Idaho State Bengals football

Idaho state first started fielding football in 1902, just one year after it was established. From 1902–1934, Idaho State had 10 different head coaches, 7 of which coached for less than 3 seasons. The Bengals were quite successful during this era, with a total record of 117-70-10 (.619). Herbert Cheney, Idaho State's first ever head coach, Herbert Chaney, has the highest win/loss rate of any coach in Idaho State history, with a record of 5-1-1 (.786).

Guy Wicks spent 6 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 bengals, during 1940 when he went 3-5. Wicks was also the head basketball coach of the Bengals from 1931–1941.

Wick's successor, John Vesser, stayed 9 total seasons with Idaho State. He was Idaho State's head coach when Idaho State moved from Independent to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. In total he has a record of 41-27-6 (.595).

Babe Caccia played as both a center and a linebacker when he played for Idaho State (then called 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 6 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 1965–1979, and athletic director from 1979–1986.[4] For one year in 1976, he acted as line coach for the Edmonton Eskimos (now Edmonton Elks) of the Canadian Football League. He boasted a fairly successful record of 79–38–2 (.664) with Idaho State.

Leo McKillip only coached for 2 seasons, having a losing record in both of them. He was Idaho State's first head coach to have a win rate 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 (now Holt Arena).[5]

Cavanaugh's successor took over in 1972, and he remained with idaho state for 4 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.[6]

Joe Pascale holds the record for the lowest win/loss rate in program history. During the lone season he led the Bengals, he only earned one win—a close 27-22 triumph over Nevada—[5]and finished with a mark of 1-9 (.100).[7]

Bud Hake was not much of an improvement over Pascale, but he did stay 2 more seasons. His 3 season stay saw a total record of 5-27 (.156), including a winless 0–11 season in 1979.[6]

After Bud Hake went winless in 1979, Idaho State fired him and hired Dave Kragthorpe in his place. During his first season he went 6–5, an instant improvement over Hake. In the 1981 season, the Bengals had a nearly undefeated 12–1 season, and won the Division I-AA National Championship, beating Eastern Kentucky 34–23 in the championship game.[8] However the following season wouldn't see nearly as much success, Thorpe finishing the 1982 season 3–8. Across his entire career with the Bengals, he went 21-14 (.667). As of 2021, Kragthorpe is the last 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. Jim Koetter finished his run with ISU 23–32–1 (.411).

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

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

Tom Walsh was the Offensive Coordinator for the Los Angeles Raiders before he started his career in Idaho State.[10] He totaled 6–16 (.261) during his 2 season stay with ISU.

Larry Lewis took over after Walsh, and he stayed 8 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.[4] However Idaho State was passed up for the playoffs in favor of the other two. Larry Lewis ended his run with a record of 40–49 (.449).

John Zamberlin was head coach at Central Washington before he went to Idaho State. He was highly successful with Central Washington, winning 4 conference championships with them, but he struggled when he went to Idaho State. John Zamberlain's contract was originally going to run out in 2009, but Idaho State extended the contract by 2 seasons. The choice was very controversial among students due to John's lack of success. He averaged only 1.5 wins per season, and he ended his career 6-39 (.133), the second lowest win rate in program history. He was a linebackers coach for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats from 2012 to 2013.[7]

Mike Kramer was previously head coach at both Eastern Washington and Montana State, winning 1 conference title with Eastern Washington and 3 with Montana State. He had a very successful 8-4 season with the Bengals, placing #25 in the FCS, but overall he totaled 18–50 (.265)

In 2017, Mike 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.[11]

On December 10, 2021, former California special teams coordinator Charlie Ragle was hired to be the Bengals' head coach.[12]

Idaho State has won 8 conference championships spanning 2 conferences.[13]

† Co-champions

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 70s and 80s, 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 Football Bowl Subdivision), 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 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 the Battle of the Domes branding 62-28.[18] Idaho State is 2 for 4 since Idaho's return to Big Sky.

Idaho State and Weber State first played each other in 1962 [19] when both teams joined the Big Sky conference. 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.

Portland State first joined the Big Sky Conference in 1996, and has become one of Idaho State's conference protected rivals. It is also Idaho State's most competitive rival, neither team having a winning streak of more than 3, and only having a 2 win differential. Although Portland State joined in 1996, official recordkeeping only dates back to 2002,[20] even though they most likely played each other before then.