Jason Gesser teared up Monday morning at a news conference in Moscow as he talked about his new opportunity as head football coach of the Idaho Vandals, as well as about the man whom he replaced, Robb Akey, who was fired Sunday.

"It's been a whirlwind, it's been a whirlwind," Gesser said of the events of the last couple of days. "Obviously there's a lot of mixed (emotions) going on right now. I appreciate the opportunity and the faith he (Idaho athletic director Rob Spear) has in myself to try to get that accomplished."

Akey was a defensive assistant at Washington State when Gesser was an All-America quarterback there. Gesser kept in touch with Akey about a possible coaching job after that, until Akey hired Gesser in 2011 as running backs coach. This year, he promoted him to offensive coordinator.

"Akey's been everything to me," said Gesser, who then paused to compose himself. "He's the one that gave me the opportunity to be here, he's the one that gave me the opportunity to be a college coach, to become a coordinator. I owe my life to the guy."

Akey was let go midway during his sixth season at Idaho, with an overall record of 20-50. Spear said the decision to make the change was made shortly after Saturday night's 70-28 loss at Louisiana Tech, which dropped the Vandals to 1-7 this season.

Spear said he has been evaulating the football program all season. After last year's 2-10 season, he said he thought making some changes in assistant coaches would help this year, but said "it became apparent the direction of the program was not going in the right place."

"It's all about performance on the football field," he said. "Over the last 20 games, we've lost 17 of those games. Coach Akey has done a lot of nice things here, but at the end of the day, his record was 20-50."

Gesser said he got a text message around 4:30 a.m. Sunday, as he was going to bed after the Vandals' flight home from Louisiana. The message - staff meeting at 2 p.m.

At that meeting, Akey told the staff he'd been fired. After that, Spear spoke to the assistant coaches, then talked to each one individually.

When Spear asked Gesser, 33, if he was interested in being interim coach, "I was drawn back for a second," Gesser said. "You have to take advantage of the opportunity. I'm just excited for the opportunity to see what I can do."

Why Gesser, one of the youngest members of the staff?

"I felt it was important for us to have a coordinator-level person, someone that's already been in charge on one side of the football," Spear said. "Jason has demonstrated great leadership skills as a player, as a young coach, I think he has a great rapport with the players on this football team, I think he's willing to take advantage of the expertise on this staff ... they're more than willing to help Jason, and Jason is more than willing to ask them for advice. So when it came down to it, I thought Jason was the right choice."

Gesser will be head coach for the Vandals' four remaining games. Idaho has a bye this week, then hosts San Jose State on Nov. 3. Idaho's other games are at BYU and at Utah State, and at home vs. Texas-San Antonio.

Spear said a search for a permanent coach is under way, that he has no timeline for naming a coach aside from "sooner than later," and that he already has a list of candidates he's looking at.

Is Gesser a candidate, he was asked?

"Everybody's a candidate at this time," Spear said.

Gesser said it was "implied" that he was a candidate, and that he'd love to be the full-time coach.

"I'm going to recruit here, I'm going to coach here for the next five weeks ... I'm going to do it like I'm going to be here for 20 years," Gesser said. "If we're making it better for the next guy, we're making it better."

Spear said the next head coach doesn't necessarily have to be a current head coach - it could be an up-and-coming assistant.

"Obviously we want someone from a successful program," he said. "We want somebody that understands the Northwest, and is going to be able to recruit the Northwest. We want somebody that's going to be able to recruit a high-character kid, and to hold them accountable. And I want discipline in the program."

With the end of the Western Athletic Conference in football after this season, Idaho will play football as an independent in 2013, with hopes of landing in a conference soon. Despite the uncertainty in the program, Spear said there should be a lot of coaches interested in taking on the challenge.

"I think the opportunities at the University of Idaho far outweigh the challenges," Spear said. "The University of Idaho has a history of coaches making a name for themselves. I think there's a great opportunity to come in here and make a difference and turn the program around."

Asked why he decided to make the coaching change during the season, rather than after the season, "I want to give this staff an opportunity to see what they can do with this football program," Spear said. "I think we have talent in this football program, and I want to give them the ability to take this program in a different direction."

For the Vandals to show improvement over the rest of the season, "we have to play for each other," said Gesser, who only two years ago was head coach at Eastside Catholic High School in Sammamish, Wash. "A player that makes a team great is better than a great player. That's what we need now, players than can make this team great."

Gesser said it's "huge" to have the extra week for him to prepare for his first game as a head coach. He said he will continue to call the plays, but hasn't decided if he'll stay up in the press box or be down on the sideline.

Gesser said he spoke with Akey briefly after Akey met with the team on Sunday, and hopes to speak with his former boss more sometime this week.

The team is scheduled to return to practice on Wednesday - the original plan established before the coaching change - and work on forging ahead.

"We have a team right now, don't get me wrong, they're hurting," Gesser said. "(But)I truly hope that our leaders step forward. It's not going to be a pity fest."