In early March of 2016, the Idaho football program, already trending downward after half-a-decade of defeat, was dealt yet another deadly blow.
After two seasons as the youngest member of the Sun Belt Conference, the Vandals were being booted, along with fellow member New Mexico State. Conference officials decided the conference did not need 12 football programs, and Idaho, which had won five games in its two seasons as a member, would be shown the door.
Fast-forward to April, and Idaho still remained adrift, a program without a home once again. The Vandals competed in 2013 as an independent after the Western Athletic Conference dissolved its football affiliation after mass departures from other teams.