THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: After coming to Idaho with 'no expectations,' Friesz keeps earning honors — all these years later

John Friesz shrugs off individual honors much like he did opposing pass rushers back in the day.

Quarterbacks get way too much credit, he says — and even too much blame, sometimes.

Any individual accolades that come his way — like this coming Saturday in Spokane, when he and 14 others comprise the inaugural class inducted into the Big Sky Conference Hall of Fame — Friesz accepts them as team awards, making sure to credit his linemen, the receivers, the coaches, etc., for the honor.

He’s already in several halls of fame — the College Football Hall of Fame, Vandal Athletics Hall of Fame, North Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame, the Inland Northwest Hall of Fame …

Any others?

“I’m in the Hayden Little League Hall of Fame,” Friesz said proudly. “It’s funny, if you want to laugh about it. The others are Vandal football, and team-related … and that one, I was able to make an imprint as an individual, away from football … sort of a volunteer thing. I don’t want to forget that one. All three boys (Hunter, now 27; Jake, 24; and Carter, 21) went through it, so I spent a lot of time out there. It’s something they started 5 or 6 years ago, their way of placing names out there of people who improved the field (Croffoot Park) — tried to take Hayden Little League to another level.”

FRIESZ WAS part of taking the Idaho football program to another level in the late 1980s.

From 1982-95, the Vandals reached the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs 11 times, including trips to the semifinals in 1988 and ‘93.

Friesz passed for 10,697 yards in 35 games at Idaho, and when he graduated, was the Big Sky’s career leader in passing yards and total offense. As a three-year starter for Idaho from 1987-89, Idaho went 29-8 and won three Big Sky titles.

In 1989, he was the Big Sky’s first winner of the Walter Payton Award, honoring the top player in I-AA (now FCS).

Pretty good for a lanky 6-foot-4 kid who started just one season at Coeur d’Alene High, and had exactly two college scholarship offers.

“I had no expectations,” Friesz said of playing at Idaho. “When I first got there, I was out of place. Far down on the depth chart, fifth or sixth, not getting any reps, looking at all these guys that could run and jump and throw and catch, and they were big and strong. I just thought, ‘What am I doing here?’

“I did not have an incredible senior year (in high school). We had a good team, a lot of guys that played college ball off that team. We were undefeated and ranked nationally, but I was a real small part.

Numbers were not big. And so I wasn’t a believer in myself for a long time. I just kept trying to get better.”

So how did he do it?

It started when he redshirted at Idaho in 1985, then was a backup in 1986.

“One of the things I did — I ran each play through four or five times without even taking the snap,” Friesz recalled. “So I would hear the play that the coach called, and I would immediately in my mind process it — what my job is. I’d see the other (quarterback) get to the line of scrimmage and I would put myself in that position, and then I would see what he actually did on that play, and the result, and what I would have done.

“And then we would get to films the next day and we would watch the game, and I would see that play again, and again process what I thought and what I’d seen, and confirm what I thought I saw, or what actually happened, and so I’m getting all these mental reps just on one play, without doing a thing.

Those two years prepared him for when it was his turn to start, as a redshirt sophomore in 1987.

“ I’d never thrown hardly for 200 yards before, and that first start, I was freaking out — ‘I’m not ready to do this, I can’t do what all these other guys have done before me,’” he said. “And we threw for 300 yards that day and I was like, ‘What? How did that just happen? I’d never done that.’ And we did that every game for … ever. Just a fun time; the ultimate team experience.”

GROWING UP, Friesz was a pitcher and played first base in baseball, and said baseball was the sport he enjoyed the most — football was a close second.

He said baseball really wasn’t an option in college, “But I wasn’t really sought after in football, either,” he said. “I was lucky that my parents (Mel and Mary Jo) made the effort for me to get down to Vandal Football Camp when coach (Dennis) Erickson was there, and that opened the door for him to see me, and see something in there that warranted an offer for a scholarship. So I’m real thankful for that.”

His only other offer was from New Mexico — who recruited him only because the Lobos wanted the tight end from Coeur d’Alene, Friesz said.

As much fun as it looked like from the outside during the Vandals’ glory days, “I bet it was probably more fun” on the inside, Friesz said.

“I was real thankful to be right in the middle of so much success,” he said. “With coach Erickson, and Ken Hobart starting it, and then so many quarterbacks before me and after me, and coaches, and wins and championships, and yards, and records, and everybody was doing everything … and beating Boise State all those years in a row. It was just a fun time; it was such a fun feeling to know that you were going to go out, and because of all those people around you, and because of all those coaches being innovative.

“Coach (Keith) Gilbertson really took it to another level, built upon what coach Erickson had done. They were scheming so well, and so ahead of the game, ahead of what defensive coordinators knew. They were getting guys open, and the easy part was getting them the ball.”

“If you remember, I was very dependent on good protection,” Friesz recalled. “In some ways, that might have been part of the reason for my success; I knew I couldn’t just hold onto the ball, and run around and make something happen.

“I had to be very on top of what was taught to us and expected of us, and on top of what the defense does immediately, and understand, if there’s a completion to be made, I need to make it right now. And it’s OK if it’s second and 8, or second and 6, something that’s not real fantastic after a completion, but it’s a whole lot better than holding the ball and it being second and 18. And now you’re forcing stuff on third down, and you’re turning it over, and you’re losing games.”

Hobart, aka the Kamiah Kid, was gone when Friesz showed up at Idaho in 1985. Rick Sloan and Scott Linehan were the other quarterbacks then, and both were gone in 1987, when Friesz took over.

Bill Diedrick was Idaho’s quarterback coach during the early part of Friesz’s stay in Moscow. Bobby Petrino, whose brother Paul would become Vandal head coach more than two decades later, took over as QB coach at Idaho in 1989.

“Bill Diedrick, his big thing was attention to detail,” Friesz said. “You walked into his office and there was not a thing out of place, and that is how he taught the position to be played. You have to pay attention to every little thing … I got better at that as time progressed, and I think that is why I stuck in the league as long as I did, I did pay attention more than the guy I was competing with for a roster spot. And I know that separated me a time or two.”

Friesz said Petrino “just expanded what we were doing offensively.”

Petrino became offensive coordinator in 1990, when Doug Nussmeier, who redshirted during Friesz’s senior season, began to flourish.

Erickson left after Friesz’s redshirt season, and Gilbertson was promoted to head coach. John L. Smith, who left with Erickson in 1985, came back as head coach in 1989, replacing Gilby.

Friesz said the transition from Erickson to Gilby to John L. was smooth, the offense remaining the same, each coach putting their own wrinkle on it.

“One of coach Gilbertson’s strengths was just how funny he was,” Friesz said. “It was just a comedy show. We’d win on Saturday, Sunday afternoon we’d go watch films, and it was fun, absolutely fun. He was a comedian with a mic. But we’d just thrown for 300 yards and we’d won and the kicker never missed and everybody was in a good mood. He was all about working hard and having fun, and that’s why he was a great recruiter.”

Then Smith came back when Friesz was a senior.

“Even though he was a defensive coach, and let Petrino run the offense, he really turned into a father figure for me,” Friesz said of Smith. “There wasn’t a lot of experience with agents coming around, or pro teams coming around, and that was starting to happen with me. He and Gary Hunter, the athletic director at the time, called me in before the season and said ‘We’re taking care of this, don’t worry about it, we’re going to do research on people that want to talk to you, filter out the bad guys, we want you to just enjoy your senior year … and to not get caught up in these things. We’ll talk after the season.’

“And that’s exactly how it happened. I really appreciated that buffer that they did. They set up interviews with me, interviewing agents after the season, and prior to the draft. The five guys that I visited with were all standup guys, good people, and I owe so much of that to John L. and what he did.”

Friesz was only around Erickson for the few months of the 1985 season, and was redshirting anyway, so he tried to watch and learn as much as he could.

“I was getting better by osmosis,” said Friesz, who played 10 seasons in the NFL, including four with the Seattle Seahawks (1995-95) when Erickson was head coach there. “I never experienced all that innovative passing stuff in high school, so there was so much to absorb. We were not reacting to what the defense did, we were putting the defense in such a position that they could not be right. So as long as we knew what to do, and executed that, we were going to win that play most every time.”

Running the Vandals offense took patience.

“We stretched them horizontally with our formation, and our running back movement, and then we would stretch them vertically with our ability to go deep on either sideline, and then run routes off of that,” Friesz said. “So if they were dumb enough to come up and crowd us, we would go by them. If they sat back, then we would pick them apart underneath.”

MARRIED TO Julie for 28 years, with three sons and a grandkid, John Friesz, now 55, finds enough to still keep busy these days.

A season ticket holder, Friesz sees a few home games each year, and is looking forward to seeing what new Vandal coach Jason Eck can do with the program.

“I’m personally happy that we’re back to the Big Sky,” Friesz said. “I think that trying to follow Boise State, trying to do what they did at that time, was a mistake. On a small level, that’s what’s wrong with college football — money wins games. Boise State had more money, had better facilities, and they were able to spend more money on recruiting. That’s why we couldn’t compete.”

Not like the Vandals did during the Big Sky days of the 1980s and early ’90s.

“Stretching the defense vertically and horizontally was the foundation of Vandal football for 15 years,” Friesz said. “It wasn’t that hard to be patient, because you knew it was going to happen, I guess. You just knew that, just do what you do, do your job, and the big plays will happen. And at the end of the game, you will have moved the ball, and scored touchdowns, and won.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.

Inaugural Big Sky Hall of Fame induction

An induction ceremony and banquet honoring the Inaugural Big Sky Conference Hall of Fame Class is scheduled for Saturday, July 23, at 6:30 p.m. at the Davenport Grand Hotel in Spokane.

Tickets for the event are $80 per seat and can be purchased at eventbrite.com. Each ticket also includes a meal at the banquet. Those interested in purchasing a table of 10 for $750 should contact Alex Kelly, assistant commissioner for championships and finance, via email at akelly@bigskyconf.com.

The induction ceremony, which is 28 months in the making, was originally scheduled for March 14, 2020, but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down the entire sports world at that time.

INAUGURAL BIG SKY HALL OF FAME CLASS

Jared Allen — Idaho State, Football, 2000-03

Shannon (Cate) Schweyen — Montana, Women’s Basketball, 1988-92

Angela Chalmers — Northern Arizona, Women’s Track & Field, 1982-87

Dave Dickenson — Montana, Football, 1992-95

Stacy Dragila — Idaho State, Women’s Track & Field, 1993-96

Jack Friel — Big Sky Conference, Commissioner, 1963-71

John Friesz — Idaho, Football, 1986-89

Milton “Dubby” Holt — Idaho State, Track & Field/Administrator, 1963-79

Damian Lillard — Weber State, Men’s Basketball, 2008-12

Lopez Lomong — Northern Arizona, Men’s Cross Country/Track & Field, 2005-07

Ron Mann — Northern Arizona, Cross Country/Track & Field Coach, 1980-04

Ellie (Rudy) Vanswearingen — Montana State, Women’s Track & Field, 2004-08

Robin Selvig — Montana, Women’s Basketball, 1978-2016

Jan Stenerud — Montana State, Football, 1964-66/Skiing, 1962-64