THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Friesz and Amos — former college teammates, both Vikings ... but not coaching colleagues

The first 10 years or so after John Friesz retired from the NFL and returned to North Idaho, he would get the same phone call, at roughly the same time each year, from the same person each time.

On the other end was Shawn Amos, who was in the early stages of what is his 26th season as head football coach at Coeur d’Alene High.

Amos was a teammate of Friesz’s at the University of Idaho. And Coeur d’Alene High, of course, is Friesz’s alma mater.

“The first year or two, he thought there would be a good chance that I would come out and do it with him, and I’d say no, I’ve never had the fall, and I want to go hunting and fishing,” Friesz recalled recently. “And then after a few years it became a joke, because he would call and say, ‘Well, I’d be remiss to not call, but I already know the answer. But I’m going to offer it again — are you sure you don’t want to come out and coach Viking football?’

‘No.’

‘All right, I’ll talk to you in 12 months.’”

AMOS UNDERSTOOD.

“Hunting and fishing was ranked a little higher than fishing, which I couldn’t blame him,” Amos said. “John is just a great human — he’d be great around the kids, he’s always had a good demeanor about him. I thought he would obviously be a good part of our program. But I always understood, after his NFL career, that hunting and fishing was pretty nice.”

“I enjoy watching it,” Friesz said of football, “but I have no desire to go through any more double-days ever again.”

“I did make a run at him for a while, tried to talk him into it. Finally I gave up,” Amos said.

Did Amos think there was ever a chance Friesz would say yes?

“No, he was pretty straightforward with me,” Amos said. “And he also didn’t want to dabble in it, he didn’t want to show up sometimes. He wanted to be all in or not, which I respect, and he was smart enough not to want to do that.”

Still, Amos kept calling, year after year.

“I thought I might wear him down,” Amos said with a laugh. “You have an asset like that, a Coeur d’Alene Viking, I played with him at Idaho — I watched him play; I was on the sidelines, mostly, but … he was always a good presence, and I thought his personality would fit well with our staff, and what we were trying to do.”

Eventually, Amos stopped calling his former college teammate.

“To be honest, we had built our staff (by then) where I had guys,” Amos said. “The first 10 years, I was trying to build the staff that we have now. I was trying to get the right guys in the right places, and I think he would have fit in really well.”

FRIESZ GRADUATED from Coeur d’Alene High in 1985, and eventually started his last three seasons at Idaho, winning the Walter Payton Award in 1989.

Amos graduated from Moscow High in 1986, went to Minot (N.D.) State for one season, then transferred to Idaho.

He walked on with the Vandals, eventually earned a scholarship his junior year, then quit playing because his old high school coach, Eric Bjorkman, asked him to come coach with him at Moscow High.

“So I went from not playing that much at Idaho to coaching at Moscow,” Amos said.

At Idaho, Amos played mostly on special teams — all except for punt return.

His “official” position was running back.

“I got like seven carries in my career at Idaho,” he said. “I had seven carries for like 48 yards, because my coaches looked it up and they still make fun of me for it.

“I was actually in the running back rotation, and this kid named Devon Pearce got recruited, and he jumped ahead of all of us and became an All-American.”

By the time Amos surfaced at Idaho, Friesz was the Vandals’ starting quarterback.

“He was a little undersized, not as quick as some, but man, he was tough,” Friesz recalled of Amos. “He was sort of our special teams guy. Coach would stop the film, 20 yards into the kickoff, and he’d ask some wide receiver, ‘Why is Shawn Amos in front of you? How is that possible? You’re faster than him. And it’s because Shawn played with that heart, and that desire and that toughness that he was going to go down there and smack that guy because that was his opportunity to help the team win. And he’d run through a brick wall for the Vandals, for sure.

Did Friesz see the coach in Amos then?

“No,” he replied.

“I’m sure when he stepped on the field with me, he didn’t see me playing in the NFL, either,” Friesz added with a laugh. “We both just grew, on and off the field, and had success differently.”

Amos said his time in Moscow — both in high school and college — has helped him in what is now his 28th season as a high school head football coach.

“I think it helps when you’re going from a big dog at Moscow High School, so I knew what that was like, and learning what it’s like to not be the guy, so you can put yourself in both those positions,” Amos said. “So I think you treat the not-as-skilled guys a little better than you would (normally). If it’s always that easy to you, it’s hard to coach.”

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.