THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Choate’s challenge: Bring back the excitement to Nevada football

All you have to do is watch a few minutes of a Jeff Choate press conference to think, hey, I’ve seen that energy before. 

We saw it at St. Maries High, where he starred as a linebacker for the Lumberjacks.

Years later, we saw it at Post Falls High, where he was football coach for five seasons, and athletic director the last two of them.

Years later, we saw it again when he returned to the area, as an assistant at Boise State, and then at Washington State, and later at Washington.

At Boise State, none other than head coach Chris Petersen marveled about Choate’s energy as a special teams coach.

A few years later, we saw it in Bozeman, Mont., when he injected some life into the Montana State football program, then known as the OTHER school in Montana that plays FCS football.

In Year 3, he had the Bobcats back in the FCS playoffs; the following year, they reached the national semifinals.

IN 2021, some thought Choate might wind up as head football coach at Boise State, a job that eventually went to Andy Avalos, a former Bronco player who was fired in November, with two games left in the regular season.

Instead, Choate landed at Texas, as co-defensive coordinator on a team that’s headed to this year’s College Football Playoff.

But the goal was to be a head coach — ironically, the Boise State job was open again, but the Broncos seemed even less interested this time.

And on Monday, when Choate was introduced as the head football coach at Nevada, he had the school president saying he was ready to run through a wall for his new football coach.

“That high-octane is going to be present; I promise you that,” Choate said at Monday’s press conference. “People are going to wonder, 'Hey, what are we going to do on offense?' … here’s what we’re going to do — we’re going to run the damn ball. We’re going to play great defense, we’re going to be elite on special teams. And we’re going to be disciplined, and not beat ourselves. And that’s a pretty good recipe for successful football.

“Now, depending on who our quarterback is, depending on who our skill players are, that might change the style,” he added. “But the substance will never change. And that’s what this program was built upon for years and years and years — that Nevada tough, that Nevada grit, the Union, it starts up front … let’s roll. That’s what this is going to be — back to Nevada football, and I think that’s what the fans expect, this is a blue-collar, hard-nosed community, and I’m your guy. I’m your guy. So let’s roll up our sleeves together, and make this place special again. 

CHOATE, 53, will have some work to do in Reno.

The Wolf Pack are coming off back-to-back 2-10 seasons. But, in the 17 seasons prior to that, Nevada went to 14 bowl games.

There was a time when the game of the year in the Mountain West Conference was Nevada vs. Boise State.

“I know there’s the ability to win championships here,” said Choate, who will split duties between Nevada and Texas initially, eventually returning to Austin to coach with the Longhorns during the College Football Playoff, before settling in Reno.

And Choate isn’t the only member of the athletic staff at Nevada with North Idaho ties.

Casey Stangel, the former Lake City High softball star, is Senior Woman Administrator at Nevada. This, after an administrative stint with Vanderbilt football, and an internship with the Commissioner’s Office with Major League Baseball.

At Monday’s presser, Nevada athletic director Stephanie Rempe gave Stangel a shout-out for her help with the rapid search for a new football coach — a search that basically lasted last weekend.

Rempe said Casey “is absolutely the best. Her ability to keep us organized, how she did research on our candidates, communicated — there’s no way we could have gotten this search done as quickly as we did without Casey. So Casey, thank you.”

Also on staff is Nikita Amy, associate AD for academics at Nevada, the pride of Kootenai High.

Rempe said in all the conversations she had with people about Choate, prior to interviewing him and offering him the job at Nevada, “I continued to hear, ‘High energy, all the time. High octane. He runs hot. He gets after it with the players, he gets after it with recruiting, He will get after it in this community. He knows what he wants, and how he’s going to go get it. He is all-gas, no-brakes. … "

Sound familiar?

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 X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.

    Jeff Choate