Northwest Notes Dec. 13, 2025
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 8 hours, 37 minutes AGO
Vandals name Malo defensive line coach
MOSCOW — Idaho football coach Thomas Ford Jr. announced the hiring of V.J. Malo as defensive line coach on Friday.
Malo comes to the Palouse following a season at Portland State, his alma mater, where he was the defensive ends coach.
“Really excited about VJ joining our staff,” Ford said in a news release. “He is a rising star in the profession, and his work really showed when we prepared for PSU this year. He had those guys playing hard and running to the football up front, even when they weren’t having a ton of team success. His passion, energy, and high-level recruiting ability will be a big addition to our program.”
He spent the 2024 season at Seattle’s O’Dea High where the team won the Washington state 3A championship.
As a player for the Vikings, Malo, a native of West Seattle, was an all-conference defensive end. In his junior season, Malo played in all 11 games for Portland State and recorded 45 tackles, 20 TFL, and 10.5 sacks. In addition, he also forced three fumbles and recorded two PBU. In 2021 he set new benchmarks at PSU for most TFL and sacks by a Viking at the FCS level.