THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: When the you-know-what detector goes off

So, are we to the point where we just can’t believe anything we hear from a coach? 

Especially a college football coach. 

Particularly this time of year? 

NOT TO throw Jake Dickert under the bus — OK, maybe just a little — because Dickert was a pretty beloved figure in Pullman, at least until he wasn’t. 

Dickert seemed like a perfect fit at Washington State. He took over in the middle of the pandemic in 2021, when the previous coach was let go because he refused to get vaccinated. 

Dickert said all the right things through the years, the underdog coach successfully guiding the underdog Cougars to three bowl berths in four seasons. 

As the college football rules changed, and the Cougs started to lose dozens to the transfer portal each year, he bemoaned the fact the WSU’s roster was being raided by bigger programs — even before players had officially opted for the portal. 

(Not that it didn’t prevent WSU from offering some of Idaho’s players when they went into the portal). 

In any event, he was WSU’s coach. He fought for his players, and the Cougar faithful loved him. 

Until the morning when, in a move that came out of nowhere from the outside, Dickert left Pullman to become head coach at Wake Forest, who absolutely no one — not even folks in Winston-Salem — thinks is a college football power. 

“Mornin’, boss! Hey, just wanted to let you know ... “ 

That said, you can’t blame the guy for leaving his situation in Pullman — where WSU was probably going to have to deal with its roster getting raided every year, the Cougars were going from playing in a Power-5 conference to basically dropping down into a Mountain West Elite league, and perhaps weren't getting the support from administration that he had hoped — for well, anything. 

MEANWHILE, NINE miles to the east, Jason Eck was quietly making a move of his own. 

One night he and his Idaho Vandals were in Bozeman, Mont., losing to Montana State in the FCS quarterfinals. 

The next morning, he was being announced as head coach at New Mexico, an FBS school which recently finished its eighth straight losing season.

Like Dickert’s decision, it was a move no one on the outside saw coming -- at least not this year.

There was a hint the night before, when an internet report just before kickoff said the Lobos were zeroing in on Eck as their next coach. 

Like Dickert, you can’t blame Eck for leaving a situation like Idaho’s, where he quickly returned the Vandals to one of the top teams in FCS, but knowing he was going to have to rebuild his roster every year, because of the new rules. 

Plus, making a little over $1 million per year for the next five years is hard to say no to, if you're into things like financial security for the family.

Still, looking back, it would have been interesting had someone asked him, in front of his players in the presser after the Montana State game, about the New Mexico rumors, just to see his and his players’ reaction. 

Knowing Eck, he would have handled it like a professional college coach. 

“Stay tuned; I’ll let you know in the morning,” he might have replied. 

“V’s up!” 

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.