No one grows up dreaming of becoming a special teams coach.

Eric Russell, the former St. Maries High star, is in his second year coaching special teams at Washington State. He is highly regarded among the special teams coaches in the country, good enough to get hired not once, but twice, by Mike Leach, the current WSU coach.

But there was a time Russell wanted to become a major league baseball player ... or go into education ... or business ... or public relations.

"Actually, I interviewed for a job," Russell said the other day, in a telephone interview from Pullman. "They were opening up the outlet mall in Post Falls, and Converse was opening a store. I thought I'd make a good store manager, and whoever did the interviewing, I guess, thought different."

Converse's loss turned out to be college football's gain. While finishing up his schooling at Idaho, Russell got hired as a graduate assistant for the Vandal football team for a year. He spent a year at New Mexico as a grad assistant, then got hired at North Texas, where he spent 13 years as defensive line coach - and the last five as special teams coach.

That was followed by two years at Louisiana Tech, one year at Texas Tech under Leach, and two years at Tennessee before coming to Pullman to work for Leach again in 2012.

"It's been awesome," Russell, 45, said of being in the coaching business for the past two decades. "To go to different parts of the country, the friends you've made, hopefully the lives you've impacted and still get to compete in something ... obviously the unsettling part of it is the lack of loyalty or the lack of stability. Now, you've got to be a nomad - where is home? And how long do you get to keep doing what you're doing is the one drawback. It's probably tougher on kids than us coaches.

"My son is 6 years old and he's moved six times."

AS A senior at St. Maries, Russell quarterbacked the Lumberjacks to an undefeated regular season in 1985 and the school’s first berth in the state football playoffs. In the first round St. Maries lost at the Kibbie Dome to Moscow, a team the ’Jacks had beaten weeks earlier.

Russell went to Spokane Falls, where he was the starting quarterback and also played baseball his freshman year. A shoulder injury limited him to just baseball as a sophomore, then he played two more years of baseball at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash., before finishing up his degree at Idaho.

While at Idaho, he helped out coaching the St. Maries football team, driving back and forth from Moscow after classes each day. The Vandals had recruited him out of high school, and those coaches were still in Moscow.

“I kept bugging John L. Smith to give me a shot as a GA or something, and after about the 10th time, he finally hired me,” Russell said.

Idaho fans may remember North Texas from the Vandals’ first stint in the Sun Belt Conference. With Russell as D-line coach, North Texas went to four straight bowl games, and head coach Darrell Dickey asked Russell if he wanted to add some coaching responsibilities — recruiting coordinator, or special teams coordinator.

Russell chose special teams, thinking that might make a bigger difference on the field.

“Down the road, I thought it was something that could bring stability to a career,” he said. “And thank goodness I did, because after four straight bowl games, everybody forgot what North Texas was before we got there and what we’d done, and we had a couple bad years and we were fired.”

He got hired by Derek Dooley at Louisiana Tech as tight ends/special teams coach. In 2008, his second season, the Bulldogs were ranked as the No. 1 special teams unit in the country. Apparently Leach noticed, and Russell’s phone rang.

He spent one year in Lubbock, then was looking for work again after Leach was fired. Dooley, who had moved up to Tennessee, hired Russell again.

After two seasons, when Leach had taken over at WSU in late 2011, Leach came calling again.

The year before, Russell said he had turned down a chance to go to LSU, and thought he was going to stay in Knoxville for a long time. But “things were a little shaky in Knoxville, and you’re forced to make tough decisions sometimes,” he said.

Good thing. Tennessee went 4-7 last fall, and Dooley was fired after three seasons.

IN RETURNING to the Northwest, Russell tried to make the decision based on coaching, and not on “returning home.”

“I tried to make it a professional decision, the right thing for me and my family,” he said. “Our year in Texas Tech (with Leach) was a fun one ... I just loved a lot of his style, and his demeanor, and he was a good guy to work for ... was it (taking the WSU job) the right thing career-wise, was it going to help me advance ... can we get it done here at Washington State? Is the support here?

“Moving closer to home, which I hadn’t been in 20-some years, just made it the frosting on the cake,” Russell said.

At WSU, the Cougars improved in three of four special teams categories over 2011. Kicker Andrew Furney earned second-team All-Pac 12 Conference honors, and freshman Teondray Caldwell was third in the conference in kickoff returns, averaging 25.0 yards per return.

“We had great improvements in special teams play here last year, statistically,” Russell said. “But there were still too many disasters for me to live with, that we’ve got to eliminate, but I think we’re on the right path.”

Though he admits to being animated in his own way, one thing you probably won’t see Russell doing is chest bumping anyone after a big hit or a big return — something another St. Maries grad, Jeff Choate, was seen doing often during his time as special teams coach at Boise State. Choate, who coached linebackers at WSU last year, is defensive coordinator at UTEP this year.

“We’ll leave that (chest bumping) to some of the younger coaches,” Russell said.

“I’ve put on a little bit of weight since my day. Choate’s in a little better shape, and I don’t want to expose my vertical,” he said with a laugh.

Russell said the only special teams unit last year that had an “identity” and “a little bit of a swagger” was the kickoff coverage unit.

“We were leading the Pac-12 through eight weeks until Utah ran the one back on us, but we bounced back after that,” he said. “That (identity and swagger) needs to pour over to our other units — that desire to make plays that we’re still working on.”

As for his special teams philosophy, “we’re going to be sound in everything we do. I think if you are sound, you can have the big hits and the big plays. They know when to pull the pin and take that shot. Same with blocking kicks.”

As for how special teams can set the tone for the rest of the team, “if your kickoff coverage unit is soft, you’re probably going to be a soft football team,” Russell said. “It sets the tempo for everything.”

Same for the field goal and PAT block units — are they merely just conceding the kick, or are they trying to put heat on the blockers, and the kicker?

At WSU, if you’re a starter, you’re probably going to be on one or two special teams. If you’re a backup, you could be on three or all four. And stars are not exempt — though Russell is aware he needs to keep the top players around for the whole season.

“With coach Leach, it’s an open checkbook,” Russell said. “I get to use whoever I want to use ... in coverage, we’re going to use our best players.”

Russell said Cougar coaches are determined to “stay the course,” even after last year’s 3-9 record in their first year in Pullman.

For Russell, that course changed a bit over the years — to wanting to play baseball, to entering the labor force, to getting into coaching ... and then carving out a well-respected career as a special teams coach, and close to home, to boot.

“I wouldn’t have thunk it,” Russell said. “That wasn’t the plan. I wanted to play major league baseball, but it just didn’t happen. I just kinda fell into the coaching thing. ... and to end up at a place like Texas Tech or Tennessee ... sometimes you wake up and pinch yourself. But at the end of the day, you have a job, and if you invest everything you have into it, and you’re in it for the right reasons, and I think you’ll have success.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.