With the holidays behind him, new Idaho State football coach Cody Hawkins is ready for what will be one of the more important weeks of the off-season as he builds both a new coaching staff and a roster.
After announcing five new assistant coaches last week, Hawkins plans to finalize names, if not exact responsibilities, for his staff this week—including naming a defensive coordinator that he promises will bring a unique approach to a Bengal unit that has long suffered.
He also hopes to announce his first recruits this week—likely a handful of junior college and four-year transfer players. The goal is to have them enrolled by Jan. 20 so they can participate in spring practice later this year.
“I’m really excited about the ways things are going,” Hawkins said in a recent interview. “I think we have some really good people involved, and they’re all really excited about Idaho State. Some people have been there before, some will be new. They’re people that I think will represent the university well and will work really hard with the kids.”
Last week Idaho State announced six additions to Hawkins’ staff: Mark Weber, offensive line; Jacob Thomas, running backs and run game coordinator; Byron Haut, who is transferring back from director of football operations to coaching either linebackers or defensive line; Jesse Thompson, who will serve as director of football operations and coach special teams; Josh Mondt, who will mentor either quarterbacks or receivers; and Paea Moala, who will be the director of video technology.
On Sunday, Hawkins reached an accord with his selection for the defensive coordinator position. That announcement will be made after the contract is signed and all the paperwork cleared, perhaps as early as Tuesday. It’s a selection Hawkins is very excited about.
“We’re going to be unique on defense,” Hawkins said. “You’ll probably know what I’m talking about when it gets announced. It’ll be different from what other people see on a week-to-week basis. People will have to game plan specific stuff to handle us on defense.”
The new coordinator comes with experience as both a special teams and defensive coordinator on the Division II and III levels. His current job is an off-the-field position with a Power 5 program.
“People in college football know, ‘Oh my gosh, getting a guy from that staff is a huge deal,’” Hawkins said. “What I think too is the style will help us cater to getting Idaho kids…. To me, it makes me excited because I feel like there are a lot of local kids who would thrive in a system like that, based on skill set and the body type, and what you’re asking guys to do.”
The new coordinator will decide where Hout best fits on the coaching staff, and be allowed the freedom to hire some of his own defensive assistants.
“Byron’s appeal was he’s been there for two years, he’s been at Montana State, he knows the conference, he knows Idaho, and he is a good coach,” Hawkins said. “So I wanted to get him hired and get working on the recruiting, but I wanted a defensive coordinator to be able to bring in some of his guys and I’m not going to strong-arm a defensive coordinator into, ‘Hey, you have to hire my guys at specific spots.’”
On the offensive side of the football, Mondt was also hired without a specific position. Hawkins is still deciding if he’ll coach inside or outside receivers. But Hawkins knew he wanted him on his staff and wanted to get him on the payroll so he can begin recruiting.
“For me, it’s about putting the best staff together of who are the 11 best guys that can mentor, develop and push Idaho State football,” Hawkins said. “Great coaches can coach a multitude of positions, but we’d like their expertise to align as closely as they can, but it’s not the be-all, end-all.”
At the same time as he’s adding coaches, Hawkins is also looking to recruit players. There are a lot of holes to fill.
“It’s not a blank canvass, but there’s a lot of room to adapt and move,” Hawkins said. “But we want to make sure that we’re filling that with quality, and not just quantity. There is at least some measure of quantity that we have to get if we want to have spring practices the way we would like to, because we have to get kids signed by this weekend, and enrolled by Jan. 20. Because as of right now, there are only 60 guys on the football team.”
Hawkins expects to add between 25 and 30 players between now and the start of fall camp. His recruiting strategy looks like this: About 15 percent of new recruits will be junior college and four-year transfers who sign this week and enroll in time for spring ball. Another 50 percent of new players will be high school players who commit during the second signing period, beginning Feb. 1. Then the remaining 35 percent or so will be added from spring junior college graduates, the next transfer portal window that comes after spring ball, high school players who were hoping for a “higher” offer that didn’t materialize, and walk-ons who are rewarded with scholarship money. Hawkins envisions an aggressive walk-on program that will give local players an opportunity to earn scholarship money.
“We’ll sign some kids from the transfer portal,” Hawkins said. “I don’t want to give you percentages, but I think junior college football is going to be more fruitful for Idaho State than four-year transfers just because at the current moment in time, we’re not going to be recruiting with glitz and glamor and facilities. We’re not going to be recruiting with, ‘Hey, you’re going to be coming home if you’re a portal kid,’ because we’re not a giant metro area. But what we are recruiting with is really good people and an opportunity to play Division I football in a great conference. And when you’re in Idaho, kids value that.”
There is no question what the top recruiting priority is for Hawkins: quarterback. The Bengals return part-time starter Hunter Hayes and redshirt freshman Keegan Thompson, Division II transfer Jake Sanders and redshirt freshman Mikey Zele. Hawkins says he likes all those players—but wants more for what he believes is the most important position in football.
“I love the room, I love the guys,” Hawkins said. “But we’re going to have to bring in at least two more. Not because Keegan’s not great, not because Hunter’s not great. I love Jake, I love Mike, but any Division I football team, you’ve gotta have five quarterbacks on your roster if you’re going to compete…. Everybody on the staff knows that recruiting a quarterback is the No. 1 priority. If not to replace the guys that we have there, we want to push and support the guys that we have there. Because we know, and Idaho State especially has seen, you can’t get through the season with one guy. So you need to have a couple of good players ready to go.”
While recruiting is important, so is rebuilding relationships with the returning players on the roster. It’s been a tough couple of years for the veterans, who have suffered through back-to-back one-win seasons and two coaching changes. Hawkins was hired just prior to finals week in December and is still trying to connect with all of his returning players. But he’s encouraged by what he’s seen from the returners so far.
“We have a lot of really good kids that care about Idaho State football and they want to see it do well and are ready to work,” Hawkins said. “They undoubtedly have been through a lot. The upperclassmen on this team, me being their third coach, that’s not an ideal situation.”
He continued, “So I’m trying my best to listen to them and talk to them and build an authentic relationship. I mean it’s their journey. They’ve seen a lot. I want to know what they’ve learned so I don’t make the same mistakes. I want to know where they want to go, so I can help take them there. I don’t want to have a slogan that they don’t agree with, because it’s not about me. So the more I can get to know them and have these conversations, the better I’ll be able to serve those guys.”