University of Idaho President Chuck Staben has an entire game day routine.
He begins his day with pre-game activities before heading to the Kibbie Dome for the game. He starts in the presidential suite to mingle. He then does the first quarter award ceremony before going over to the visiting section to thank the traveling fans and parents of the opposing team’s players for coming.
After that, he goes to talk to the Vandal Marching Band and the student section, before making a loop through all the suites to end up in the club room by halftime. By the fourth quarter, Staben is back in the presidential suite. He said he hardly gets time to actually watch the game.
This year’s homecoming game won’t be too different, he said.
Staben said he and his wife Mary Beth began their Homecoming Week watching the Olympic Trials scavenger hunt Sunday. The two didn’t participate, but Staben said he thinks next year the cabinet should put together a team and compete.
“The human pyramid might not be a good idea, but we know where everything is on campus,” Staben said. “We’ll be slower than the other teams, but slow and steady might win the race.”
Staben said throughout the week he and Mary Beth attended multiple events, including a meeting with the alumni board. The pair also intend to participate in the Moscow Block Party, Serpentine and the Bonfire Friday night, as well as pre-game activities and the parade before Saturday’s game
Of all the events, Staben said the Serpentine is his favorite.
“There is a lot of spirit and a lot of fun,” Staben said. “It feels like a real college event.”
Staben said he and Mary Beth meet the band by the president’s house on campus and walk with them, leading the way to the Kibbie Dome parking lot for the Bonfire.
Staben said he has always walked as a part of the Serpentine, even though he had the opportunity to ride in a golf cart.
“I said ‘No way, I want to walk. I want to be in with everybody else,’” Staben said. “Maybe if everyone was riding a golf cart, I’d want to ride one, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. I don’t want to ride the damn golf cart.”
Staben said during Serpentine some students who know him come up and say “Hi,” while more students don’t even know he is the president of the university. They walk beside him and ask him what he is doing on campus or if he is an alumnus. He said he just tells them that he is the president.
“Some students are shocked to see the president just walking along,” Staben said.
Staben said he believes it is important to participate in events like the Serpentine, and that he is always looking for those kinds of opportunities. He said just this week he attended a floor meeting in the Theophilus Tower and went to lunch at Bob’s last Wednesday.
“Informal meetings are important,” Staben said. “I have to be careful not to act on anecdote, and so if I hear something from one or two students, I want to ask a few others as well.”
Moscow Mayor Bill Lambert told The Argonaut Editorial Board in a meeting Sept. 23 that he believes Staben is going to bring a much-needed light to UI. Lambert said both Staben and Mary Beth are terrific people. He handed out T-shirts with Staben at the beginning of the year during Serving Your New Community (SYNC) and worked alongside Mary Beth at another event.
“She was just a hoot,” Lambert said. “She was an engineer at IBM, has midlife crisis, gets a M.D. degree. That’s the most down-to-earth person I’ve met in my life who is extremely bright. She and Chuck both are very bright people.”
While attending the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) game Sept. 24, Staben said Mary Beth, who doesn’t have extensive knowledge about football, was excited to see the game go into overtime. She knew that each team got the chance to score and all the rules for overtime, which Staben said impressed UI’s Athletic Director Rob Spear.
“Rob Spear said to her, ‘Wow Mary Beth, you’ve learned a lot about football in the last year,’” Staben said. “She was very cute.”
During the UNLV game, Staben said they also invited their niece and her sons to watch the game. Apparently, the boys knew nothing about football, which Staben admitted could be confusing while watching the sport. One of the boys, a 10-year-old, was all wonderment and asked many questions about what was going on, Staben said.
“The 12-year-old was too cool to ask questions, but you could tell he was listening to all the answers,” Staben said.
The UI president said some people don’t watch football, or aren’t fans of the game. However, during Homecoming Week, there is something for everyone, he said.
“That is an ambition,” Lambert said. “When you want to surround yourself with people who have positive attitudes, that can get things done that are action oriented that by-God there’s not a raincloud sticking over their head over wherever they walk.”
Claire Whitley can be reached at arg-news@uidaho.edu or on Twitter @Cewhitley24