Don Verlin joined the University of Idaho family as head coach of the Vandal men’s basketball team in March 2008 and brought an immediate change to a struggling program.
In his 11 seasons with the Vandals, Verlin has won more games than any previous coach at Idaho. He has six top-three conference finishes, four CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournaments, one appearance in the College Basketball Invitational, a 2-3 record against Associate Press Top-25 opponents and a 88-41 (.682) record in home games. Additionally, Verlin’s players have earned eight all-WAC honors, four all-Big Sky honors, two NABC All-District honor, one WAC Player of the Year, one honorable mention All-American honor and 15 have gone on to play professionally.
Last season did not go as planned for Verlin, with the injury bug hitting the team hard. The Vandals entered the season with just 12 available student-athletes, including only two juniors and no seniors. The young Vandals saw some signs throughout the year, with Cameron Tyson smashing every Idaho freshman scoring and shooting record and finishing with 106 3-pointers, the second most ever by a Vandal. Jared Rodriguez also had a standout season, scoring the second most points ever by a freshman at Idaho, and the most ever by a redshirt freshman. Junior Trevon Allen, the oldest Vandal, led the squad in scoring and put himself in a great position to break the 1,000-point plateau as a senior.
The injuries kept coming, with Idaho making the trip to the Big Sky Championships in Boise with just eight healthy bodies. The undermanned Vandals fought hard in CenturyLink Arena, but ultimately fell to Montana State in the opening round.
The 2017-18 season was one for the ages. The Vandals won 22 regular season games, the most since under Verlin. The year got out to a slow start, with an opening-day loss at Nevada, but the Vandals responded to finish 8-4 in non-conference play, including a 27-point win over rival Washington State.
The Big Sky season was filled with ups and down, as Idaho would go 14-4 to finish second overall in the standings. The Vandals were ready against the top teams in the league, going 4-0 against the rest of the top-four. A pair of Vandals, Brayon Blake and Victor Sanders, were recognized by the conference for their seasons, with Blake earning First Team All-Big Sky and Sanders taking Second Team honors. Both would also go on to earn NABC All-District 6 Second Team recognition.
The 2016-17 season was another special year for the Vandals. Idaho finished tied for third in the Big Sky standings at 12-6, but entered the Tournament as the 4-seed. The Vandals knocked off Montana in the quarterfinals before falling to eventual champion, North Dakota, in the semis. Idaho accepted an invitation to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament, defeating Stephen F. Austin at home before falling to Texas State on the road.
Sanders was tremendous all year long. With his backcourt partner, Perrion Callandret, out for the majority of the season due to injury, Sanders adapted his game and transitioned to the point guard possition to lead the squad. A constant threat to drop 30 on anyone, Sanders finished the year with 670 points, the sixth most in a single season in team history, earning All-Big Sky First Team honors.
2015-16 proved to be one of the best years in program history, as Verlin led the Vandals to their first 20-win season in more than two decades. Idaho would go on to win 21 games, including one in the Big Sky Tournament against local rival Eastern Washington. Idaho finished the Big Sky season with a solid 12-6 record, despite battling a string of injuries midway through conference play, and took third. The Vandals earned a bid to the College Basketball Invitational where they would eventually fall to Seattle U. It was the fourth postseason appearance for the Vandals under Verlin, the first since 2011-12.
In 2014-15, Verlin led the Vandals back into the Big Sky Conference where they finished with a 13-17 overall mark, which included an 8-10 record in league play and 0-1 in the post-season tournament. The year was marked by Connor Hill continuing as one of the nation’s best long-range shooters, as he knocked down a school-record 108 3s, and Mike Hill emerging as one of the NCAA leaders in assists and assist-to-turnover ratio. Hill and Scott both were honored by the league’s coaches as second team all-conference players.
In 2013-14, Verlin led the Vandals to a late-season charge that produced wins in six out of seven games, propelling Idaho to the WAC championship game. The Vandals defeated WAC regular-season champion Utah Valley in the conference semifinals to reach the program’s first conference championship game since 1990. Senior Stephen Madison averaged 19.9points per game for the season to lead the WAC, and was a consensus first-team all-WAC selection. Off the court, Verlin and his Readers as Leaders campaign were honored at the 2014 Final Four with the NABC’s annual Literacy Champion Award, which recognizes the coach who has used the game of basketball, his program and his players to promote to children the importance of reading, writing and technological skills.
The 2012-13 Vandals boasted the program’s first WAC Player of the Year in senior Kyle Barone, who also earned honorable mention All-America honors. The Vandals also improved to 5-0 on Senior Night and picked up their fourth BracketBuster win under Verlin.
In 2011-12, Idaho was picked to finish fifth in the WAC, but the team won seven of its final eight games and finished the year at 9-5 in conference play for a third-place finish. The Vandals were the only team to beat league champion Nevada during the regular season and, along with the Wolf Pack, were one of just two teams to beat every other WAC squad during the year. Idaho qualified for its third postseason appearance under Verlin with a berth in the CollegeInsider.com and knocked off UC Santa Barbara in the first round at Cowan Spectrum before falling in the second round.
In Verlin’s third season in 2010-11, Idaho went 18-14 overall and again took third in the WAC with a 9-7 record. The Vandals qualified for postseason play a second time in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament, put two players on the all-WAC squad and defeated a nationally ranked opponent for the second straight season.
In his second season at Idaho, the Vandals went 15-16 overall, picked up their first victory over a ranked opponent in nearly 30 years, won games at Utah, Seattle University and North Dakota State for the first time in school history and posted the biggest road win in the Idaho-Boise State rivalry series.
Verlin’s first year at Idaho saw the team earn one of the NCAA’s top turnarounds. The Vandals hadn’t produced a winning season in a decade and were picked to finish last in the WAC. Idaho went on to post a 17-16 overall record and a 9-7 WAC mark, finish third in the conference and earn its first postseason victory since 1982 at the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. The team had a nine-win improvement and an RPI jump of 164 places.
Before Verlin, Idaho hadn’t beaten a ranked opponent since 1982, but the Vandals have two wins over ranked opponents under Verlin. He was also the first Idaho coach since Larry Eustachy (1990-93) to reach 50 victories in just three seasons. Also noteworthy under Verlin is that Idaho is 11-0 on Senior Night and 9-2 record in home openers.
Verlin also helped improve the culture of the program off the court by spearheading the Readers as Leaders program and participating in the YES Clinic. Readers as Leaders became a very successful program in its first year as the entire Idaho basketball program helped Moscow’s elementary-aged children find joy in reading. Since its inception, the total number of school and student participation in the program has increased significantly every year.
Prior to coming to Idaho, Verlin was the longest tenured assistant coach in Utah State history and had served under former Aggie head coach Stew Morrill for 15 years, which includes their four years together at Colorado State University. The offensive guru for the Aggies, Verlin was a key component in Utah State’s nine successive post-season appearances and nine-successive 20-plus-win seasons. The Aggies were among the best shooting teams in the nation throughout his tenure. They led the NCAA in field goal percentage in 2005 and ranked in the top five nationally in four of his final five seasons with the team.
Prior to Utah State, Verlin spent two tenures at Colorado State, as he was an assistant at CSU during the 1992 season before moving to CSU Bakersfield for the 1993 and 1994 seasons. During his two seasons as an assistant in California, Bakersfield won back-to-back NCAA Division II national championships.
Verlin returned to Colorado State ahead of the 1995 season and then spent the next four seasons in Fort Collins. Prior to his first stint at Colorado State, Verlin was an assistant at Columbia (Calif.) Junior College from 1989-91. Columbia posted an 81-23 record in his three years there and won two conference championships.
Verlin graduated from Cal State Stanislaus with a degree in physical education in 1991. He earned a master’s degree in education from Colorado State in 1993. Born June 15, 1965 at Roseville, Calif., Verlin graduated from Del Oro High School at Loomis, Calif. He and his wife, the former Serena Shumway, have one son, Jacob, and one daughter, Sydnee. He also has a twin brother, Ron.
