He looked ridiculous, like a soggy version of Idaho State's Benny the Bengal mascot, plus a football helmet minus intimidation factor. His players and assistants stood in each end zone and chipped golf balls toward him, earning points for proximity. Top prize if you hit him. One of them did.

On Idaho State's last day of spring practice, Rob Phenicie stood at midfield in a tiger suit while golf balls flew around him one by one.

What was he doing, a first-year head coach letting his guard down a month after taking the job?

Perhaps it was a sort of self-imposed rite of passage. Maybe it was an intentional celebration of the end of spring practice — springs in Pocatello aren't pleasant — or a fun way to put a new signature on a much-needed culture change.

“In order to keep it fun, I do some stupid stuff every once in a while,” Phenicie said months later. “I can't really pinpoint it.”

Introducing: 'Coach Phen.'

Those close to Phenicie say he never wanted to be a head coach. A longtime coordinator and position coach, Phenicie always seemed comfortable helping the team on a smaller scale.

It's ironic, then, the way Phenicie was offered his first head-coaching gig.

Phenicie was in Cedar Falls, Iowa, coaching receivers at Northern Iowa University in late March, when he got a text message. It was a week before Idaho State's spring camp began and a week into Phenicie's tenure at UNI. He left ISU after a two-year stint despite his recent promotion to offensive coordinator.

Bengals six-year head coach Mike Kramer was retiring. Some say he was forced out, others say he should have been fired months earlier. Either way, ISU needed a new football coach, and he had to come quick.

“It was a gauging-his-interest conversation to see where he's at,” ISU Director of Athletics Jeff Tingey said. “Let him know the direction we were thinking about going and if he would even think about interviewing for the position knowing that he just barely took a new job.”

So, Phenicie came back. His wife had been painting the interior of their home to get it ready to sell. Instead, they get to enjoy their new paint job: a neutral creamy brown with tiger paintings hanging on the walls.

“It was a little surreal,” said Rob's wife, Jennifer Phenicie. “It's not something that he's really been out there trying to find. … He doesn't feel like he has to be in the limelight. He's not an attention-seeker.”

Few dispute Rob's qualifications as a Division I head coach. His career started in 1989 as a graduate assistant coach at the University Memphis and yellow-brick-roaded its way to Wyoming, Montana and UNLV, among others. He coached quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends, and his titles varied from recruiting coordinator to offensive coordinator.

In his seven-year stint as Montana's offensive coordinator, the Grizzlies reached three national championship games. The success helped him and then-UM head coach Bobby Hauck earn the same positions at UNLV, where they both coached through the 2014 season.

“He's an organized, thorough, detailed person,” Hauck said of Phenicie, “which lends itself to being a good football coach. I knew from having worked with him and against him that he had a good knowledge of the game.”

Hauck and Phenicie first met as graduate assistants at UCLA in the early 90s. In the nearly 30 years since, they've separated and reunited in the coaching world multiple times.

In his first few months as a head coach, there's no one Phenicie has referenced more than Bobby Hauck.

“We worked together a long time and won a lot of games and championships,” Hauck said. “Over all the years, we had some really good times.”

Hauck is now the special teams coordinator at San Diego State University. He's one of many examples of the college football coaching carousel over rotating and reconnecting old colleagues.

At Memphis, Phenicie worked with Vic Koenning. The two later worked together at Wyoming, and Koenning is now the defensive coordinator at Troy University.

At Los Angeles Valley College and Cal State Northridge, Phenicie tutored and coached alongside Aaron Flowers and Armando Gonzalez. Flowers and Gonzalez later teamed up at San Juan Hills High School in San Juan Capistrano, California, and Gonzalez is now in his first season as head coach at Rigby High School, 64 miles northeast of Holt Arena.

One of Phenicie's prized prophets is ISU offensive coordinator Matt Troxel. Phenicie recruited Troxel to Montana his junior year of high school and pried him away from Montana this spring. Troxel left ISU to coach at Montana but, like Phenicie, returned to Pocatello soon after.

The two have a tight bond that formed when Troxel was a speedy 5-foot-9 receiver. Their friendship still thrives today, when Troxel is a self-proclaimed “overweight, balding” offensive coordinator.

“It's fun for me because everything that we're doing now is all stuff that I did as a player,” Troxel said. “He's definitely someone I always knew I wanted to work for, just because you know what to expect on a day-in and day-out basis.”

Troxel and others rave about Phenicie's organization and attention to detail. For Koenning, it was Phenicie's tech savvy that stood out. Flowers pinpointed Phenicie's ability to maintain a soft side and still be a disciplinarian.

“In our stretch lines, every helmet's got to be straight,” Troxel said. “He holds kids and holds all the coaches accountable for every little detail.”

“One of the sayings that he has that's always stuck with me is, 'You better come with some science,'” Flowers said. “You can't do things off of, 'I hope this works,' or, 'I think this will work.' It needs to be, 'Here's the reasons why this has a higher chance to succeed than not.'”

Phenicie is a fan of NASCAR, hockey and the Canadian Football League. He used to have hair, now he prefers to go without it.

“The guy that Jenny married had a full head of hair,” Hauck said. “I'm not sure he could land her in this day and age.”

He's a movie buff — or at least he enjoys a good cult comedy. Troxel said they exchange one-liners from classics like Wedding Crashers and Old School.

During his first press conference of the fall, Phenicie quoted Austin Powers.

“He didn't take himself too seriously,” Koenning said. “He always had a good spirit about him and an ability to laugh and enjoy life a little bit, too.”