years, Idaho left the Western Athletic Conference in July 2014, following a large defection of members to other conferences. The WAC dropped football after the 2012 season, as only two members with football programs remained, Idaho and New Mexico State. The Vandal football team was an independent for the 2013 season, and rejoined the Sun Belt Conference as an affiliate member in 2014, after a decade-long departure. The other sports shifted back to the Big Sky Conference, rejoining after an 18-year absence.
The Sun Belt Conference announced on March 1, 2016, that the affiliation agreement with Idaho and New Mexico State would not be extended past the 2017 season. In 2018, the Vandals rejoined Big Sky Conference football, becoming the first football program to voluntarily drop from the FBS level to the FCS level.
Sports sponsored Basketball Basketball Cross country Cross country Football Golf Golf Soccer Tennis Tennis Track and field† Track and field† Swimming and diving Volleyball
Track and field
Olympians Dan O'Brien (b. 1966), a hurdler on the UI track team in the late 1980s, won the gold medal in the decathlon at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, as well as multiple world championships. From Klamath Falls, Oregon, he received his bachelor's degree in 1993, and the outdoor track and field stadium where O'Brien trained for these world titles was named for him in September 1996. Joachim Olsen (b. 1977) of Denmark, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist (originally bronze) in the shot put, competed for the Vandals from 1999 to 2003, winning the NCAA outdoor title in 2000. He was a ten-time All-American and never finished worse than third in the shot put in eight career NCAA outdoor and indoor appearances. Angela Whyte (b. 1980) of Canada was a four-time NCAA All-American and five-time Big West champion at Idaho, where she helped lead the women's team to 2001 and 2003 Big West team championships. She also earned Big West Female Athlete of the Year honors in 2001 and Big West Female Track Athlete of the Year honors in 2003. She was a member of Canada's 2004 and 2008 Olympic track teams. Hec Edmundson (1886–1964) was born and raised in Moscow and attended the UI's prep school. A 1910 graduate (agriculture) of the UI, he was the state's first Olympian, in 1912 at Stockholm. Edmundson finished seventh in the 800 meters and sixth in the 400 meters. He later coached the Vandal basketball team, then moved to Seattle to coach the Washington Huskies in basketball and track. The UW Pavilion was named for him in 1948, known locally since as "Hec Ed." Alycia Butterworth (b. 1992) of Canada was an Honorable Mention NCAA All-American and two-time WAC Champion in the 3000m Steeplechase at Idaho. She also finished second in the WAC and the Big Sky in the steeple. She made the 2017 IAAF World Track & Field Championships in the 3000m Steeplechase. Alycia represented Canada at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in her signature event, the steeplechase. She finished 10th in her heat, after falling during the race.
Former sports Baseball
Both Idaho and Boise State discontinued baseball after the 1980 season, citing budget constraints. Idaho State dropped its program six years earlier when the Big Sky stopped sponsorship of baseball and four
Boxing Under head coach "Limehouse Lou" August, the Vandals won the NCAA boxing championship in 1940 and 1941, and shared another national title with Gonzaga in 1950 under head coach Frank Young. (The Inland Northwest was a hotbed of the sport as Idaho, Washington State, and Gonzaga had top programs and won national titles.) Due to budget reasons, the program was dropped in June 1954. Collegiate boxing fell from favor in the 1950s as more and more schools dropped their teams. The NCAA ended its sponsorship in January 1961, following the death of a Wisconsin boxer in the 1960 championships.
Field hockey The final season of women's field hockey was in the fall of 1980; it was discontinued that December.
Gymnastics The final season for women's gymnastics was in 1982; the program was cut during a state budget crisis.
Skiing The Vandal ski team was eliminated in October 1972 to economize, and the Big Sky dropped skiing in May 1974, along with four other sports. UI's team dated back to 1941.
Men's swimming The men's swimming program had a 58-year history; it was discontinued after the 1986 season, . The Big Sky dropped swimming a dozen years earlier in 1974, along with four other sports.
After over a decade as a varsity sport, women's swimming was cut after the 1985 season, then returned 19 years later in the fall of 2004 under head coach Tom Jager.
Wrestling The last season for Vandal wrestling
Fencing, rifle Prior to World War II, Idaho also fielded teams in fencing and rifle.
Facilities
The University of Idaho has numerous on-campus facilities for the athletic program.Vandal Athletic Facilities – University of Idaho Athletics Official Site — GoVandals.com The primary facility is the Kibbie Dome, a 16,000 seat indoor stadium for football, basketball, indoor tennis, and indoor track. From 2001 to 2020, massive black curtains encircled the basketball seating configuration and the arena was called the "Cowan Spectrum", with a capacity of 7,000. Underneath the football turf is a five-lane, track and nine tennis courts. East end additions (1982, 2004) to the Kibbie Dome house the athletic department offices, locker rooms, weight room, and training facilities. The Kibbie Dome's concrete grandstands opened in October 1971 upon the site of the wooden Neale Stadium (1937–68). (photo) An outdoor stadium for four years, it was fully enclosed in 1975 and its playing surface sits at an elevation of above sea level.Terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com – topo map – UI campus – accessed September 17, 2009
The historic Memorial Gymnasium (1928) is the home for women's volleyball, and hosted early season basketball games during the Vandals football season. It also hosted all men's and women's basketball home games in the 2020–21 season due to COVID-19 football scheduling disruptions, specifically the decision of the Big Sky Conference to move its football season from fall 2020 to spring 2021. South of the "Mem Gym" is the Swim Center and the P.E. Building (formerly the new "Women's Gym"), which houses practice gymnasiums; these facilities were completed in 1970. The Mem Gym formerly had a swimming pool in its basement.
Other outdoor facilities include the 18-hole championship UI Golf Course, directly south of the Kibbie Dome. The first nine holes debuted in 1937 and the second nine opened in 1970; the 1949 clubhouse was replaced in 1969. West of the Kibbie Dome is the outdoor track and field stadium, opened in early 1972 and named for newly crowned Olympic champion decathlete Dan O'Brien in September 1996. A concrete grandstand at the finish line in the southeast corner seats approximately 1,000. The track complex was fully refurbished in 2011 and hosted the WAC outdoor championships in 2012.
In addition, there are outdoor athletic practice fields on the grounds directly east of the Kibbie Dome. Formerly, these grass fields were for varsity football practice only. SprinTurf (similar to FieldTurf) and lighting was installed in 2005 and the fields are now available for intramurals and general recreation. Six outdoor tennis courts are east of these fields, west of the P.E. Building, and four more are on the lower Administration Lawn.
MacLean Field, the campus' original athletics area, was on the grounds south of the Memorial Gym, with the spectators on the eastern embankment. Football was played here from 1914 until Neale Stadium opened in 1937; the baseball team called MacLean home for another three decades, until the construction of the College of Education building displaced the infield after the 1966 season.(aerial campus photo – circa 1940) Prior to 1940, the baseball infield at MacLean was in the opposite (southwest) corner and lacked infield grass. It was covered by the athletic field house in 1949, which was razed following the enclosure of the Kibbie Dome in 1975, and became outdoor tennis courts. The new baseball diamond was constructed at the north end of campus; first used in April 1967, it was named for Guy Wicks in May 1969. Wicks (1902–68), a UI graduate, was a Vandal baseball player in the early 1920s, a head coach in two sports in the 1940s, and later an associate dean of students. Prior to the construction of the library (opened 1957), it was the site of outdoor tennis courts.
The university opened the new Idaho Central Credit Union Arena in September 2021, with the first event taking place in late October. The 4,200-seat facility currently houses men's and women's basketball.
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