Idaho assistant Kris Cinkovich returns to Las Vegas as well-traveled coach

A decade before UNLV coach Tony Sanchez became the fifth man in college football’s modern era to make the head coaching jump directly from high school to a Football Bowl Subdivision school, Kris Cinkovich enjoyed a similar rise in Las Vegas.

After coaching Las Vegas High School for nine seasons, during which the Wildcats went 79-24 and won the school’s first state title since 1959, Cinkovich joined UNLV as wide receivers coach from 2004 to 2009.

Now in his fourth year as Idaho’s offensive coordinator under Paul Petrino — Louisville coach Bobby Petrino’s younger brother — Cinkovich will return to Las Vegas on Saturday, when the Vandals take on UNLV in a matchup of 1-2 teams at Sam Boyd Stadium.

“Their defense has improved since last season. They’re faster than they were last season. They’ll present some matchup issues for us,” Cinkovich said. “They’re probably, just like us, starving for wins right now. I expect us to be a real hungry, desperate, urgent team coming into Las Vegas.”

After averaging 30 points per game last season en route to a 4-8 record, Idaho has scored only 40 points this year in three games — a 20-17 win over Montana State, a 59-14 loss at Washington and a 56-6 loss Saturday at Washington State.

“We felt at the end of last season that we got this thing turned around so we had high expectations for the offense this year,” Cinkovich said. “But we haven’t played well, even when we beat Montana State. We’re not getting it done. We’ve got to get it fixed if we think we’re going to beat UNLV.”

Cinkovich has fond memories of living in Las Vegas and coaching at UNLV, where he spent his first season learning under College Football Hall of Famer John Robinson and his assistant, former longtime Arizona State coach Bruce Snyder.

“The older I get, the more I appreciate it,” he said. “I wish it lasted longer than a year with those guys because I learned so much football that first year.”

Cinkovich coached five more seasons at UNLV under Mike Sanford while helping to hone the skills of Ryan Wolfe and Casey Flair, two of the best receivers in school history.

“We improved the program. But we didn’t quite get where we needed to be, a bowl program,” he said. “There were a lot of locals on that roster. That was always important to me and important to Las Vegas.”

When Cinkovich was fired, along with the rest of Sanford’s staff, he was hired as wide receivers coach at Arkansas under Bobby Petrino, his former teammate at Carroll College, an NAIA football power in Helena, Montana, where they played for Bob Petrino, Sr.

When Cinkovich replaced Bobby Petrino as Carroll’s offensive coordinator in the late 1980s, Paul Petrino was his All-American quarterback.

Cinkovich replaced Paul Petrino at Arkansas in 2010 and 2011, when Paul left to become Illinois offensive coordinator under Ron Zook. The Razorbacks won the Cotton Bowl in 2011 and finished with a No. 5 national ranking.

“Everything I know about coaching comes from (the Petrinos),” he said. “I played for Bobby’s dad and he made a huge impact on a ton of us coaches around the country.”

Paul Petrino returned to the Razorbacks in 2012, when Bobby was fired amid a scandalous affair with a subordinate. In 2013, Paul Petrino was hired as Idaho’s head coach and Cinkovich went with him.

Cinkovich said he and his wife Joanie, a former longtime teacher at Basic High in Henderson, are happy living in the Pacific Northwest, where his parents also reside.

“I’ll be happier when we’re playing offensively like we can,” he said. “This game, to us, on Saturday is real important.”

The same can be said of the Rebels.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354. Follow on Twitter: @tdewey33