Conference Big Sky Conference Offensive coordinator Bill Tripp (2nd year) Defensive coordinator Tim Hundley (1st year) | 1979 record 4–7 (2–5 Big Sky) Offensive scheme Veer | |
Head coach Jerry Davitch (2nd year) | ||
The 1979 Idaho Vandals football team represented the University of Idaho in the 1979 NCAA Division I-AA football season. The Vandals were led by second-year head coach Jerry Davitch and were members of the Big Sky Conference. They played their home games at the Kibbie Dome, an indoor facility on campus in Moscow, Idaho.
With quarterbacks Jay Goodenbour and Rob Petrillo running the veer offense, the Vandals were 4–7 overall and 2–5 in the Big Sky. They won four of five in mid-season, but dropped their final four games. Idaho lost to rival Boise State for the third straight year; the Broncos went undefeated in conference play but were on probation for a scouting violation and not eligible for the title or the I-AA playoffs.
Notable players
Junior running back Glen White was the Vandals' leading rusher in 1979, the best season by a UI running back in the 1970s. He missed the opener at Fresno but gained 889 yards and averaged 5.0 yards per carry in the final ten games; in the game at Idaho State, he rushed for 163 yards on 19 carries. A military brat, White graduated from high school in West Germany and had not been recruited by college football programs; a high school coach was a former Vandal and alerted UI head coach Ed Troxel.
While in off-season training in February 1980, White felt weakness and underwent medical testing in Moscow and Seattle. Diagnosed with aplastic anemia, he battled it for several months until his death from complications on August 9 at an Oklahoma City hospital, near his parents' home at Fort Sill. White, age 22, was posthumously designated an honorary team captain for all eleven games in 1980, and his Vandal teammates wore his number 32 on the left side of their helmets in tribute.
Future NFL linebacker Sam Merriman of Tucson, Arizona, was a standout on defense in 1979 as a true freshman.