THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: A star coach in the North Star steps away

As the Kootenai High football coach, Doug Napierala has called plenty of plays.

His latest one is a handoff.

NAPIERALA, WHO has coached the Warriors since 2001, stepped down as football coach earlier this month.

"Basically, I've been doing this a while," Napierala said. "It just felt like the right time to step back."

Napierala, 55, coached the Warriors to the state football playoffs in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Kootenai advanced to the semifinals in 2007, 2009 and 2011. The Warriors played in the state 1A Division II championship game in 2008, falling to Carey at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.

"We had a great run," Napierala said. "We had a good group of kids that bought into what we wanted to do as a program, put in the time commitments and it really paid off with all of their time in the weight room and hard work to get better."

Napierala went 84-81 in 19 years as football coach. From 2007 to 2009, Kootenai went 29-4.

"We'd been having good success for two to three years," Napierala said. "That previous year (2007), we had a successful year and knew what we had coming back. Even that prior year, we knew we had a good team that could make a run. We started that year playing really well and things were just clicking. We knew that group had the ability, but had to stay healthy, be focused and keep working toward that goal."

In its last playoff appearance in 2013, Kootenai fell 56-6 at home to Salmon River of Riggins. The star of that game was Leighton Vander Esch of Salmon River, who went on to play at Boise State and currently a starting linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys.

"It was a crazy matchup," Napierala said. "We were able to get some game film on him, and holy cow, we knew he'd be a handful. He was good as a junior and senior, and we came up against them in the playoffs. They went right down and scored to open the game, and we got one back on a straight up 9-route, and then, oh boy, he just took over. And it seemed like he made every tackle on defense that day. His ability to read the field was great, and he had a good line blocking for him. If he got through that first group, with his footwork, it was just hard to stop him. But he also had a good team around him. It's kind of neat to look back on that and say he's now playing for the Cowboys. I don't know how many 8-man kids that have played in the NFL."

Only Vander Esch, Ron Heller of Clark Fork — who played at Oregon State and for the San Francisco 49ers — and Matt Paradis, who graduated from Council High and currently plays for the Carolina Panthers after playing at Boise State, have played in the NFL after playing 8-man football in Idaho.

"After the game, (Salmon River coach) Charlie (Shepherd) told me he was going to try and walk on at Boise State," Napierala said of Vander Esch. "At the time, I didn't know about BSU, but he proved a lot of people wrong, I think."

NAPIERALA ALSO stepped down as Kootenai's athletic director, a position he's held since 2001.

This past winter, Kootenai did not field high school sports programs (boys basketball, girls basketball, wrestling) due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Warriors intend to compete in track and field this spring, and Napierala is also the track coach.

Kootenai did not field a football team in 2019, then was delayed starting this fall, eventually playing three games in October and forfeiting two due to low numbers.

"It's been frustrating and hard," Napierala said. "Our declining enrollment hasn't helped at all. Sometimes, the frustration gets to you after a while."

Napierala, who also teaches physical education and health at Kootenai Jr./Sr. High, isn't leaving coaching behind completely. He's still planning on coaching both Warriors basketball teams next winter. He's coached the boys and girls basketball teams in the past on separate occasions, but was planning to coach both teams this past winter.

"Not having football the year before this one, and just going home after school, it just got me thinking it's time," Napierala said. "Having that time off, and this year, only being able to play three games, it just seemed like time."

Kootenai returns eight players from its football team in the fall.

"There's a good core of kids coming back," Napierala said. "It just felt like it was getting to be that time with me. I just felt like it's a good time to hand it over with a good group of kids coming in."

Jerry Brown has coached the middle school program, as well as wrestling at the school for the past three years. Jake Pfeiffer, a 2014 graduate of Kootenai, has been Napierala's football assistant for the past five years."

"Both of those guys would make great candidates," Napierala said. "Jerry, he's a really good coach and Jake, he's a young kid that's real energetic. There's some guys that can step in and take it over."

AS FAR as an athletic director, in his peers' eyes, that might be a little tougher to replace.

"Doug's a guy that you don't argue with," said Mullan football coach Stetson Spooner, who also been the school's athletic director for the past 10 years. "He's a fair, professional guy and kind of the gold standard of what you want an athletic director and coach to be. If I've got questions about something, I can shoot an email to Doug and I'll have an answer right away."

On the football field, as Mullan struggled to field teams at times, the games with Kootenai lived on, even with a 6-man game in 2016.

"It didn't take a lot of convincing for him to want to play that game," Spooner said. "That was the start of him seeing his numbers starting to decline. Once we were able to do that, and keep our programs going, he was all for it. Doug's just good for kids. He's always been there when he's needed and always knows the right thing to do. He's just a class act all around."

Bruce Bailey started as a coach/athletic director at Mullan High, but has since taken over as athletic director at Wallace.

"Being an athletic director/head coach can be very draining, and things can seem negative at times," Bailey said. "However, Doug was always a person who persevered and stayed positive. He was always in it for the kids. I believe he found great joy going to all the games and seeing the excitement on their faces knowing that, win or lose, they gave it their best. You don't always see that anymore in a coach and/or an athletic director. With that said, Doug has always been a competitor and he enjoyed winning as much as anyone. Doug has always been a class act and I will never forget it. He has been a mentor of mine for a long time."

Tony Kraack, a three-sport (football, basketball, track and field) athlete at Kootenai High and a 2007 graduate, is now a teacher and coach at Timberlake High.

"Nap was never a man of many words," Kraack said. "He just built great relationships with his players, gave them a great foundation of hard work and humility, and then went on to the next task. Every game, win or lose, was a great experience and that's all because of him and the positive relationship he created with his players."

AS FOR what's next?

"I'll probably be on the lake fishing," Napierala said. "It's not going to be the easiest thing to just walk away. But I'll probably be around."

Just where, depends on the season.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.