UPDATE: Matt Linehan later apologized for his comments during the team’s post-game press conference.
“I had no position to do that. I’ll apologize to President Staben,” Linehan said. “Emotions run high at the end of the game like that. I think it was very emotional for all of us. We’ve worked so hard to get to the point where we are. So I’d like first and foremost to apologize to President Staben about that. I just got caught up in the moment.”
I asked Idaho QB Matt Linehan about his strong post game comments. He handled it with maturity. pic.twitter.com/kMNv8WA2rN
— Michael Katz (@MichaelLKatz) December 23, 2016
ORIGINAL POST: The Idaho football program finished off 2016 on a high note, winning five straight games including Thursday night’s impressive Idaho Potato Bowl win over Colorado State in Boise.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t all smiles after the game as quarterback Matt Linehan blasted university president Chuck Staben.
Linehan is clearly unhappy with the program’s pending move to the FCS level which will take place in 2018, so he sounded off on Staben, calling the school president “tone deaf” for his decision.
“We belong in FBS period. That’s what I believe, that’s what everyone believes,” Linehan said, via ESPN Radio.
“We know we can compete, we belong here. No matter what anyone thinks, even our tone deaf president. Maybe he doesn’t think we belong here, but I think we belong here.”
Vandals head coach Paul Petrino also took a bit of a veiled shot at the move.
Paul Petrino on making statement to college football today: "We went 2-0 in the Mountain West. We'd look pretty good in that conference."
— Dugar, Michael-Shawn (@MikeDugar) December 23, 2016
Linehan is a junior and will be returning to Idaho for his senior season, which will be the program’s final year in the FBS.
This season, the 6-foot-3 signal-caller, who is the son of Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, threw for 2,803 yards, 15 touchdowns and ten interceptions.
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Photo Credit: Twitter