Kramer out as Bengal’s head coach

When asked if Mike Kramer hadn’t retired, would he still be your football coach, Idaho State Athletic Director Jeff Tingey answered “no”. A simple answer, with a powerful message. Mike Kramer, the head coach of the Idaho State Football team, wasn’t going to be back next fall. No matter what. “Happenings in the program, happenings within the leadership. It wasn’t just one event, it was a series of events, a series of turns a series of decisions that led us to this point,” Tingey said. Tingey wouldn’t go into detail what exactly the series of events were, but he did say the intention of his meeting today with Kramer was to improve the program. Tingey also said student-athletes take anonymous surveys on areas to improve in. Some even went straight to Tingey himself. “We had some student-athletes that took advantage of the open door policy, came in and shared with me their thoughts on the program and the pulse,” said Tingey. Kramer had success in the Big Sky at both Eastern Washington and Montana State, winning the conference championship four times. That success didn’t follow him to Pocatello. In his six seasons as the Bengals head coach, Kramer had an 18-50 overall record. He had just one winning season, back in 2014, when ISU went 8 and 4. After a back-to-back 2-9 season, Kramer said it was hard to win at Idaho State, something that has frustrated the community. “The hard to win at ISU I don’t agree with,” said Tingey. “For us to get stagnant in any sport is not something we want to do. From comments that I’ve heard, we need to improve. We need to be more competitive. That’s what I hear over and over again. ‘When are we going to get a conference championship? When are we going to get eight wins again? When are we going to get six wins again?’ Everybody wants to see a winner and everybody wants to be a part of it and that’s what I think honestly, they want us to have success. On Tuesday, The Idaho State Athletic department sent out a press release saying Offensive Coordinator Rob Phenicie left the program to coach somewhere else. Thursday, it was announced Phenicie would be the new head coach of the Idaho State Football team, although he hasn’t officially signed a contract yet. “It’s his experience. It’s his experience tied with the fact that he’s been here,” Tingey said. “He’s not new to the program. The athletes don’t need to get to know him. They don’t need to see him in action, they’ve seen him in action. I know that they like him, I know that they like the leadership that he brings. I’ve seen the leadership that he brings.”