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Gilby can always take his show on the road He's a man of his word By Malamute, 26 March 2004
Last summer, some of his personality traits became apparent to me during my attendance at a few UW sponsored functions. I first really met him at Evergreen State College, although I had talked with him briefly at Cdub's funeral. After a media interview at the 2003 Evergreen training facility, I asked him whether the beds in the dorms were big and comfortable enough for his players. He replied that they must be; you can’t get them out of bed. Well, he's no John McKay with the quips, but he is definitely one of us, a blue-collar coach that the average fan can identify with. He's a family man with two children, Kristin and David. He has an adult daughter who resides in Los Angeles. I pointed to two media persons and told him that they’d graduated from Washington State. They can’t be all bad, he said, my wife went there, too. Then, appearing totally relaxed and at ease, he talked about some of his Coug friends. After his Dawgs had an impressive morning workout at the camp, a smiling Gilbertson walked gingerly over to the assembled media and gave “us” an impromptu interview, the best we'd had all week. After Softy and Hugh Millen had tussled with him verbally during one of their shows, I told Millen that I thought Gilbertson was a good interview. He replied, "Gilby's no wall flower." During a commercial break on Softy's show, Millen walked into an innocent looking trap, one concerning Shelton Sampson's migraine headaches, and Gilby sprang it – good naturedly, of course. Gilby has a heart. Amongst a crowd of media people, being somewhat nervous, I asked Gilbertson a question that Ted Miller (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) had asked him previously. “I’ve already answered that,” he snapped – then noting my disappointed expression, replied with an answer that was more detailed than the one Ted had gotten. Claiming that answer as part of my booty, I bested Ted that day. Beginners luck. With professional sangfroid, Miller always seemed to ask the first question at Evergreen, and I should have paid more attention. Another anecdote: After a rainy afternoon at the camp, Gilbertson teased Miller about his dry clothing, noting that Dick Rockne used to be soaked to the skin after covering the Huskies during a practice session. Back in Seattle, at Picture Day 2003, I asked Gilby about the running game. You’re the first person that’s asked me about that, he joked. “Yes, we’ll have a running game,” he said, with a smile on his face. The Huskies averaged 119 yards per game on the ground last season, a 35% improvement over the year before. Gilbertson, is also a man of his word. At the 2003 band-day function, Gilbertson joked with Huskies band director Dr. Brad McDavid about the forming of the script Ohio, which was to be performed by both bands during the opening game at Columbus. McDavid is a PhD graduate of Ohio State. But Gilbs can be a bit gnarly, too. After a sluggish first half during a game last season, a media person asked Gilbertson about the Dawg’s desultory performance. “Who made you the head coach?” he retorted. You gotta love Gilbs. Coming off a disastrous 6-6 season, sans a bowl game, Gilberton needs to produce in 2004 or face the wrath of the new president (Mark Emmert) and a yet-to-be-named permanent athletic director. The odds look long for Gilby, being that QB Cody Pickett is gone, along with his favorite receiver, Reggie Williams – who is a lock to be a first-round draft pick. The offensive line is thinned by injuries and weakened by a couple of years of questionable recruiting, and the likely starting quarterback needs to work on a quicker release, according to the experts. The 2003 offensive line gave up a ton of sacks, ranking ninth in the conference. Most likely, the UW is faced with a rebuilding year this season – which sounds a bit strange since the Dawgs’ won my Fosbury Flop Award for 2003. Although they were one of the favorites to win the conference championship, off-field distractions, most likely, cost the Huskies a winning season and a bowl-game appearance. Those distractions, (e.g., the Pac-10 and NCAA investigations, the firing of Rick Neuheisel, the “Dr. Feelgood” investigation) proved costly, resulting, in part, to a blow-out loss to Cal and unexpected losses to Arizona and Nevada. Even though most of the off-field distractions should be quiesced by the start of next season, the Huskies are faced with the prospect of having their first losing season since 1976. Just the same, this fan plans to travel to Olympia to watch the practice sessions at Evergreen College in August, should they happen. Before asking Gilby some serious questions, I’ll set him up for a few one-liners and quips. In the meantime, I’ll be working on a collection of straight-man gags. In case Gilby is out of work in 2005, he can always take his show on the road. ---------------- Gilbertson (56 on May 15) has an overall coaching record of 54-43. He’s 17-27 as a Pac-10 coach, which includes his one year at the UW and four years at Cal (1992-1995) Richard Linde (a.k.a., Malamute) can be reached at malamute@4malamute.com |
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I like
Keith Gilbertson. Set him up for a one-liner and he’s your pal. Sure, he’s
grumpy at times, but you can tell that old “bottle body” would rather tell jokes
or offer a quip rather than be a grump among a group of
friends. He's from the old school: laughter is a coach's best friend.