SEATTLE – One of Keith Gilbertson’s favorite expressions when talking about the dynamics and pratfalls of the coaching profession is, “This isn’t my first rodeo.”
Gilbertson isn’t naive. Nor is he deaf. He also reads well. He knows that coaches of 1-6 teams have the odds squarely against them.
Yet, coaching is what Gilbertson does. It’s what he loves. He jokes that next to dealing with the media, coaching his players is the best part of his day.
“Even though the record’s bad, I get to go do what I want to do,” he said. “I get to coach football. … I drive across (the 520 bridge) every morning and see Husky Stadium and go to work at the University of Washington. I’m going to enjoy it as long as I get a chance to enjoy it.”
As the scrutiny on Gilbertson intensifies and the debate about his future at the University of Washington deepens, Gilbertson greets it all with jokes.
A defense mechanism? Maybe. Gilbertson hates to lose as much as anyone. But consider this exchange with Oregon coach Mike Bellotti in a teleconference Monday during the media’s weekly gathering with both coaches:
Gilbertson (smiling): “You’re the dean of the (Pacific-10 Conference) coaches. I gotta hear ya, babe.”
Bellotti: “Well, that just means I’m the last guy to the chopping block right now.”
Gilbertson (laughing): “Yeah, I know somebody’s who probably ahead of ya a little bit. If there’s a line, I’m probably a little bit in front of ya, buddy.”
Laughs aplenty.
Regardless of what swirls around him, Gilbertson is a football coach. That’s the primary way he views himself. One of the negatives about being a head coach is the time his responsibilities take away from pure coaching. As an assistant, he didn’t have the distractions of the media, among others.
“I said at the beginning of the season that regardless of what happens, I was going to enjoy coaching this team because it’s a great bunch of kids,” Gilbertson said. “It’s a great bunch of people to be around every day. To their credit, they haven’t come in with the long face one time. They’ve had every reason to do that.”
Out of answers: While Gilbertson praised the effort of the UW defense Saturday in the 38-0 loss to USC, the problems with the offense elude him and the rest of the coaching staff.
The Huskies mustered just 113 yards against USC and just six first downs. Quarterbacks Isaiah Stanback and Casey Paus were just 7-of-28 passing and the ground game churned out just 50 yards.
Backs fumbled. Receivers had trouble getting open. Quarterbacks didn’t see them when they were open. And when they were open and quarterbacks saw them, they dropped the ball.
“We’re searching for answers,” Gilbertson said. “We’re looking in the mirror. Everybody’s just grinding, staff-wise. It’s insane how hard we’re going at this thing and just trying to find some spark.”
There was hope that Stanback could generate some spark because of his ability to create, ad-lib and run. USC simply stopped him.
After saying Stanback would start against Oregon Saturday, Gilbertson backtracked, saying that he wanted to see each quarterback at Monday night’s practice.
What that may mean is that he wants to see how healthy Carl Bonnell is. Bonnell, who has missed the last 1 1/2 games because of a groin injury, may be ready to play. And, as Gilbertson said, he didn’t lose the starting job; he was hurt.
“We have no ability to be balanced,” Gilbertson said. “We have no way to threaten you deep. When we had people open, we didn’t find them. You people know my background in offense. I’m very frustrated.”
Two-way player? Gilbertson said reserve cornerback Cody Ellis may see time at wide receiver to help shore up the dwindling numbers and even more dwindling performances.
Ellis, a redshirt freshman from Puyallup High School, is no stranger to carrying the ball. He had 47 catches for 920 yards and 17 touchdowns as a prep senior. He also had two rushing touchdowns and four special-teams touchdowns.
Ellis also had speed. He was the state 4A 200-meter champion as a junior and finished fifth in the 100.
“We were talking about it earlier, but we had depth problems at corner,” Gilbertson said. “He would still be part of our nickel-dime package, defensively, so he’s got to know a couple of positions.”
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