THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE, April 10, 2014

Keith Gilbertson coached in a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks in 2006.

He was an assistant coach on a national championship team with the University of Washington in 1991. And in nine total years with the Huskies, he coached in three Rose Bowls.

And, as head coach at Cal, he guided the Bears to an Alamo Bowl victory over Iowa in 1993.

But, ask Gilbertson where he had the most fun during a coaching career that began in 1972 - which included nine seasons as a head coach and 30 years as an assistant - and it doesn't take long for him to answer.

"The Idaho years were really rewarding for a lot of reasons," said Gilbertson, who is scheduled to be inducted into the Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday night, during the North Idaho Sports Banquet at the Best Western Plus Coeur d'Alene Inn.

GILBERTSON, 65, was an assistant at the University of Idaho in 1982 and again in '85. In 1986, he took over from Dennis Erickson as Vandal head coach, and in three seasons posted a 28-9 record, winning the Big Sky Conference twice and making the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs all three years, going as far as the semifinals in 1988.

"The athletic director that hired me (Bill Belknap) was the best athletic director I ever worked for," Gilbertson recalled last week, in a phone interview. "Dr. Richard Gibb was the best president I ever worked for. I met my wife at Idaho, we had two kids ... and on top of that, we won a lot of games.

"I got to work with Dennis Erickson, who'd been a lifelong friend. That's the reason I came to Idaho was Dennis ... and to coach the caliber of kids we did. What great young people they were to coach, and how serious they were about being good, and being good people. Idaho was a rewarding experience."

Kansas State linebackers coach Mike Cox, the former Coeur d'Alene High star who played with Gilbertson at Idaho, said one thing he learned from his old coach was that you could work hard and still have fun.

"I think Pete Carroll is a great example of that," Gilbertson said of the Seattle Seahawks coach. "The seasons tend to be long, and the game's a demanding game, so there has to be some light moments.

"I don't know that we did anything unique," he said of his coaching days at Idaho. "I just felt you could throw the Frisbies around on Monday and watch guys run and chase the Frisbies instead of running miles or sprints or gassers on Mondays. And you could have the aerobics instructors come in instead of having a regular winter program. We were always looking for a way to supplement what you're doing and make it a little different so it wasn't routine. But, at the same time we worked hard and went fast and were demanding. If we don't get this done, it's not going to be fun."

GILBERTSON WAS in Moscow during the era when Idaho was one of the top teams in the Big Sky, and made regular appearances in the I-AA playoffs - all five years he coached there. Idaho moved up to I-A in 1996, and has been there since. He was asked about Idaho's decision to remain in what is now called the Football Bowl Subdivision, rather than return to Big Sky and the lower-tier Football Championship Subdivision.

"The proof's going to be if they can win some games and once again become competitive and become a national name again," Gilbertson said. "A couple of years from now you'll know if it was a good move or not a good move.

"Personally, my heart with Idaho is in the Big Sky," he added. "We had great games with Montana, Eastern, Boise and Nevada-Reno. And that level of competition was tremendous I know Nevada's somewhere else (in the FBS now) and Boise's somewhere else, and now Eastern and Montana and Montana State seem to be the powers of that league.

"I just felt like that (the Big Sky) was a great fit for Idaho," he continued. "We did well, we had a system in place that I thought could continue to do well at that level. But after I left (in 1989, for what became a three-year stint as an assistant at Washington), people felt like they needed to make a move, so they did. ... But I want the best for Idaho, and I'm pulling for them."

GILBERTSON, A Snohomish, Wash., native who played at Central Washington and at Hawaii, started his coaching career at Idaho State as a graduate assistant (1972-74). He then had stops at Western Washington (1975), Washington (1976), Utah State (1977-81), Idaho (1982), the Los Angeles Express of the USFL (1983-85), Idaho (1985-88), Washington (1989-91), California (head coach from 1992-95), the Seattle Seahawks (tight ends coach from 1996-98), Washington (1999-2004, the last two seasons as head coach), the Seahawks (offensive assistant and wide receivers coach from 2005-08), and the Cleveland Browns (director of pro personnel and senior offensive assistant from 2010-12).

He spent most of his career as an offensive coach, as offensive coordinator and/or offensive line coach.

With the L.A. Express, Gilbertson coached the defensive and offensive lines. He was in L.A. when Steve Young was the quarterback there. The USFL, a spring competitor to the NFL for those three seasons, lured some of the established league's stars, signed some of the top college players. But teams started signing players to huge contracts and then often couldn't pay them, and the USFL eventually folded in 1986, when it attempted to go up against the NFL and play in the fall.

"Three years in that league was crazy," Gilbertson recalled. "Three different owners. It was great concept to begin with, and then like everything else, money and greed got in the way, and pretty soon it was a runaway train.

"Had they stayed with original concept of limited salaries, limited staff size ... it would have had a chance," he said. "When it got out of control, they just lost their way, and it was a shame. The USFL was fun, because you played in the spring, and everybody that liked football watched you."

GILBERTSON SAYS he still has the "itch" to coach again, but if that doesn't work out, he'll enjoy living part of the year in the home on Hayden Lake that he and his wife, Barbara, bought last fall.

But even while talking about his other coaching stops, he eventually found his way back to talking about his days in Moscow.

"Idaho was a real special time for me," Gilbertson said. "One, getting to go with Dennis and starting that thing out, and being able to be head coach for three seasons, winning three championships in four years. It was a real special time. What made it special is the people that I worked for and worked with and in particular, the great young guys we coached. Idaho was a tremendous stop for me. I enjoyed that time immensely."

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.