Tony Knap Anthony Joseph " Tony " Knap ( December 8 , 1914 – September 24 , 2011 ) was an American football coach . He was the head coach at Utah State University ( 1963 – 1966 ) , Boise State University ( 1968 – 1975 ) , and the University of Nevada , Las Vegas ( 1976 – 1981 ) , and compiled a career college football record of 143 – 53 – 4 ( ) . Early years and college . The oldest son of Polish immigrants , Knap was born and raised in Milwaukee , Wisconsin , and graduated from Riverside High School ( a . k . a . East ) , where he as an All - City selection in football in 1934 . Along with three other Milwaukee freshman , he accepted a football scholarship to the University of Idaho in Moscow and played on the Vandals freshman team in the fall of 1935 , then lettered for three seasons ( 1936 – 38 ) on the varsity under head coach Ted Bank . Among his UI teammates were future head coaches and administrators Lyle Smith and Steve Belko . Other teammates included future Idaho athletic director Leon Green , and NFL pros George " Iron Man " Thiessen ( Rams ) , Stonko Pavkov ( Steelers ) , Dean Green ( Eagles ) , Richard " Truck " Trzuskowski ( Lions ) , and Hal Roise ( Bears ) . As a senior in 1938 , Knap was a second - team All - Coast selection at end , the only Vandal to make any of the three teams . The Vandals broke to an early 3 - 0 - 1 start in 1938 and there was early talk of the Rose Bowl in the national press . Three conference losses later , the Vandals finished the season at 6 - 3 - 1 ( ) , Idaho ' s last winning season for a quarter century ; not improved upon until 1971 . Knap was also a pitcher and utility player for three seasons on the varsity baseball team , and a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity . High school coach . After earning a bachelor ' s degree in education in 1939 , Knap became a high school teacher and coach for three years in Bonners Ferry , just south of Canada . While waiting for his military commission following the outbreak of World War II , he spent a fall at Lewiston High School in 1942 as an assistant under former Vandal teammate Steve Belko . Knap served in the U . S . Navy , then returned to coaching after the war back in Idaho at Potlatch , near Moscow , and stayed with the Loggers until the summer of 1949 . He attended a summer coaching clinic in 1949 in the Bay Area and was offered a head coaching position at Pittsburg High School in Pittsburg , California . Knap accepted and moved his family south to northern California . He stayed at the East Bay school for ten years , through the 1958 season . His overall record as a high school coach was 109 - 22 - 6 ( ) . College coach . Utah State . Knap left Pittsburg to become an assistant coach at Utah State in 1959 under new coach John Ralston . He was credited with developing the big , agile lines which contributed to the Aggies ' rise to national prominence . One of those lineman was Merlin Olsen , a future hall of famer in the NFL . ( Olsen selected Knap for his presenter at the enshrinement ceremonies in 1982 . ) After posting a 26 - 3 - 1 ( ) regular season record in his final three years at USU , Ralston left Logan for Stanford after the 1962 season and Knap was quickly promoted to head coach , where he compiled a 25 - 14 - 1 ( ) record in four seasons , from 1963 to 1966 . His 1965 team was 8 - 2 , but the Aggies slipped to 4 - 6 in 1966 . With mixed support from his administrators , Knap resigned in January 1967 to accept a position with the BC Lions in the Canadian Football League . In rivalry games , his Utah State teams were 3 - 1 against BYU for The Old Wagon Wheel and 2 - 2 against Utah in the Battle of the Brothers . Boise State . After one season as an assistant with the BC Lions in 1967 , he succeeded Lyle Smith as head coach at Boise College in 1968 , soon to become " Boise State College " " ( and BSU in 1974 ) . " Smith had just stepped down as head coach and as the athletic director , hired his former Vandal teammate . It was Boise ' s first year as an NAIA independent ; it had previously competed in the junior college ranks . Two years later in 1970 the Broncos began play in the NCAA in Division II ( then the " College Division " ) and the Big Sky Conference . Knap led the Broncos to a 71 – 19 – 1 ( ) record in eight years , including three ten - win seasons and three consecutive Big Sky titles ( 1973 – 75 ) . His salary was $ 16 , 800 in 1971 and $ 18 , 800 in 1972 . Knap led the Broncos to a 3 - 1 - 1 record against his alma mater in the first five games of the Boise State – Idaho rivalry . UNLV . His success in Boise led him south to Las Vegas in 1976 , where he coached UNLV for six seasons and compiled a 47 – 20 – 2 record ( . 695 ) , stepping down at age 67 after the 1981 season . UNLV made the Division II playoffs in his first season and moved up to Division I - A in 1978 , his third season at the school . While Knap was head coach , the Rebels played as an independent ; UNLV joined the PCAA the following season in 1982 . He was inducted into UNLV ' s hall of fame in 1989 . He led the Rebels to a 3 - 1 record over Nevada in the rivalry game for the Fremont Cannon . The game was not played in 1980 , 1981 , or 1982 . Personal . Knap met his wife , the former Mickey McFarland of Bonners Ferry , during his first year as a teacher . They were wed in April 1941 and had three daughters : Jacqueline , Angeline , and Caroline . In addition to his bachelor ' s degree , he also earned a master ' s degree from Idaho , completing it in 1953 while in California . Following his retirement from coaching , Knap and his wife moved to Walla Walla , Washington in 1982 . They were married over 70 years when he died in September 2011 at Bishop Place Retirement Center in Pullman ; he had suffered for several years from Alzheimer ' s disease .