Three assistant football coaches out at Idaho

By MARK NELKE 

Sports editor 

Assistant football coaches Matt Linehan, Lance Dunbar and Tevita Finau will not return to Idaho’s coaching staff in 2026, Vandals head coach Thomas Ford Jr. said Tuesday.

Linehan was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach this past season, after three years on the staff as wide receivers coach. 

Finau (defensive line) and Dunbar (running backs) were in their first seasons at Idaho. 

Finau was a former assistant at Utah and Utah State. 

Dunbar, considered the greatest running back in North Texas history, spent the past two seasons as offensive quality control analyst at Tulsa. 

“After reviewing our staff and team performance, we’ve decided to part ways with Coach Linehan, Coach Dunbar, and Coach Finau,” Ford said in a statement through the school. “I want to personally thank all of them for their service in our program this past season, and for all they did for our student-athletes. Difficult decisions like this are made with the best interest of our student-athletes and the future of the program. I wish each of them nothing but success going forward.” 

Linehan quarterbacked Idaho to victory in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise in 2016, when the Vandals were in the second-to-last season of their 22-year run in FBS. 

After three straight appearances in the FCS playoffs, Idaho finished 4-8 this season.  

In a post on “X” on Tuesday, Linehan said he was demoted as offensive coordinator after the UC Davis game, which dropped the Vandals to 4-6, and “this has led to a mutual parting of ways.”  

Normally coaching from the press box on game days, Linehan coached from the sidelines in Idaho’s last two games. 

Also, two Idaho quarterbacks, redshirt freshman Rocco Koch and redshirt sophomore Nick Josifek, posted on “X” they were planning to enter the transfer portal.