Idaho extends football coach Jason Eck's contract through 2028
Jun. 13—University of Idaho football coach Jason Eck knew for a while that he was sticking around, but on Wednesday it became official.
The third-year Vandal front man and Idaho announced a two-year contract extension through the 2028 season, guaranteeing long term stability for a program that has made consecutive Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs the last two years, for the first time since 1994-95.
Eck, who was hired in 2022, has a two-year record of 16-9 overall and 12-4 in the Big Sky, surpassing College Football Hall of Famer Dennis Erickson's mark of 9-5 in conference through two seasons.
"I like it here, I like living here and I like coaching this team," Eck said. "To have that stability to do it for a longer time is a plus. I think it's good for recruiting, good for our staff (and good for) attracting players and coaches to Moscow. It's exciting. We love it here and hope we can be here a long time."
Eck said in a news conference on Wednesday that athletic director Terry Gawlik talked to him for a possible extension after the regular season, and there was a verbal agreement in place for a while. It was just a matter of finalizing the terms and waiting for the Idaho State Board of Education to approve the contract.
Eck's initial contract in 2022 had a base salary of $175,000 with incentives making the maximum pay worth more than $375,000 per year. His new contract will still have a base salary of $175,000, but incentives bump the maximum to $462,000, along with a buyout of a $525,000, according to the Spokesman-Review and Pullman Radio.
The Vandals saw several coaches leave for new roles and many starters lost either to the transfer portal or to graduation this offseason. Eck's extension adds some stability for a program that has been navigating a tumultuous, ever-changing landscape of college football.
"(Idaho) wants to keep me around, too. Which is good, I like being here," Eck said. "I think this is a positive day for the University of Idaho. It's been a while since we've been able to string together a few good seasons in a row — two postseason teams. Hopefully we can keep building on that.
"We need the support of our fanbase. They've been great turning out for games the last two years. Hopefully we can keep doing that."
Eck's extension also marks the beginning of a new stage in Idaho football. When Eck and his coaching staff took over the program, it was filled with players left over from the Paul Petrino era. Several of those players — Hayden Hatten, Marcus Harris, Jermaine Jackson, Gevani McCoy, Fa'avae Fa'avae, the McCormick brothers — ended up playing a significant part in the Vandals' success over the past two seasons.
There are still a couple players who will be key contributors left over from Petrino's regime: running back Eli Cummings, safety Tommy McCormick and tight end Alex Moore chief among them.
But this season will be the first where the majority of the starters and key contributors on Eck's Idaho team will be made up of players that he, and his coaching staff, recruited.
There are still some things that the Vandals have yet to accomplish that Eck mentioned in the news conference: a Big Sky championship and an FCS title top that list.
If the Vandals are to take those next steps, it'll be with players that Eck recruited. And the third-year coach will be almost guaranteed to be at the forefront of all of it with this latest extension.
"We're hungry to not rest on what we've done the past two years," Eck said. "We want to keep striving to bring a championship banner up in that Kibbie Dome. It's been too long. Since 1998, was the last time we won a conference championship. So we got to keep staying hungry and keep getting better. There's good things going around on campus. ... A lot of things are going in the right direction and I'm excited to be a part of it."
Eck's extension also gives him the chance to join some rare company. Out of the 36 head football coaches in Idaho history, only seven of them have fronted the program for six years or longer. Six of those seven consecutively. If Eck were to coach the length of his latest contract, he would be the head coach for seven years — something that only Petrino, John G. Griffith and Skip Stahley have done.
"I don't think there's quite as many emotions (as when I got hired)," Eck said. "Truth is, we've had this verbally agreed to for a while now, we were just waiting for the state board to get to it and approve it. ... It took a little while to work out the details and things, but it's all good vibes. All positive vibes with the way things are going."
Including Eck's time as an assistant from 2004-06, he would be in Moscow for 10 years.
When Eck was introduced as coach back in December of 2021, he described the Vandals as a "sleeping giant." Now, Idaho is intending to stomp its way through the Big Sky and the FCS, and Eck will remain at the forefront of the march.
"We can't always sell being the underdog," Eck said. "We got to embrace having high expectations. We got to embrace getting everybody's best shot and not always being able to sneak up on people. So it's a little change in mindset, but I think it's good.
"You want to have a program that has high expectations going into every year. So, I think it's a positive. Having some stability for our football program, for our athletic department is very good."
Kowatsch can be contacted at 208-848-2268, tkowatsch@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @Teren_Kowatsch.
