Troxel moved north to the
University of Idaho in
Moscow in early
1967, as an assistant coach in both football and track. In football, he served under three head coaches in seven seasons:
Steve Musseau,
Y C McNease, and
Don Robbins. He was named the head coach for the
Vandal track team in May 1970, but stepped down when he became the head coach of the
football team in December 1973. Troxel had turned down the head football job in May
1970 and again in December 1973, but later accepted after persuasion from his players and concessions from the new athletic director, namely a fourth assistant coach. His annual salary for the first season in
1974 was $16,500, which was $1,500 less than his predecessor That season was the last played outdoors in Moscow, as the new Idaho Stadium was enclosed and became the
Kibbie Dome in
1975. One of Troxel's notable hires was his first
offensive coordinator, a 27-year-old
Dennis Erickson, hired away from alma mater
Montana State, who stayed for two seasons. Erickson's successor was
Jack Elway, recently at neighboring
Washington State, but he left in March after just five weeks on staff to become a head coach in southern California at
Cal State Northridge. Despite this turnover at OC before Troxel's third season in
1976, the Vandals in the
Big Sky), with center selected as a
Division I first-team
AP All-American. At the time, it was the Vandals' second-best football record in history, surpassed only by the
1971 team With key players lost to graduation and beset by injuries, Idaho fell to in and five weeks later, on December 30, Troxel was requested to resign by new resignation ended Troxel's four years as head coach and eleven years at the ==Kennewick Lions==