Give Ford, Idaho Vandals grace and time to build the program

However, the subtext with two of those losses is that starting quarterback Joshua Wood has been out with a lower-body injury. In one of the four losses, he played the entire second half with an injury as well.

Ford said that there was no reason to rush Wood back and did not want to risk any further injury for the QB. He said the long-term goal is to have Wood ready for multiple years to come on the Vandals.

Idaho is planning to take an intrinsic look within the program and reassess what might be working and what may not.

“And so obviously, when you’re in a spot where you’ve lost four games in a row, you’ve got to really look inside and see what’s important,” Ford said. “And right now, what’s important is this team’s got to get better. I think you’re really seeing our youth on display in a lot of areas, and we’ve got to coach them better. Starts with me.”

Ford said that the plan is to do a better job at play selection with the talent the team has and try to get back to winning. He said the big focus of the week is “doesn’t matter, get better.”

Obviously there is pressure when you should be a top team in the Big Sky and in the FCS with the success that the Vandals’ have had recently with Eck, but historically, his time with Idaho is an outlier.

I’m not saying that Ford is bound for Paul Petrino type years. Let’s say Idaho sticks around the bottom of the Big Sky for the next couple years, then I think it would be right for the university to move on from him and his coordinators.

Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised for them to move on from one of their coordinators after this year.

But in reality, it takes time to build a successful program. Idaho should give Ford time to build up his recruits, work the transfer portal and continue to build the team up for next year and the years after.

Junt can be reached at 208-848-2258, tjunt@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @TrevorJunt.