I'm beginning to think that the toughest challenge facing coaches and administrators at Idaho State is scheduling.

It may not seem like it, but scheduling is more difficult than building new facilities and even harder than fielding championship-caliber teams at this level.

In the Big Sky Conference, all three of those tasks can seem impossible. But at least people in the community seem to forgive failings in the facilities and championships departments. They understand an athletic department with little money in an isolated location can't build a new basketball stadium on a whim or contend for titles on a yearly basis.

But when it comes to scheduling, there is no leniency.

No matter who the Bengals put on their football and men's basketball schedules, someone is always going to complain.

Some of the most popular gripes, which greatly conflict with each other, are:

- Why doesn't Idaho State bring in more Division II and NAIA opponents for its home games? The Bengals need wins, and playing tough opponents like Cal Poly in football and BYU in basketball doesn't give them a chance to get those wins.

- Why doesn't Idaho State bring in more top-notch opponents? Beating Eastern Oregon and Colorado School of Mines does nothing for players or fans. Can't there be a few compelling big-name matchups on the schedule?

- How come the Bengals don't play more home games?

- Idaho State plays too many guarantee games.

- Idaho State doesn't play enough guarantee games.

- Why don't the Bengals play more TV games?

- How dare Idaho State play on Sunday just to get on TV?

There truly is no way to win the scheduling battle with the public. These complaints are heard each and every year in Pocatello. With so many varying opinions, it is impossible to please everyone.

Well, there is one way. If Idaho State could schedule incredibly difficult opponents for home games throughout the nonconference slate and win every single one of them, there would be no complaining.

But the Bengals aren't good enough to do that anytime soon.

So every year, Idaho State schedule-makers are asked to do the impossible. Not just to please fans, but set their teams up with much-needed cash and success.

A lot truly goes into these schedules.

Both the football and men's basketball teams need guarantee games to make money. So they schedule them.

This year, John Zamberlin took his football team to Boise State and Idaho for low six-figure pay days, and many complained that he should have only scheduled one guarantee game for a huge pay day instead. I actually agreed with that criticism, but even for $750,000 would a game at Oklahoma or Penn State have been worth it?

Maybe, but I doubt Idaho State would have taken a single lesson away from a 60-point loss against a Top 10 opponent. Against the Broncos and Vandals, at least the Bengals had success at times. There is something to be said for that.

Complaints also arose about the difficulty of playing North Dakota at home and Cal Poly on the road. But North Dakota is only transitioning into the FCS, and Idaho State owed Cal Poly a game. It would have been cowardly for Idaho State to back away from those challenges.

In men's basketball, many are now complaining that home games against Long Beach State, BYU, Utah and Utah State are much too difficult, and that coach Joe O'Brien has set his team up to fail. Again, I see some logic in that criticism, but Long Beach State isn't exactly a powerhouse - it won just six games last season - and if you take away BYU, Utah and Utah State from the schedule, you lose the most-attended games of the year.

Also, you suddenly face the problem of bringing in patsies to replace them. In case you haven't noticed, there aren't many of those around here. New Jersey Institute of Technology - losers of 40 in a row - would be great, but it's on another coast. The closest Division-I options around here are Utah Valley State, Southern Utah, Wyoming, Seattle, Denver and a slew of teams from California. None would be an automatic win, and all would require a home-and-home agreement.

Even if Idaho State pulled all that off, though, and won those games, the complaints would suddenly be back to why bigger name opponents aren't on the schedule.

Besides, tough nonconference schedules during the past two seasons have helped the ISU men's basketball team go .500 in conference play.

Former coach Doug Oliver tried to put together an easier schedule in his final year on the job in 2006, and after starting 7-4, that team lost seven of its first eight Big Sky games.

Back then, the complaint was that Idaho State's nonconference schedule was too soft.

Go figure. Unless your team wins all its games, there is no winning when it comes to scheduling.

Kellis Robinett's column appears on Sundays. Call him at 239-3136 or e-mail krobinett@journalnet.com with comments or story ideas.