Idaho parts ways with basketball coach Zac Claus following regular-season finale loss to Montana

In his final game as Idaho’s head coach, Zac Claus’ Vandals saw a small first-half lead evaporate in the final minute. Then Montana outscored Idaho 42-30 in the second half to race to a 68-53 win.

It left the Vandals with a 10-21 regular-season record, 4-14 in the Big Sky Conference and concluded what had been a career in which Claus struggled to find wins but led players who were largely successful off the court. Since being named as interim head coach in 2019 following the release of former coach Don Verlin, Claus was unable to post a winning season and finished with a career 28-88 overall mark with the Vandals.

Following the game – in which Idaho honored its four seniors – Idaho athletics director Terry Gawlik announced that Claus had been relieved of his coaching duties immediately. Assistant coach Tim Marrion will serve as acting head coach and will lead the team in the Big Sky Tournament, which starts on March 4 at the Idaho Central Arena in Boise.

“Zac took over an incredibly challenging situation and stewarded our program with integrity and class throughout his entire tenure,” Gawlik said in a statement announcing the coaching change.

Gawlik said she made the decision before the game not to rehire Claus, who was named to the permanent head coaching position in 2020 and was on the last year of his contract. But she did not tell him or the players until addressing them afterward.

“It was a quiet locker room. The kids were very respectful of coach Claus,” she said. Gawlik also said Claus handled well the news his career at Idaho had ended.

“He did everything very much like a gentleman would,” she said.

Gawlik cited a successful culture within the UI athletics department and said “Zac was a part of that. We want to make it even better.”

In the fall semester, the men’s basketball team posted a collective 3.04 grade point average, tied for the second-highest semester GPA on record for the Vandals. In 2021, Idaho was also recognized with the Team Academic Excellence Award by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

Idaho will employ a search firm, Bowlsby Sports Advisors, to attract and screen candidates, said Gawlik, and the university will conduct a national search for Claus’ successor.

Without naming a specific figure, she said the budget for men’s basketball, including coaches, will be comparable to peer institutions. “We are not going to be in the bottom half (of the Big Sky). Put it that way.”

Gawlik said in her evaluation of Claus this season she did not establish a set number of wins for him to be rehired, but she added “I was hoping we would be at least in the top half of the Big Sky.”

In seeking a new coach, Gawlik said she was looking for someone with “high character. Follow the rules. Academics are important. Given the transfer portal, he will need to utilize that, and keep the kids here who are better than you thought.”

Against Montana, Idaho started seniors Michael Hanshaw, Trey Smith, Rashad Smith and Divant’e Moffitt, plus Big Sky second-leading scorer Isaac Jones. That group helped Idaho get out to an early 11-3 lead. However, points were tough to get for both teams through much of the opening period. The Griz were able to close their deficit to within a single point on several occasions. But each time the Vandals answered with a timely basket or free throw. With the score 15-14, Moffitt negotiated a tightly packed Montana zone for a driving layup. Jones sank a free throw with Idaho ahead just 17-16, and he hit a reverse layup when Idaho was clinging to a 21-19 lead.

Montana finally pulled ahead, 24-23, on Brandon Whitney’s layup with 57 seconds to play, and the Griz extended the lead to 26-23 on Josh Bannan’s jump shot in the lane with seconds remaining.

Montana kept up its scoring early in the second half, and the Vandals were pretty much doomed before the final period was five minutes old. The Grizzlies pushed their lead to 38-27.

The Vandals were never able to get closer than four points after that, and Montana eventually went from a 10-point margin, 59-49, to the final score with a 9-4 run over the final 3:50 of the game.

Moffitt led all scorers with 21 points for Idaho. Brandon Whitney nearly matched him with 20 for Montana. Jones, with 14, and Nigel Burris, with 11, were Idaho’s other double-figure scorers. The Grizzlies’ interior defense stifled Jones in the second half, and he was turned away at the rim on four occasions early in the period as Montana built its lead.

Montana’s other leading scorers were Bannan with 17, Aanen Moody, 15, and Josh Vazquez, with 14 points.

Montana concludes the regular season with a 16-13 record, 10-7 in the Big Sky.

Gawlik said she decided to release Claus following the regular season rather than let him coach in the Big Sky tournament, because she wants input from both seniors and returning players on how to improve the Idaho program and what kind of coach should lead the Vandals. She is more likely to have such meetings with players before the tournament rather than after, she said.

In a remark that covered much more on a somber senior day than just the timing of meetings with players, “there is never a good time to make these decisions,” Gawlik concluded.