On February 23 , 1935 , Ted Bank , a heralded football player at Michigan under Fielding Yost , was named the 14th head football coach of the Idaho Vandals , leaving his post as running backs coach at Tulane in New Orleans . He would stay in Moscow through the completion of the 1940 season . Following a record in his third season on the Palouse in 1937 , Bank was on the short list of many to succeed Harry Kipke as head coach at Michigan , his alma mater . Bank denied interest in replacing Kipke , a teammate at Michigan , and told the press , " I am perfectly satisfied at Idaho . I have not been contacted by the Michigan athletic board and would think twice before leaving Idaho . " In January 1938 , Idaho 's state board of education announced that Bank had signed a three-year contract renewal and would remain as the university 's football coach and director of physical education . His best season came that season , when the Vandals finished with a record of with victories over Oregon State , Utah , and Utah State , and a tie with Washington . The 1937 and 1938 seasons were Idaho 's only winning seasons in football between 1927 and 1963 , when the Vandals went 5 – 4 as an independent under head coach Dee Andros ( the tenth game on November 23 was canceled ) . The 1938 season was the highest winning percentage ( .650 ) between 1927 and 1971 . Consecutive winning seasons at Idaho were not achieved again until 1982 – 83 under Dennis Erickson in the Big Sky Conference in NCAA Division I-AA . ( Idaho had fifteen consecutive winning seasons from 1982 – 96 . ) The successes of 1937 and 1938 was not maintained as Idaho went 2 – 6 in 1939 and 1 – 7 – 1 in 1940 ( and winless in conference games ) , giving Bank a six-year overall record of 18 – 33 – 3 ( ) . Bank was fired as the Vandals ' head football coach in January 1941 , part of an upheaval that included the resignation of head basketball coach Forrest Twogood . Longtime college football coach Francis Schmidt was hired at Idaho in March 1941 , he was previously the head coach at Ohio State University of the Big Ten Conference . The team was 4 – 5 in 1941 and 3 – 7 in 1942 , but a lack of civilian manpower prior to the 1943 season due to World War II forced several PCC teams to put their programs on hiatus in September , including Idaho . Schmidt stayed on campus and assisted in the physical training of troops , but his health worsened in 1944 and he died in a Spokane hospital in September
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Idaho Vandals football