‘Operating with heavy hearts’: Idaho football coach sees toll of tragic deaths again

One day after the deaths of four University of Idaho students in Moscow, Vandals football coach Jason Eck stood at the podium for his regular weekly press conference.

Eck would have been ready to talk about U of I’s upcoming Battle of the Domes matchup against in-state rival Idaho State, just a couple of days after a tough loss to UC Davis, but the subject became the impact of Sunday’s tragedy on the school, community and his team.

“It’s given some perspective to life, and there are some things that are a lot more important than football,” Eck said. “Obviously, the disappointment of losing a football game is definitely put in perspective when compared to something much more important and serious ... the loss of a life of a young person. We’ll be operating with heavy hearts this week.”

The Moscow Police Department responded to a call of an unconscious individual Sunday at a house on the 1100 block of King Road. The police found four dead, all students: Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene; Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington. (Note: Some identifying details were inconsistent between the police and university news releases. This reflects the university’s spelling and hometowns.)

“This is not a typical thing to happen in Moscow, Idaho; four people get murdered,” Eck said. “So I think it’s very disconcerting to a lot of students and a lot of people in the whole community.”

U of I associate athletic director Jerek Wolcott also spoke about the deaths and sent out “our hearts, our prayers, our thoughts, and everything that we have to those families and friends of those that were killed.”

“We are devastated by the events that happened in our community this weekend,” Wolcott said. “It’s a sad day for our community, and we are frustrated with the violence in this community, and saddened and disheartened by it.”

Eck also sent his condolences out to the University of Virginia, where three members of the school’s football team were shot to death Sunday.

Eck was an assistant coach at U of I in 2004 when Vandals cornerback Eric McMillan was shot and killed on his doorstep in Moscow by two brothers from Seattle, Washington.

“That was very hard and very tough, a member of the football program being killed,” Eck said. “So we have a lot of sympathies for (Virginia) Coach (Tony) Elliot and everything they have to go through at Virginia this week.

“I think we have to be sympathetic to the cause and understand that maybe (Idaho players’) focus is not going to be as sharp because they have a lot of other things that are going through their minds.”

Classes were canceled at U of I on Monday, but campus remained open. Eck said that his team would proceed with its schedule, but he urged his coaches and players to remember that it’s OK to grieve and talk about how they’re feeling.

“Any loss is pretty sad, but it’s even more sad when it’s such a young person with such a full life ahead of them,” Eck said. “It’s going to take time to have a grieving process, and I think football’s secondary to that.”

The Vandals (6-4, 5-2 Big Sky) fell into a three-way tie for third place in the conference with last weekend’s loss to UC Davis. They remain in the FCS Top 25 at a tie for No. 21 and still have an outside shot at making the playoffs, which include 24 teams.