| Idaho Vandals | |
|---|---|
 | |
| University | University of Idaho |
| Conference | Big Sky |
| NCAA | Division I (FCS) |
| Athletic director | Terry Gawlik[1] |
| Location | Moscow, Idaho |
| Varsity teams | 16 (7 men's and 9 women's) |
| Football stadium | Kibbie Dome |
| Basketball arena | Idaho Central Credit Union Arena |
| Baseball stadium | Guy Wicks Field (defunct) |
| Soccer stadium | Kibbie Dome |
| Aquatics center | UI Swim Center |
| Other venues | Memorial Gymnasium |
| Mascot | Joe Vandal |
| Nickname | Vandals |
| Fight song | Go, Vandals, Go |
| Cheer | I-D-A-H-O, IDAHO, IDAHO GO GO GO |
| Colors | Silver and gold[2] |
| Website | govandals |
| Team NCAA championships | |
| 3 | |
| Individual and relay NCAA champions | |
| 23 | |
The Idaho Vandals are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing the University of Idaho, located in Moscow, Idaho. The Vandals compete at the NCAA Division I level as a member of the Big Sky Conference.
The football team was an independent for the 2013 season due to a major wave of departures from the Western Athletic Conference that left just two football-playing schools. In July 2014, Idaho returned its football team to the Sun Belt Conference and the other sports rejoined the Big Sky Conference.[3]
The university's official colors are silver and gold, honoring the state's mining tradition. Because these metallic colors in tandem are not visually complementary for athletic uniforms, black and gold are the prevalent colors for the athletic teams, with an occasional use of silver, similar to Colorado, whose official colors are also silver and gold. When Idaho moved out of the Big Sky to the Big West in 1996, the yellow "Green Bay" gold was changed to metallic "Vegas" gold.[4] Yellow gold and black were the colors used by most of the varsity teams from 1978 to 1996, initiated by first-year head football coach Jerry Davitch's new uniforms for 1978.
On April 27, 2016, it was reported that the Vandals would become the first football program to voluntarily drop from the FBS level to the FCS level, beginning in 2018. All previous programs to have moved from FBS to FCS level did so because the NCAA downgraded either the individual programs or their conferences.
- ^ "Terry Gawlik Named University of Idaho Director of Athletics". UIdaho.edu (Press release). August 7, 2019. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
- ^ "University of Idaho Color Identity". January 31, 2018. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
- ^ "Idaho To Return in 2014" (Press release). Big Sky Conference. October 19, 2012. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
- ^ "'96 Vandals will sport new look". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). April 28, 1996. p. 6B.