MOSCOW, Idaho – Fifty years ago today, on June 11, 1975, the final arch of the P1FCU Kibbie Dome was placed to complete the full length of the barrel arch roof. The audacious effort took just eight months from the accepted bid to the construction of the roof structure. The end caps, lighting, insulation and roof covering would take a few more months, but the final product was ready to go for home games just a few months later.  
 
This year, the University of Idaho and Vandal Athletics are excited to announce a year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the P1FCU Kibbie Dome.
 
After 50 years, the dome remains an enigma, both massive, covering 4.5 acres and standing 150 feet tall, and small, with seating less than 16,000. It is beloved by Vandal faithful and college football fans around the country and decried by its detractors as a quonset hut, airplane hanger or a beer can on its side.
 
Called “College Football’s Weirdest Stadium,” it has become a paragon of the college football world. It is celebrated in social media by college football pundits and influencers nearly every year, but to Idaho alumni, fans and community members it is an important gathering place to celebrate everything that it means to be a Vandal.
 
“We are grateful to have called the P1FCU Kibbie Dome our home for the past 50 years. In the last half century, it has become a cornerstone of Moscow culture,” Director of Athletics Terry Gawlik said. “In the college football world, it has achieved an iconic status, but it is so much more than that to us. It has hosted thousands of athletics, campus and community events. It has kept us out of the weather and provided us with an amazing home field advantage. We are excited to celebrating the dome throughout the year and look forward to securing the future of this amazing building.”
 
The celebration is a wholistic campus celebration, including the Office of the President of the University, Vandal Athletics, the UI Foundation, the University of Idaho Alumni Office, the University of Idaho Library, UI Communications and Marketing, UI Administration Operations and the VandalStore.
 
The celebration will include events, memories, special features, content and commemorative merchandise throughout the year, highlighted by a special celebration on the weekend of the September 13, game against Utah Tech.
 
The William H. Kibbie ASUI Activity Center arose from the ashes of Neale Stadium with ambitions to move to NCAA Division I-A athletics. The initial plans were to build a 23,000-seat stadium, but legislative pressure limited the building to 16,000.
 
It was first constructed as an outdoor stadium in 1971 while construction of the roof foundations and the concrete floor was laid.
 
In 1975, over just 28 days, the “barrel arch” roof was constructed with the help of Trus Joist TRUSDEK microlam system supported by steel frame that was light weight, but strong enough to support the weight of North Idaho snow. Architect Glen Cline of CSHQA, Trus Joist owner Harold El “Red” Thomas and inventor of the Glulam products Art Troutner spearheaded the construction.
 
Funding for the dome was supported by university students and William H. Kibbie, a construction executive, and former UI student donated $300,000 to secure naming rights. Athletic Director Leon “Doc” Green, oversaw the fundraising and construction of the dome roof.
 
“The P1FCU Kibbie Dome has been the setting for many memorable moments for Vandal fans over the past 50 years,” said U of I president Scott Green.  “My grandfather Leon “Doc” Green served as U of I athletic director from 1973-1978, raised money and directed the building of the initial athletic complex. His vision, work and investment by our students enabled the construction of the original ASUI Kibbie Dome.  It remains a first-class venue for Vandal athletics and serves as a hub for Idaho students, alumni and fans. We’re proud of our athletics history and look forward to hanging more championship banners in the revitalized P1FCU Kibbie Dome in the years to come.”
 
Idaho has made additions and improvements over the past 50 years. The Vandal Athletic Complex was built in the 80s, the Iverson Speed and Strength Center was dedicated in 2004. Idaho made significant improvements in 2011 with relocation of the press box to the North side of the field, the addition of the Bud and June Ford Club and replacement of the end walls with translucent panels.
 
In 2024, P1FCU entered a 10-year, $5 million naming rights agreement and a partnership with the University of Idaho, celebrating the two important Palouse-based organizations.
 
In the past 50 years, the dome has hosted championships, intramurals, icons, rodeos, concerts, trade shows, religious events, fairs, the iconic Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival and more.
 
Idaho Vandal Soccer, basketball, tennis and indoor track and field have all called the Kibbie Dome home, but college football and its fans are where the dome earned cult status.
 
The EA Sports College Football games gave people around the world a look inside the dome. The Vandals were struggling on the field at the time of last release in a decade (2014) and fans jumped at the challenge of making the dome the toughest place to play in the game. Years later, fans continue to embrace it for what makes it unique, the field goal posts imbedded in the wall and the one of the best home field advantages in the country. The Vandals are 155-98-1 (.613) all-time in the dome, including a 6-0 record last season.
 
It isn’t just the fans, national sportswriters also celebrate the structure. The dome was named the 26th-best stadium in all of college football in by ESPN in 2024 and has made it to the finals of the College Football Campus Tour Best FCS Stadium Bracket in back-to-back years.
 
After returning to the FCS in 2018, the Vandals are 27-9 (.750) at home and have played home playoff games in each of the last two seasons.
 
The celebration of this year’s event will include alumni, athletics and foundation events. The full schedule will be announced on the celebration website at GoVandals.com/Kibbie50.
 
The website also includes, a Kibbie Dome timeline, links to specialty Kibbie Dome gear and a form for fans to fill out to and record their favorite memories of events, games and moments to be held in a digital collection and used in the celebration.
 
 
 
 
 

AUSTIN, Texas — Here’s an offseason edition of “Four Downs” which features a look at whether anyone truly cares if collegiate athletes are students, Texas Softball’s “Texas Fight,” Brent Venables and much more.

First Down: It’s a whole new world – but is it?

One of my favorite sayings I’ve heard in life is – “there are feelings and then there are facts.”

The two are mutually exclusive.

After last week’s ruling in the House v. NCAA settlement which brings us one step closer to student athletes being less student and more employee, the feeling is the way we knew college athletics has now been irrevocably changed forever.

When the fact is, we’re now just seeing what has already been the case throughout the history of college athletics play out in plain sight.

The settlement will allow for power programs such as Texas to get richer and the two biggest power conferences in the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten Conference to grow even stronger.

That’s for certain.

However, I’m genuinely curious if the average fan truly cares whether players are employees versus student athletes?

If you ask Steve Sarkisian, he believes the players care.

“I don’t think any of us and this includes our student athletes, want to be employees,” Sarkisian said on April 14, explicitly referring to the student athletes in the “us” part of his answer.

There’s feelings and then there are facts.

This concept is represented in the ensuing sentence in Sarkisian’s well-stated answer.

The post Ohio State football fans celebrate recruiting win, QB’s NIL gesture appeared first on ClutchPoints.

Ohio State football could say they’re on top of the world as they’ve recently received a string of good news about their program. To start off, four-star edge rusher Khary Wilder committed to the Buckeyes, and he spoke about why he chose them instead of his other options, such as Notre Dame, Washington, and UCLA.

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“My visit had the biggest impact on my commitment,” Wilder said via On3. “I went out to Columbus with my family, and being from L.A., we knew nothing about Columbus. We knew about the program, but a great part of the visit was seeing the city. How lively it is, what it is like and me and my parents loved it. Seeing that I could live there and be happy really opened my eyes.”

Ohio State fans seem to be excited about the move, and Wilder should be excited as well.

“THE Ohio State [emoji] Welcome home,” one user wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“Welcome to the greatest rivalry in sports young man,” another user wrote.

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In other news, another Ohio State commit has made an NIL announcement.

“Ohio State QB commit Brady Edmunds has donated toys and books using NIL dollars to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. The four-start recruit is the No. 3 QB prospect in 2027,” On3 wrote.

“Great on and off the field,” one user wrote.

“We can get behind that young man,” another user wrote.

“This kid already impressive off the field. Love this,” a third user wrote.

Fans seem to be getting behind how Edmungs carries himself, and the program has a stand-up guy who will impress on and off the field. Ohio State should have a good season, and everybody will be interested in seeing how they match up with all the other teams around college football. Head coach Ryan Day will be prepared for whatever comes his way.

Related: NCAA president breaks silence on Michigan football infractions hearing

Related: Colorado coach Deion Sanders breaks silence on mystery health issue

Speaking on the Golic & Golic program on the FanDuel Sports Network on Wednesday, Arkansas coach John Calipari suggested a potential radical change for the sport. Only after noting, though, that he doesn’t think the sport’s postseason should change.

If it did, though, he has a preferred model for it. And it isn’t expanding the NCAA Tournament by eight teams, or 12 teams, or doubling the field size, etc.

“The tournament is so good, why would you change it?” Calipari said. “And if you wanted to change it, maybe, the baseball model. The first weekend, someone’s got to win three games, and after that, you move on, you play, and then you move on, you have the Elite Eight, and that’s the one. The baseball model is unbelievable in Omaha.”

Baseball’s model works to prevent teams from being one-and-done. It’s a double-elimination format throughout.

First, teams are grouped in a four-team regional. After a double-elimination round of action, one team emerges victorious. With 16 regions, that leaves 16 teams.

The teams then funnel into the Super Regionals, where the remaining baseball teams play a best-of-three series for the right to advance to the College World Series. In Omaha, then, it turns into an eight-team field with dual four-team, double-elimination brackets.

The final two teams standing then vie for the national title in a best-of-three series. Could basketball employ a similar model?

“Maybe that would be something, but I — adding more teams? Why?” Calipari said. “The ratings have never been higher.”

One thing the Arkansas coach does see happening in the current landscape — expansion or not — is more power coalescing toward the top. It’s not unheard of for the Final Four in basketball to have all No. 1 seeds. And soon it might be even more common.

“Now, to have — the last time four No. 1s did it, it was North Carolina, Kansas, us — I was at Memphis at the time — and there was one other, UCLA,” Calipari said. “But that’s going to be more so with NIL and the transfer (portal). The haves will have way more than the have-nots. But — so maybe the baseball model. But I don’t know why you change anything, but I wouldn’t add more teams.”

It seems a stretch. It’s worth noting that for a team that loses its first game of a regional in baseball, it then has to win four straight games to advance to the Super Regional round. That would be hard to engineer in basketball; it’s simply a lot of games.

In any case, it makes for a fun thought experiment. But as Calipari said, the tournament right now is pretty close to perfect … why mess with it?

Eight female athletes filed an appeal Wednesday of a landmark NCAA antitrust settlement, arguing that women would not receive their fair share of $2.7 billion in back pay for athletes who were barred from making money off their name, image and likeness.

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken approved the settlement last week, clearing the way for direct payments from universities to athletes and the end of the NCAA’s amateurism model.

The athletes who appealed the settlement competed in soccer, volleyball and track. They are: Kacie Breeding of Vanderbilt; Lexi Drumm, Emma Appleman, Emmie Wannemacher, Riley Hass, Savannah Baron and Elizabeth Arnold of the College of Charleston; and Kate Johnson of Virginia. They have standing to appeal because they previously filed objections to the proposed settlement.

Ashlyn Hare, one of the attorneys representing the athletes, said in a statement that the settlement violates Title IX, the federal law that bans sex-based discrimination in education.

“We support a settlement of the case, but not an inaccurate one that violates federal law. The calculation of past damages is based on an error that ignores Title IX and deprives female athletes of $1.1 billion,” Hare said. “Paying out the money as proposed would be a massive error that would cause irreparable harm to women’s sports.”

The House settlement figures to financially benefit football and basketball stars at the biggest schools, who are likely to receive a big chunk of the $20.5 million per year that colleges are permitted to share with athletes over the next year. Some athletes in other sports that don’t make money for their schools could lose their partial scholarships or see their roster spots cut.

“This is a football and basketball damages settlement with no real benefit to female athletes,” Hare said. “Congress has expressly rejected efforts to exempt revenue-generating sports like football and basketball from Title IX’s antidiscrimination mandate. The NCAA agreed with us. Our argument on appeal is the exact same argument the conferences and NCAA made prior to settling the case.”

The appeal was filed by the law firm Hutchinson Black and Cook of Boulder, Colorado, and was first reported by Front Office Sports. It would be heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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