For the second time in less than two years, Utah State has vandalized the University of Idaho coaching staff.
The Aggies announced at a 2 p.m. news conference today in the Champ Room at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum that six-year Idaho coach John L. Smith, 46, a graduate of Weber State, will be the 22nd head football coach for Utah State.He follows basketball coach Larry Eustachy from Idaho to Utah State. Eustachy was hired March 1993.
Smith and his wife, Diana, and one of their three children came to Logan to interview Sunday and Monday. They flew back to Moscow, Idaho, this morning so she could return to work as Washington State University bookstore comptroller and so he could inform Idaho's athletic director and/or school president that he is leaving.
Smith was to fly back in time for today's press conference and bring a number of his assistant coaches with him to begin working on Utah State's football changeover.
Smith replaces Charlie Weatherbie, who was chosen as coach of the U.S. Naval Academy only last Thursday night.
The Smith hiring is contingent upon approval by the USU Board of Trustees, but school president George Emert made a phone poll of the trustees at 8 p.m. Monday and was certain approval will come.
Weatherbie invited all of his Aggie assistants to go with him to Navy, but a number of them have expressed interest in remaining at Utah State.
Knowing Weatherbie was interviewing at Annapolis after missing getting the job at his alma mater, Oklahoma State, Utah State athletic director Chuck Bell formed a nine-person coach-search committee in anticipation of Weatherbie's leaving. That helped him in being able to find a successor so quickly.
Bell said he interviewed five people, three in person in Logan and two by phone. Weatherbie assistants Gene McKeehan and Dick Bumpas were interviewed in Logan, and former Stanford assistant and ex-San Jose State head coach Terry Shea was one of those interviewed on the phone. The other was likely not former Notre Dame coach Gerry Faust, who did speak several times with Bell by phone but probably did not participate in a formal interview process. Aggie assistant Jim Zorn, who has already taken the Minnesota quarterback-coach position, wanted to apply but does not have his bachelor's degree, and that was thought to hurt him as USU wants to emphasize academics.
Bell said he had the "cream" of the applicants early and assumed those who intended to apply later than this weekend would not measure up.
Bell phoned Smith Friday night to ask if he would apply.
"John L. Smith was our No. 1 choice," said Bell. "His record (53-21) speaks for itself," he said, adding, "over the last three years, he registered benchmark wins over Colorado State, Utah and UNLV (all on the road)."
Smith has 23 years of coaching experience and started as a graduate assistant at Weber State in 1971 after playing linebacker and quarterback there. He went on to Montana for four years as an assistant, earning a master's degree while there, and then worked at Nevada from 1977-81. He was Dennis Erickson's defensive coordinator at Idaho for four years and followed Erickson to Wyoming and then Washington State, both times as defensive coordinator/assistant head coach.
In six seasons at Idaho, Smith's Vandal teams made five postseason I-AA playoff appearances, and his .716 career winning percentage is second among active NCAA Division I-AA coaches. He is the winningest coach in Idaho history.
"He and his wife, Diana, a former USU coed, will fit perfectly into the community," said Bell. "They have resided in this part of the country a long time."
Said Emert, "We are excited about employing John L. Smith. He embodies everything we are looking for in a head football coach. He is known as a disciplinarian and motivator. He has his priorities set on players being students first and also has guidelines players must adhere to before they practice or participate in games. I respect him to holding to such high standards."
In his first season as a head coach, 1989, Idaho won a school-record nine straight games and was the first team in Big Sky history to have a perfect league record, 8-0. Idaho finished 9-3 and ranked fourth nationally in I-AA.
Smith's basic offense is similar to the one Weatherbie used with mainly one back and three receivers.
Smith and his wife, the former Diana Flora of Idaho Falls, have three children - Nicholas, 15; Kayse, 12; and Sam, 11.