THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: April 6, 2014

The transformation of Mike Cox from standout high school athlete and college football player to his professional career as an football coach didn't take long.

"I got done playing (at Idaho), our last game was in December (of 1986), then I started as a coach in January," Cox recalled the other day, in a phone interview from Manhattan, Kan, where he was in the middle of spring practice as linebackers coach at Kansas State. "There never really was a transition. I just started right into it. I got my feet wet for the first couple years, we've lived in all four time zones. Seven or eight moves later, and what the hell?"

Cox, who moved seamlessly from a stellar high school career in Bonners Ferry and Coeur d'Alene, to a standout football career in Idaho, and is now preparing for his 28th season - and in his seventh stop - as an assistant football coach, is one of six men who will be inducted into the Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame at a banquet next Saturday night at the Best Western Plus Coeur d'Alene Inn.

AS YOU might expect from an assistant football coach, Cox has had to pick up and move several times in his career - though not as many times as some assistants who seemingly change addresses every year.

Most of his career has been spent coaching linebackers - a position he started at for three seasons at Idaho. In high school, as a linebacker and running back, he was the state player of the year in 1982 at Coeur d'Alene High.

He coached at Idaho from 1987-94. Then it was on to Utah State (1995-97), where he met his wife, Jill, who is from southeast Idaho and is the niece of U.S. Senator Mike Crapo. Then it was on to Louisville (1998-2002), where his sons, Zac, now 13, and Jake, 12, were born. Next was Michigan State (2003-06), where daughter Addison, 8, was born.

Next was two years with the St. Louis Rams (2007-08), followed by three years in Seattle with the Washington Huskies (2009-11). In 2012, he was hired at Kansas State, where he is preparing for his third season with the Wildcats.

"My kids, they're used to meeting new friends, and adapting to all the change, all the moving," said Cox, 49. "A lot of guys here at Kansas State have been here for a while, and that was one of the things that attracted me to this place - the stability.

"But in this profession, you just never know."

THROUGH THE moves, Cox picked up pieces of wisdom from each coach he worked for - including his dad, Doug, who coached at Bonners Ferry, then Coeur d'Alene, Lake City and Post Falls. When Mike moved, Doug and his wife, Mamie moved - to Michigan State, to St. Louis, to Seattle ... to still stay close to their son. Mamie passed a few years ago, and Doug lives with Mike and his family in Manhattan.

Keith Gilbertson, who coached Mike at Idaho in 1985 and '86, gave him his first coaching job as a student assistant.

"Mike was a great kid to coach," Gilbertson recalled. "I knew he would be a really good coach when he was playing. He understood the game, played hard. He was tough, he was competitive. He would hit you. The only thing I found that was hard to believe was, at one time, he was actually a tailback. I always said, 'I need to see video to authenticate that.' But I really enjoyed coaching him, so when he said he wanted to coach, I found a spot for him in the program ... He's had a really fine career, and he's got a lot of good years left ahead of him."

"I learned a lot of things from Keith Gilbertson, and one thing I learned is, you can work really, really hard and have a lot of fun doing it," Cox said. "He made it fun for the players - there's a lot of things about football that are not a lot of fun, and he still made it where kids wanted to come back the next day.

"From John L. Smith, you learn the value of hard work," Cox added.

"Then you go to the NFL, and it was like getting your masters degree in the middle of your career," he said. "I just got 60 credits of advanced football knowledge."

Cox said veteran Kansas State coach Bill Snyder is "as detailed as any human being I've ever been around. So you learn to be detailed, and you learn to be organized. You learn to plan ahead."

Cox coached under Smith for 17 seasons at four stops - Idaho, Utah State, Louisville and Michigan State. How'd he end up working for Smith, who is now at NCAA Division II Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., all those years?

"I don't know how smart he was. He kept hiring me and bringing me with him," Cox said with a laugh. "That's his fault - he should have learned that when I played for him (at Idaho)."

COX SAID he enjoyed his two years in the NFL, saying coaching is pretty much the same at any level - as long as you're around the right people.

"One difference (in the NFL) is, players are self-motivated, they want to keep their job," Cox said. "They came to work wanting to learn - 'What else can you give me?' It kept me on my toes, and I appreciated it."

Cox has been in the running for a head coaching job at a couple of spots - he interviewed at Idaho State, and interviewed twice at Idaho, including in late 2012, when the job most recently came open.

He said sure, he'd like to be a head coach some day, but if not, well, he's carved out a pretty good career doing what he's doing.

WHAT MAKES Mike Cox's induction into the Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame even more special, he said, is the other five who are going in as well. He has ties to all of them.

In addition to playing for and coaching with Gilbertson, Cox was an assistant coach at Idaho for a couple years when Ryan Phillips was there. He played against Merril Hoge when Hoge was at Pocatello High, and later at Idaho State. The late Gary "Big Daddy" Rasmussen was Cox's track coach in high school.

"And my roommates (at Idaho) were from the Silver Valley, and they both spoke highly of 'Doc' Lynn," Cox said.

Of Phillips, who ended up playing in a Super Bowl with the New York Giants, Cox recalled: "As a freshman and sophomore there was no doubt he was the ultimate workout leader. He was a hard worker, had great athletic ability, was a little raw, but once that ability got headed in the right direction, there's no doubt where his career was taking him."

Of Hoge, who went on to play in the NFL, and is now an analyst for ESPN, Cox said: "I'll say this - ultimate competitor. You just knew he was going to keep coming. We tried to hit him as hard as we could, and he just kept coming, and kept coming. To have the career he had in the NFL, and how he did it, I have the ultimate respect for him."

Of "Big Daddy," Cox said: "There was a method to his madness. He had this charismatic personality and engaged with everybody. But at the end of day he was about one thing, and that was getting you to perform your best when it was time to perform."

Cox said his dad and "Big Daddy" were roommates at Eastern Washington State College back in the day. Over the years, "Big Daddy" would call Mike every once in a while, just to check in. And when Mike made it back to North Idaho, he made sure to stop by and say hi.

"I miss him to this day," Mike said.

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.