After four seasons with last place finishes in the conference, Jim Jarvis resigned as head coach in June 1978 under recurring allegations[5][6] of illegal recruiting.[7][8][9] The program had been placed on probation for one year in January, resulting in a reprimand for Jarvis and his assistant coach by the university.[6][10][11]
He was succeeded in August by alumnus Monson, an assistant at Michigan State,[8][12] who had significantly greater success. Although the Vandals were again in the cellar in 1979, the four conference wins were the most for the program in four years and the eleven wins the most in five. The groundwork had been made for significant improvement; Monson led Idaho to consecutive conference titles (1981, 1982) and the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in 1982.
Idaho's best-attended home games this season were the final two; 4,500 saw a fifteen-point loss to Boise State,[13] while 4,600 enjoyed a 21-point upset of Idaho State in the finale.[14]
It was the Vandals' first win over the Bengals in four years; ISU had won the previous seven meetings.[14][15] A month earlier, the Vandals won decisively at Boise to snap two losing streaks; six to the Broncos and fifteen in conference play.[16]
The long-awaited win over Idaho State allowed the Vandals to regain possession of the "King Spud Trophy," an oversized metallic potato with a face and a crown,[17][18] first played for in 1962.[19] Bengal head coach Lynn Archibald thought it should go to the losing team: "It's the ugliest thing I've ever seen. The only good thing that happened last week was losing it."[20]
No Vandals were named to the all-conference team; junior guard Don Newman was on the second team, and junior forward Reed Jaussi was honorable mention.[21][22][23]
