The Front Row with MARK NELKE Oct. 25, 2012

There have been many coaches in Idaho Vandal-land that, when they were told their services were no longer required, the reaction by most was the same.

It’s about time. Don’t let the door hit you in the you-know-what.

But Sunday’s firing of Idaho football coach Robb Akey was different. On Monday, listening to his voice on some recent media teleconferences before I deleted the recordings for space reasons, it was like listening to someone who had since died.

Eerie.

JUST ABOUT everybody liked Akey. Some coaches keep their distance — you know them as the person on the other side of the microphone. They say things, and you report what they say, and that’s about all you know about them.

Akey came across immediately as a guy you might want to grab a beer with. Sure, as journalists you maintain your objectivity, but his enthusiasm and energy won many people over.

“How ’ya doin’, Bubba?” was his trademark greeting.

He was referred to as enthusiastic and energetic so much that it almost became part of his name — “Robb Akey, the always enthusiastic football coach of the Idaho Vandals ...”

He made you want to root for the Idaho Vandals to finally succeed, and you wanted him to be the one on the sidelines when they finally got there, because with his passion and his love for his players, he truly wanted to make it happen.

But it just didn’t happen.

AS THE losses mounted during Akey’s first two seasons in Moscow, his enthusiasm and positive attitude never wavered — though it had to get tiresome facing the media after each defeat, and telling them he was convinced things were going to get better, if the players and coaches keep working at it.

After two seasons in Moscow, his record was 3-21 and there were some rumblings he might be on the hot seat if things didn’t get any better in Season 3.

Things did. The Vandals found a way to win nearly every close game, and Akey led them to an 8-5 record in 2009 — their first winning season in 10 years — and a season capped by the memorable 43-42 victory over Bowling Green in the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise.

His halftime comment to ESPN sideline reporter Heather Cox — “Watch the second half, you’re gonna love it” — will forever live on in Vandal lore.

The next season was almost as good, but a couple of tough losses meant a 6-7 record, and kept the Vandals from a second straight bowl appearance. Take your pick — the 36-34 loss at Colorado State early in the season, when Idaho lost on a last-second field goal, or the 23-20 loss at Fresno State in the second-to-last game of the season, when Fresno scored a touchdown in the final seconds to win.

What kind of bounce there could have been from a second straight bowl appearance, we’ll never know.

Last year started badly and got worse — a 2-10 finish. If the Vandals found themselves in a close game, they weren’t able to pull out the win.

Akey might have gotten a mulligan for that season, but this year started out badly as well, with a listless performance in a 20-3 loss to Eastern Washington. It’s one thing to lose to LSU, another to get handled 38-7 by a Texas State team in only its second year of FBS football.

So after a 1-7 start, and hours after Idaho was toyed with in a 70-28 loss to a Louisiana Tech team that the Vandals used to be competitive with not that long ago, and with an overall record of 20-50 in 5 1/2 seasons as head coach, Akey was told by athletic director Rob Spear that his services were no longer required in Moscow.

Akey’s not the first football coach in recent history to come to Moscow with visions of making the Vandals respectable at the highest level of college football.

Tom Cable went 11-35 in four years at Idaho, and was fired. Nick Holt brought in his own version of enthusiasm which bordered on the maniacal, and he went 5-18 in two years before leaving for an assistant coaching job at USC. Dennis Erickson was brought back with the hopes of re-creating the glory days of the 1980s in Division I-AA football. After a 4-8 season, he left for much more money at Arizona State.

With only one winning season since 1999, and with an uncertain future — an independent in football next year, then what after that? Another FBS conference? The Big Sky Conference? The 5A Inland Empire League? — you wonder if Idaho will ever get to the level it wants to be in football.

Akey tried to do it the right way. He brought in good kids, and pushed for them to graduate. That he lost his job at Idaho doesn’t make him a bad coach — he just joins the club in Moscow. Cable didn’t do well in Moscow but last we checked, he’s well respected as an offensive line coach in the NFL.

SPEAKING TUESDAY night in Coeur d’Alene before Idaho’s men’s basketball team scrimmaged at North Idaho College’s Christianson Gym, Spear said he had “indirectly” inquired about the interest of coaches on his list of potential replacements for Akey.

“There are coaches on the list that I want to gauge their interest,” Spear said, without going into specifics. “But I will tell you, there’s been a significant amount of interest in this job. Already.”

Spear said the next coach’s salary will be “in the ballpark” of what was made by Akey, who earned a base salary of $165,000 (additional payments for media appearances roughly doubled that pay).

Akey was a respected defensive coach prior to coming to Idaho in 2007, and it’s likely he’ll draw interest as a college assistant. If he wants to hang low for a while and be a dad (his oldest son is a wide receiver on the playoff-bound Moscow High football team), he’s still getting paid his base salary by Idaho through the 2014 season.

WHO KNOWS who the next head coach will be.

Interim coach Jason Gesser gets five weeks to audition for the permanent job. Whether he can make an impact over the final four games — starting Nov. 3 at home vs. San Jose State — remains to be seen. Maybe the next coach has already been selected — or will be soon — and all that’s left is the announcement shortly after the end of the season.

One thing’s for sure — Gesser’s an “up-and-coming” coach, good rapport with the players ...

Kinda like the guy they just had there.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.