ISU's top 10 most impactful

[up for the challenge]

When you mentioned recruiting as a reason for not winning games you may have hit one area that is probably connected. The ISU recruit not only has to be a NCAA qualifier but he also has to meet the ISU academic standards which are higher than most schools in the Big Sky. There are probably a lot of good players that we wanted to recruit but had to take him off the recruiting board because he did not meet the ISU academic standards. So, that player was probably picked up by another team in the Big Sky. The good news is we have good students that are graduating on time.

 

[Reborn2010]

good post. Thanks

 

[Reborn2010]

I'm not sure why a school would want their academic standards to be higher than other teams. It doesn't make sense to me. I am sure we have missed some pretty great talent because of this.

 

[Skippy]

I'm not sure why a school would want their academic standards to be higher than other teams. It doesn't make sense to me. I am sure we have missed some pretty great talent because of this.

It was an outgrowth of the NCAA APR sanctions against Idaho State that were levied before Kramer became coach: reduced scholarships and practice time. Mike and his staff did a good job rebuilding the academic record of the football team.

Idaho State has always, and probably will always struggle in football, with the exception of those occasional breakthroughs like 2014. We have a small fan base with no deep pockets donors. We have a 46-year-old dome that was built on the cheap and for which we can only keep applying patches. There have been some nice facility upgrades under Jeff Tingey's administration: new outdoor practice field, upgrade of the weight room, new turf and locker room upgrades. But recruiting will always be a challenge to Pocatello. We have no natural recruiting base, the best players in the area are drawn to BSU, BYU and USU, and kids who are interested in Big Sky level football from the West Coast typically have to travel past several Big Sky schools with better histories of success to get here.

It's not impossible to win at ISU but history shows it's damn hard, and it's gotten harder with more teams added to the league and the requirement for two money games a year. I've said it many times before, if Kramer , a three-time Big Sky coach of the year at two different programs, can't win here, I'm not sure who can.