Northwest Notes July 1, 2011

| July 1, 2011 9:00 PM

Gesser joins Idaho

football coaching staff

MOSCOW - Roughly one month after accepting an off-the-field position with the Washington State football program, Jason Gesser has been named running backs coach at Idaho, Vandals coach Robb Akey announced.

Gesser, the former WSU quarterback, replaces former Idaho assistant coach Jeremy Thielbahr, who was named to Gesser's old position as head football coach at Eastside Catholic School in Sammamish, Wash.

Gesser quarterbacked the Cougars during Akey's time on WSU's staff during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

"I'm very excited about adding Jason to our staff," Akey said. "He's got great leadership ability. He started his coaching career and he's one of the greatest competitors that I've ever seen. If even a little bit of that rubs off on our players it will go a long way."

Gesser was also associate director of athletics at Eastside Catholic. As football coach, his 2010 squad went 6-4 and broke 11 school records.

"It really is a dream come true working for a guy like that," Gesser said of Akey. "I've been trying for the last handful of years to see if he'd let me join his staff and I finally got him to bite. I've seen his kids grow in front of my eyes and I'm very close with his family. I've spent a lot of time with him not only as a player, but since he's been coaching at Idaho."

Gesser, a native of Hawaii, will coach Idaho's running backs, as well as recruit in the northwest and Hawaii.

Shock add wide receiver,

part ways with QB Stull

SPOKANE - The Spokane Shock have added wide receiver Brandon Thompkins to their Arena Football League roster, and placed quarterback Bill Stull on reassignment.

Most recently Thompkins (5-foot-10, 185 pounds) was with the CFL's B.C. Lions, but was released at the end of training camp. Prior to that, Thompkins was a wide receiver and a kick returner for Arkansas State. As a Red Wolf, Thompkins had 128 receptions for 1,701 yards and seven touchdowns. Also, he returned 124 kicks for 2,696 yards, averaging nearly 22 yards per return.

Spokane (7-7) plays at Arizona (13-2) on Saturday night at 7 p.m. (KSKN, ESPN 700).