Don’t call it a rebuild: Familiar face ready to help Idaho football take ‘next step’
As Jason Eck assembled his new staff after taking the head coaching job at New Mexico, his former running backs coach at the University of Idaho, Thomas Ford Jr., was near the top of his list.
Ford spent two years coaching under Eck at Idaho before becoming the running backs coach at Oregon State in 2024. When the opportunity for a reunion in New Mexico presented itself, Eck was quick to call his old friend.
But there was one problem.
Ford was already making moves to replace Eck as the head coach of the Vandals.
“When I told him, ‘Hey, I’m in on this job,’ he said, ‘No, no, you need to get that,’” Ford recalled in an interview last week with the Idaho Statesman.
Ford said Eck told him, “I really want you to get the job because I don’t want it to go to someone that isn’t going to be as good.”
Ford officially became the Vandals’ 37th head coach on Dec. 18, just two days after Eck announced his departure from the program he’d built into an FCS playoff regular the past three seasons. Idaho went 26-13 in Eck’s tenure and advanced to the quarterfinals the past two years.
Ford has spent most of his playing and coaching career in the Pacific Northwest. He got his breakthrough in 2020 with Washington, where he served as a quality control analyst for two years before becoming the running backs coach at Idaho.
He also served as the head coach at Simon Fraser University in 2018 and 2019, going a combined 2-18. Simon Fraser is a small public research university in Vancouver, Canada.
In a December statement, Idaho Athletic Director Terry Gawlik said that the “foundation for success has been laid” following Eck’s departure. That sentiment was a significant reason Ford was happy to return to Moscow after a year away: He didn’t want a “rebuild.”
“I felt like I was on the ground level with Coach Eck as we built this thing up,” Ford said. “So I had a really good understanding of how we got here, what it took to get here, and then what I think it’s going to take to kind of take that next step.”
Looking from the outside heading into the 2025 season, it looks like a rebuild for the Vandals.
Many of Idaho’s top players have joined Eck in New Mexico, including All-American kickoff returner Abraham Williams and last season’s leading rusher, Deshaun Buchanan. Several other players left for FBS schools, including defensive lineman Malakai Williams (Boise State), cornerback Andrew Marshall (Nebraska) and offensive tackle Ayden Knapik (Illinois).
But it could’ve been worse. Ford quickly went to work to convince players to withdraw from the transfer portal. Some potential key contributors, such as running back Eli Cummings and offensive lineman Nate Azzopardi, both will return as redshirt seniors in 2025.
Additionally, only one commitment from the high school class of 2024 left the program.
“I think that our culture is very good here, and we have such a strong nucleus of guys returning,” Ford said. “The culture is good, and those guys want it to stay. Normally, when you’re a first-year guy and you have a head coaching change, it’s the time to leave.”
The Vandals announced 33 signees in Ford’s first recruiting class, including 23 high school athletes, seven four-year transfers and three junior college transfers.
Ford said fans should look forward to seeing Lonyatta Alexander Jr., a wide receiver who came from Montana State, and defensive lineman Donovan Parham, a transfer from Mississippi Valley State.
“I think our staff did a phenomenal job of filling some immediate needs right now,” Ford said. “Now we have a couple more that we filled, but some of those guys won’t be here until the fall.
