 On January 10, 1978, Davitch was hired as the head coach of the Idaho Vandals of the Big Sky Conference, at an annual salary of 

At the time, the Idaho football program had posted just four winning seasons in over four decades, and the last four head coaches had been fired after two to four seasons.In addition, no Vandal head football coach had left with a winning record since 1928.Through the 1977 season, Idaho was a Division I football program in a Division II football conference.