THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Sunday, February 8, 2015

Little brothers of famous big brothers have heard it all before.

"Oh, you're so-and-so's little brother," they'll hear. They'll usually smile and nod and not say anything, though on the inside, they're driven to make a name for themselves.

Paul Petrino is no different. Bobby Petrino, his older brother by six years, has been a college football head coach at Louisville, Arkansas and Western Kentucky, and is now back at Louisville.

Paul Petrino went to the same high school and college as his older brother, and coached with him at a few stops along the way since then.

Now, Paul Petrino, 47, is getting ready for his third season on his own at Idaho, in his first head coaching job in college football.

So as for being "Bobby's little brother ... "

"That never bothered me much," Paul Petrino said. "Because growing up, I had to follow him in Helena (at Butte Central High), and he was a really good athlete, and then I followed him and I broke every record he ever had at Carroll. It was great to follow him, great to learn from him, and then you always want to be better. As a coach, I worked with him, learned a ton from him, been an assistant coach. I always felt like I was one of the best assistant coaches there was, and now I just need to prove that as a head coach.

"But it doesn't bother me. I think most people that kind of stuff bothers, they don't have enough self-confidence in themselves. I think if you're self-confident, it doesn't bother you if people talk about somebody else. I'm just proud of him. I like it when people talk good about him."

PETRINO TOUCHED on that and a few other topics during a brief interview the other day in Coeur d'Alene, while he was in town for the Vandals' signing day celebration at The Coeur d'Alene Resort.

* On the Vandals' recruitment and eventual signing of Zion Dixon, a lineman from Lake City High:

"The first thing that jumped out about him to me was watching him on tape," Petrino said. "His great second effort, what a finisher he was, how he got after people.

"Zion's just a really good player, just a tough, aggressive physical blocker, that I think will be a really good offensive guard for us in college."

Petrino said on the home visit, he remembered Zion's dad, Dan. When Petrino was finishing up at Carroll, Dan Dixon played at Whitehall, some 27 miles from Butte. Dixon went on to play at Montana State.

"(Dan) was a great player in Montana," Petrino recalled.

* On recruiting and signing Cade Coffey, a standout punter/kicker at Lakeland High:

"He came to our camp, and just seeing the ball come off his foot, what a powerful leg he has," Petrino said. "And he can do both - punt and kick. Great kickoff guy. It was like, "man, here's another Austin (Rehkow) we're going to get."

Austin Rehkow has handled the punting and kicking chores at Idaho the past two seasons, and is one of the top punters in the country.

And there's a dad connection here too. Cade Coffey's father, Travis, starred at Bonners Ferry, and played at Idaho when Petrino was an assistant coach there in the early 1990s.

* On recruiting a fourth quarterback, Kareem Coles from Madison High in San Diego, when another QB, Gunnar Amos from Coeur d'Alene High, is also coming into the program this year:

"When Chad (Chalich) leaves, then we needed another one," Petrino said. "And there's still a good chance they won't be in the same class. Because now that Chad left, we really only have two quarterbacks (Matt Linehan, who started most of last season as a redshirt freshman, and Jake Luton, who redshirted last fall). So what we'll probably do is redshirt one of them, and one of them will have to be ready to play."

Idaho played at San Diego State last fall, but that wasn't how the Vandals landed Coles.

"Probably what helped as much as anything is Michael Garner, Gunnar's roommate, was his teammate (in high school)," Petrino said. "So Michael (who signed with Idaho in 2014) was telling him about us, and had already been recruited by us."

Coles is a runner as well as a thrower. Asked if he preferred drop-back passers his system, Petrino replied, "Not necessarily. I just like whoever the best player is. We've played with both. We've adjusted the offense to whoever's going to score the most points."

* On the transfer of Chalich, the former Coeur d'Alene High standout, who enrolled at Montana last month, and has two seasons of eligibility remaining:

"You know, those things happen," Petrino said. "I just wish him the best of luck. Chad is a great kid, and I enjoyed coaching him. I wish he wouldn't have left."

* On the current trend in high-level recruiting, where high school seniors place hats of their "final" choices on a table, then choose one hat when they make their announcement, surrounded by family and friends - and, of course, TV cameras.

"It's frustrating," said Petrino, who has been an assistant at Arkansas, Illinois, Louisville, Southern Mississippi, Utah State, Idaho and Carroll. "A lot of times, though, the ones I've been involved in, they do the whole hat thing, but they tell you the day before (where they're going). You know as a coach, both if you're getting him or if you're not getting him. Usually if you're sweating it, you're not getting him.

"There's very few that I've been involved in where they drew it out like that. The only one was at Arkansas, with Dorian Green-Beckham, he was the No. 1 player in the country and we thought we were getting him, and then he picked Missouri on signing day. Outside of him, every other kid that I was ever involved in, they told you the day before. Michael Bush (Louisville running back) did it, and he told us two weeks earlier that he was coming. Some of that (hat display) is just for show."

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@CdAPressSports.