POCATELLO — Roger Cooper is Idaho State’s new defensive coordinator, Bengals head coach Rob Phenicie told the Journal on Thursday.

Cooper, who replaces Spencer Toone, has been on ISU’s coaching staff since 2012 and was Toone’s co-defensive coordinator in 2013 and 2014. Cooper has also coached Idaho State’s running backs and linebackers, while holding additional titles of assistant head coach for defense and associate head coach.

Cooper was ISU’s interim defensive coordinator for the team’s 2017 season finale at Weber State. The Bengals lost the game 35-7, but forced five turnovers.

Phenicie said Cooper hit the fast track to becoming the Bengals’ new defensive coordinator by building his resume through what Phenicie called a “two- to three-year interview,” making him the clear top candidate after Toone was dismissed.

“When I got here three years ago and got to know Coop, watched him work, he was one of those guys that, as you move along you say, ‘If I ever have the opportunity, I’d hire that guy in this capacity,” Phenicie said.

“He had the two- to three-year interview with me without even realizing it. You never know when these things are going to happen.”

As linebackers coach, Cooper guided All-Big Sky honorees Mitch Beckstead, Mario Jenkins and Joe Martin. Jenkins was named the league’s freshman of the year in 2014, when he was also a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award, which honors the top freshman in the FCS. As a redshirt senior in 2017, Jenkins earned first-team all-conference accolades and finished 24th in the voting for the Buck Buchanan Award, which recognizes the top defensive player in the FCS.

Cooper was a standout linebacker at Montana State, and in 2004 was named Big Sky Defensive MVP. Phenicie said Cooper turned down a coaching job offer from another Big Sky Conference program to stay at Idaho State.

“He’s very analytical,” Phenicie said. “He works hard. He looks for every angle. The kids love him, and he and I had a lot of discussions these past few years just regarding philosophy about football and what he would do, what he wants to do.

“I think the time is right for him. The kids respect him tremendously. They love him, they love his energy.”

Phenicie said Cooper was responsible for signing 10 of the Bengals’ 23 players acquired in the 2018 recruiting class, adding Cooper spearheaded the effort to get valuable 5-foot-6 speedster Michael Dean to Pocatello when other coaches were on the fence because of Dean’s size.

Cooper inherits a defense that returns 14 major contributors from last season. The unit also finished 12th in the 13-team Big Sky in critical statistical categories like scoring defense (35.5 points per game) and total defense (485.8 yards allowed per game) last season.

Cooper said some major flaws of last year’s defense were giving up chunk plays and overall inconsistency. ISU has flipped its base defensive formation from a 3-4 to a 4-3 and back multiple times over the last few seasons.

Cooper didn’t say which base formation he would use in 2018, only saying ISU’s recruiting class and existing personnel paint a picture of the direction he’s leaning. Idaho State’s 2018 signing class included four linebackers and six defensive linemen.

“Our message overall is going to be: clear, concise and repeat,” Cooper said Thursday during his introductory press conference. “The stuff we run in the spring will carry over into fall camp, and then that will be what we’re running in the games.”

Cooper said he also hopes the Bengals’ defense can carry more weight in the outcome of wins. Any success ISU has achieved in recent years has been attributed to the offense.

“Since I’ve been here, I can only point to a few games that we won because of the defense, and I’d like that to change,” Cooper said. “I’d like to get to the point where we have a foundation and we play with a certain attitude and we’re the reason that we actually pull some of these games out.”

FERRITER INTRODUCED AS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR

Phenicie formally introduced Mike Ferriter as the team’s new offensive coordinator Thursday. The Journal broke the news that Ferriter was replacing Matt Troxel on Jan. 20.

Ferriter played wide receiver at Montana from 2005-08, racking up 2,089 career yards receiving to rank 14th in team history. Phenicie was an assistant coach on UM’s staff during Ferriter’s playing days, and the two worked together at UNLV after Ferriter graduated.

Ferriter coached Idaho State’s wide receivers in 2013 and 2014 before returning to his alma mater to coach wide receivers from 2015-17.

Phenicie said Ferriter’s transition back to Idaho State will be seamless, as he and Troxel share much of the same knowledge and many similar experiences.

“He knows everything that we went through at Montana and UNLV,” Phenicie said. “He has a history with Idaho State. Some of the kids that are seniors now were still here (during Ferriter’s first tenure at ISU).”

Ferriter recruited ISU redshirt junior running back Ty Flanagan, as well as former ISU wideout Chad Hansen. Hansen transferred to California after one season with ISU and was selected in the fourth round of last year’s NFL Draft.

In 2014, Ferriter’s last season in Pocatello, the Bengals had one of the top offenses in the FCS, averaging 40.3 points and 562 yards per game.

“He and Matt were the key components to that 2014 offense,” Phenicie said. “The stuff that we did last year with Matt really was built off some of the stuff we did at Montana, and Matt and Mike made it better.”

SAPOLU NAMED OFFENSIVE LINE COACH

Phenicie also tabbed Roman Sapolu as his new offensive line coach, replacing Dorian Keller. Sapolu spent the last three years at Nebraska, working the last two as a graduate assistant coach. He was a four-year letter winner as an offensive lineman at Oregon State

Sapolu’s father, Jesse, played offensive line for the San Francisco 49ers from 1983-1997, winning four Super Bowls.

Idaho State quarterbacks were sacked a Big Sky-high 34 times last season. Phenicie said he started vetting candidates for a new offensive line coach early in the 2017 season. Sapolu checked all his boxes.

Skyler Phillips, the team’s best lineman, graduated. ISU signed six O-linemen to this year’s recruiting class.

“This was the most important hire that we had this offseason,” Phenicie said. “What I was looking for was a coach that understands and relates to every offensive lineman on the roster. Another thing that I was looking for was an O-line coach that presents a consistent message to his players, coming from me through the offensive coordinator and on down and not having an own agenda.

“He’s going to be exactly what we want.”

COACHING ODDS AND ENDS

Phenicie said Thursday he has a coach in line to replace Toone as the team’s safeties coach, but nothing official has been announced.

Phenicie will remain the wide receivers coach, Cooper will continue to coach linebackers, and Ferriter will coach the team’s quarterbacks. Aaron Prier has been promoted to a full-time coach and will lead the tight ends. Brice Van Etten is the team’s video coordinator.