At the time, the Idaho football program had posted just four winning seasons in over four decades, and the last four head coaches had been fired after two to four seasons. In addition, no Vandal head football coach had left with a winning record since 1928. Through the 1977 season, Idaho was a Division I football program in a Division II football conference. When the Big Sky was formed in 1963, Idaho intended to join for all sports "except" football, and continued to play as a "University Division" independent, which it did through 1964 with Dee Andros. At the time, there were six teams in the conference and one did not play football (Gonzaga), for only four conference games per year.