by JD

Lewiston Tribune Online - 08/15/03

Lewiston Tribune Online - 08/30/03

'It's a great way to start'; Doba makes long-awaited debut

DALE GRUMMERT

SEATTLE -- To this point, nothing seems to have upset Bill Doba's unique equilibrium -- that distinct, forward-leaning shamble with which he roams the practice field, at once grizzled and spry.

Eight days shy of his 63rd birthday, Doba makes his collegiate head-coaching debut tonight when his Washington State football team -- like him, experienced yet unproven in the eyes of the world -- opens its season against Idaho at Seahawk Stadium.

As a WSU publicist termed it, Doba "may well be one of the most experienced rookie coaches in the history of college football."

The Cougars haven't yet invested much research in this conjecture, and surely some obscure Division III program in Mississippi or South Carolina has awarded a head-coaching mantle to some lifelong assistant coach pushing 70.

Yet it's rare, particularly in major-college football, for any coach to pay his dues again and again, for as long as Doba has paid them, without being written off as a relic, an eccentric, a "guru" of some specialized offense, or just a guy who would rather teach and coach than endure the pressures of being the boss.

Is Washington State conducting some grand experiment here? Is it really such a risk to hire a 62-year-old rookie coach? Do the head-coaching prospects of other aging assistants ride on the success or failure of Doba's regime?

One wouldn't think so much pressure was involved, to watch Doba operate these days. Colloquial without being cloying, he is bringing a lightness, a naturalness, to his first head-coaching role since 1976, when he left a highly successful tenure at Mishawaka (Ind.) High School to become an assistant for Lee Corso at Indiana University.

He doesn't seem to have changed in recent months. He still seems younger than his years. He still exudes the same combination of avuncular humor and purposefulness that he exuded through 14 years as a Washington State assistant for Mike Price. If anything, he seems less hurried, less harried.

Which is more difficult -- to develop a detailed defensive game plan every week, as Doba did as a unit coordinator for the Cougars from 1994 to 2002, or to steer the direction of a program? Is it harder to diagnose a fungus or to understand the ecology of the forest?

"I'm a little bit apprehensive," Doba said this week, in a tone that belied the words. "Obviously, it's the first time I've done this in 25 years. A high-school coach is an entirely different thing. You call the offense and the defense and the kicking game. Here, I have quality assistants, people I trust.

"I was able to function as a coordinator much better because coach Price left me alone. He knew what we were doing but he wasn't second-guessing or yelling, 'Run a blitz' or whatever. He would just help manage the game."

Doba will try to emulate that comprehensive view, but inevitably his view will be different from Price's. For one thing, Doba's background will render him more sensitive to the defense. That's one reason the Cougars, though retaining a pass-oriented spread offense, are stressing more of a ball-control philosophy this season.

"As a defensive coordinator, I liked seeing that offense stay out there as long as they could," Doba said. "I could sit on the sideline and drink Gatorade. I like that ball control. We've got a good defense and I'd like to keep them fresh."

He says this unapologetically, at a school that lionizes high-spectacle offense. Doba is a refreshingly blank slate -- no apologies, no guilt, no pretenses.

He gives, in fact, the impression of being the happiest man in America. He's a head football coach who has never lost.

Lewiston Tribune Online - 08/30/03

'It's a great way to start'; Vandals strive to set positive tone

DOUG BAUER SEATTLE -- They've got an untested starting quarterback, a coach whose days could be numbered, and they're traveling 300 miles for a game against their next-door neighbor.

But all things considered, things could definitely be worse for the Idaho Vandals. Much worse.

"I have had more fun with this group the last three weeks than I have the previous three years (combined), just because of the kind of kids we have," said Idaho coach Tom Cable, who is entering the final year of a four-year contract with his alma mater. "That's the bottom line: They're great people and I expect great things from them as we move on through the season."

That's not to say Cable doesn't expect great things tonight, when the Vandals take on Washington State in the season opener for both at Seahawk Stadium. Kickoff for the game is set for 7:30 p.m.

"We're excited," Cable said. "What a great opportunity for a young college football player, to go over and play in that environment against this type of opponent.

"It's a great way to start."

Redshirt sophomore Michael Harrington will lead the Vandals into action. Harrington beat out senior Brian Lindgren during a months-long battle for the starting quarterback position, meaning Cable has rested his faith -- and perhaps his future at Idaho -- in Harrington's hands.

Toward the end of last season, questions were raised in regard to Cable's seemingly tenuous job status, a result of back-to-back campaigns with double digits in the loss column. But Vandal athletic director Mike Bohn expressed confidence in the coach's abilities, essentially giving him one more season to steer the program back to prominence.

That particular topic has since fallen by the wayside, primarily due to Cable's insistence that the Vandals are much improved and ready to turn things around.

"I think we're a lot better for a couple of reasons," he said. "For one thing, I think the amount of leadership and character amongst this team has grown enormously in the last eight months.

"If we're different in terms of a football team on the field, I think we're a lot more reckless. I think we have better speed defensively than we've had, we certainly have a lot more experience ... than we've had in the past and we have better depth in most places. Those, to me, are the ones that jump right out."

Unlike last year, when the Vandals faced three teams ranked in the Top 25 during the season's first five weeks, Idaho will have a chance to get a few early wins.

Following tonight's matchup, Idaho returns to the Kibbie Dome for consecutive games against longtime adversaries Eastern Washington and Boise State. Then, it's off to Montana for a final tuneup before it delves into the Sun Belt Conference portion of its schedule.

In Cable's estimation, this slate could prove extremely beneficial for the Vandals.

"Certainly with having (so many returners) and with the experience and size and strength and all that maturity that comes with just being older, it gives you something to really look forward to," said Cable, whose teams have gone 1-10 and 2-10, respectively, the past two seasons. "We've all been around the block enough now to know that you've got to do it on Saturdays, and that's what I'm waiting for.

"I'm anxious to see them play," he added. "I do have some rather high expectations for them that I think they are capable of, but we've got to go see it now."

Cougfan.com - Posted Aug 30, 2003

Cougs ground Vandals
Smith, Boyd, Dunning lead WSU shutout of Idaho

By Homer Cardle
CF.C Correspondent

SEATTLE— Given his defensive background, it seemed only fitting that Bill Doba’s maiden voyage as Washington State head coach should begin with a victorious shutout. And the fact that the 25-0 win over the Idaho Vandals tonight at Seahawk Stadium was earned on the ground was proof positive a new era of Cougar football has dawned.

Indeed, this contest was won between the tackles, as the Cougs - - led by a reel’s worth of highlight film by Jonathan Smith - - piled up 339 rushing yards against the Moscow defenders.

Lewiston Tribune Online - 08/30/03

Tribune/Steve Hanks
Washington State tailback Jonathan Smith dives over the goal lin for a second-quarter touchdown. Smith's score made it 7-0 Cougars en route to a 25-0 pasting of Idaho at Seahawks Stadium in Seattle on Saturday evening. Smith rushed for 121 yards in the half, helping WSU get out to a 10-0.

Lewiston Tribune Online - 09/01/03

Tribune/Steve Hanks
Washington State coach Bill Doba applauds his team's performance during their season-opening win against Idaho.

Cougs don their postgame face

SEATTLE -- The freshman who slapped away two field goals, the tight end who caught three passes, the linebacker who had charmed this pack of cameras last year, the new head coach, the new starting quarterback -- all these took their turns at the podium Saturday night before anyone had caught a glimpse of Jonathan Smith, who was really the person they wanted to film. Deadlines were crumbling left and right.

Finally a publicist ushered Smith into the room, with a reassuring arm around the tailback's shoulder, and apologized for the fact that "Jonathan wasn't quite as fast to the interview room as he was on the football field today."

Smith, after all, was more nervous now than he had been before kickoff.

"Why?" said a voice behind a large lens.

Smith explained by raising his hands, as if shielding his eyes from the sun. "Cameras," he said. "A little camera-shy."

With varying degrees of this sensible hesitance, Washington State opened its season at Seahawks Stadium, gradually quieting Idaho 25-0 in the collegiate head-coaching debut of Bill Doba.

Smith's little shielding gesture, in fact, was a perfectly earnest version of the half-joking way in which Doba himself has greeted packs of cameras since his promotion last December, after 26 semi-anonymous years as an assistant coach.

"Holy cow," he tends to say, "it's a firing squad!"

And he's half-serious: Those cameras demand wariness. Doba's remarks when multiple cameras are rolling are less spontaneous and less interesting than when he's addressing a few familiar beat reporters. This media routine requires practice.

Well, some find it easier than others.

In context, Smith's leeriness was somehow refreshing, because to watch a live college football game these days, in a stadium that has sprouted video screens, is to watch cameras transformed into a type of graven image.

All game long, the lenses scan the crowd. After every play from scrimmage, a new lucky spectator, generally an attractive female student, is chosen from the multitudes and her image is transported to the stadium screen. This goes on for hours. Cheerleaders should sue, because these fans are usurping their roles as off-the-field attention-getters.

Since seemingly everyone in the stadium is conscious of this roaming electronic lottery, the winner knows immediately that she has won. Even so, it behooves her friend in the adjacent seat to erupt in glee and point to the screen. The Chosen One then reacts in one of the following ways (while staring either at the camera or at the video screen -- an existential dilemma we can't fully examine here): a buoyant No. 1 sign, a silent but spirited mouthing of "Go Cougs," a look of grateful disbelief, an indulgent smile, a knowing ironic nod.

Or, in rare cases, she conveys a wariness not unlike Jonathan Smith's.

Of course, how an athlete withstands the postgame media crunch is less relevant than how he handles the glare of attention during the game itself. It's a big issue for the Cougars at the moment, since they plunge into a fishbowl Saturday by playing at long-glorified Notre Dame.

In that department, Smith, who spent his childhood in some of the least glamorous sections of Los Angeles, responded against Idaho as smoothly as the most toothsome, the most polished, the most camera-friendly Chosen Ones of the night.

In rushing for 160 yards and two touchdowns in a backup role, the senior tailback finally displayed to Cougar fans what he has displayed to teammates from the moment he arrived on campus as a junior-college transfer last year. The timing of his cuts was something close to flawless.

The rest of the Cougars fell somewhere between passable and surprisingly good. Matt Kegel confirmed his credibility at quarterback. Six-foot-7 freshman Cody Boyd made an intriguing collegiate debut by blocking two field goals. Tight ends, led by Boyd and Troy Bienemann, threatened a return to the offensive game plan. The defense cleaned up all its messes, led by linebacker Will Derting, who afterward appeared more media-savvy than he did a year ago after intercepting three passes at this stadium in a win over Nevada.

Doba and his staff, too, adjusted smoothly to their new roles: The Cougars kept to a minimum the type of substitution and logistical errors that often crop up in openers, particularly with new coaches.

How good is this team? It's hard to tell, chiefly because the Cougars' first opponent was coming off a 2-10 season. But their performance was surprisingly solid.

Are they ready to play a team like Notre Dame? Quite possibly, yes, as long as they gamely face the firing squad. Figuratively, of course.

Lewiston Tribune Online - 09/01/03

Better days ahead for UI

SEATTLE -- Idaho fans, I'll bet I know what you're thinking: The Vandals got shut out by Washington State, and you might as well flush another season down the toilet.

Well, the first part of that statement is true. Idaho did get beat 25-0 Saturday in the Battle of the Palouse (Sleeper on the Sound?) at Seahawks Stadium.

But I'm not buying into the notion that these Vandals are destined to fail. Actually, I think they might fare better than most people think.

And I'm pretty darn sure they'll be a whole lot better than their recent predecessors -- teams that combined for three wins over two seasons.

To back up this claim, I present the following observations:

Compare Saturday night's performance to that of a year ago, when Idaho suffered a 38-21 loss in its season-opener at Boise State.

The most glaring difference, in my estimation, can be found in the punting statistics. That's right, punting.

The Vandals forced WSU punter Kyle Basler into action three times. In last year's season-opener, Boise State didn't attempt a single punt.

That says a lot about Idaho's defensive effort, even if the Vandals did give up 339 yards on the ground. And that's not to mention the fact that Idaho made an impressive goal-line stand on WSU's second possession, and that they kept the Cougars off the board all together until the second quarter was well under way.

While we're on the subject, let's examine Idaho's defensive struggles.

For the most part, WSU had its way running the ball against the Vandals. But the Cougars didn't have nearly as much success throwing the ball.

Of course, that could be due to the fact that WSU didn't need to throw the ball a lot. But Idaho's secondary and pass defense in general looked like it had a better feel for the game.

That could bode well for the Vandals, because it seems to me that run defense is a far easier fix than pass defense.

A dropped pass here, a fumbled snap there. Too many penalties.

Those were the types of things that caused Idaho grief on Saturday night.

Now I'm not saying WSU's defense didn't have a hand in the outcome. But Idaho had plenty of chances to put up points against a pretty solid defensive unit, another positive sign of things to come.

What if wide receiver Orlando Winston's hamstring were functioning at 100 percent? Perhaps he would have made one of the two would-be touchdown catches thrown his way.

And what if Matt Miller had hauled in Michael Harrington's third-down pass deep inside WSU territory as time was running low in the first half? The Vandals were moving the ball effectively at the time, and a touchdown wouldn't have been out of the question.

As for the penalties, there really isn't much in the way of an excuse. But if the Vandals want to win games, and we all know they do, they'll find a way to solve those particular problems.

The last I heard, Idaho was a 28-point underdog against WSU. But from what I saw, the game was much closer than the final score indicated, at least for the first three quarters.

That's something the Vandals can build on. And unlike last season, they've got a few winnable games in their early-season schedule.

Last year, Idaho faced three then-Top 25 teams (WSU, Washington and Oregon) during the first five weeks of the season, and another (Boise State) that finished the year in the same company.

But next weekend against Eastern Washington, Idaho can attempt to gain precious momentum at a much earlier point in the season.

And that would go a long way toward curing the problems that have ailed the Vandals for the last two seasons.

Next up ... Notre Dame