Week 4: Idaho @ UC Davis Wow, their University president posted on their fan forum:
https://247sports.com/college/idaho/Board/103901/Contents/Davis-game-121441352/?Page=2
VandalBasher 2321 posts
26 minutes ago
Sept. 21, 2018
Dear Friends,
This afternoon, I’ll board a plane and head to California to support our Vandal football team as they take on the Aggies of the University of California, Davis. I’ve made a similar trek many times over the past several years – sometimes closer, sometimes farther. It’s been an honor and a pleasure to cheer on the efforts of our student-athletes as they represent our university.
But today’s journey is different. It’s a chance to see our Vandals as we make our return to the Big Sky Conference. The Aggies have played a strong couple of games to start their season. I know our Vandals will bring their skills, passion and teamwork to bear on this first conference test, and they’re not looking past the Aggies as we anticipate our conference home opener the following week.
Like U of I, UC Davis is a public, land-grant research university. We’re excited about the opportunity to play against similar foes as well as additional regional matchups in the conference. When we take on teams like Idaho State and the University of Montana later this season, it will help ignite rivalries dormant since Idaho last was so successful as a member of the Big Sky for more than 30 years. We’ll see fans of our Big Sky opponents in the dome this year, and I know many alumni and fans will be able to travel to away destinations like Cheney, Pocatello and Bozeman.
As you cheer on the Vandals this fall, know that you’re not just rooting for football players. These are young men committed to the student side of the student-athlete equation. Our football team was part of an Athletics Department that raised the bar for GPA at U of I last year; we even saw our first first-team Academic All-American since the early 1970s. Our students are continuing that success in the classroom this fall while continuing to learn and grow as members of the U of I community and also training on safety and violence prevention. I hope we can all be united around the success of our student-athletes.
The fact is, we have a lot to be excited about in Athletics. We’re focused on completing our Idaho Central Credit Union Arena project this year – we just received a $250,000 gift toward the project from our great community partners at the Best Western Plus University Inn – and getting shovels in the ground in the spring. Our volleyball team began Big Sky play this week; our soccer team opens that portion of its schedule today in the Kibbie Dome. We have an exciting season for basketball – tickets for the 2018 Vandal Holiday Hoops Showcase in Boise are already on sale. A budget challenge remains for the department, but we should continue to stay passionate about what our student-athletes are able to achieve as we take that on this year.
Chuck Staben
Go Vandals!
Chuck Staben
President