In early 1996, Jason Eck was a freshman walk-on offensive lineman at Wisconsin, looking to make a few bucks to help pay for schooling.

"And it led me to refereeing intramural basketball games," Eck recalled.

His supervisor was Terry Gawlik.

"And if the game was going to be high-tension, if it was two rival fraternities that were going to play each other, and it was going to get a little chippy, that was the game she was going to put me on, because she knew they weren’t going to intimidate me if I was reffing the game."

It seemed to work.

"I ran the rec sports program, and did the intramurals," Gawlik recalled of that time at Wisconsin. "And I trained the officials, and hired the officials. He was one of my officials and he reminded me (recently), Terry, you used to put me on the games where there was potential for fights between fraternities … and said, 'Hey, take care of this.'"

More than a quarter century later, as athletic director at Idaho, Gawlik has hired Eck again, this time to "take care" of the Vandal football program.

WHILE IDAHO was looking for a new football coach to replace Paul Petrino, who had coached the Vandals the past nine seasons, Eck was in his sixth season as an assistant coach at South Dakota State, the last three as offensive coordinator.

And he was kinda busy at the time, trying to help the Jackrabbits reach the FCS championship game for the second time in the same calendar year.

But that's the timing of job searches these days.

After the interview took place in December, Eck was offered the job on a Wednesday prior to South Dakota State's semifinal game at Montana State. He officially signed the contract on Friday. And, shortly after the Jackrabbits lost in the semis on Saturday in Bozeman, Eck was named Idaho coach.

"It’s a little tricky, because the coaches that are at good programs that are going far are in demand," Eck said of the timing of the search. "It just makes it a little more tricky to do interviews and things like that.

I wanted to try and do a good job of focusing on my current job and staying in the moment for that. And then when I finished my work for the day, talking to the people from (Idaho). Terry and the administration were great about that. I was able to pick the time to interview on the day that fit and the time that fit so I could get my work done with my current job. I appreciated them not announcing it until our semifinal game was over.

I tried not to be a distraction for the current players."

"I will be honest, that was very interesting," Gawlik said of trying to hire a coach that was still working at another school. "I’ve been in athletics for over 27 years, and it’s the first time I’ve ever used a search firm. Felt that we needed to use a search firm because there’s a way that search firms can handle talking to candidates without us, as athletic directors or a search committee, getting in the weeds, so to speak, and just gauge the interest. Because I usually don’t like to talk to coaches that are still playing. Because they’re trying to win where they’re at. I felt it was the right time to hire a search firm … and it really worked out great."

ECK, 44, also touched on a few other topics earlier this week, while in Coeur d'Alene for a booster function at The Coeur d'Alene Resort.

ON TAKING THE IDAHO JOB

"This was the first year I’d actually interviewed for head jobs," Eck said. "There’ve been a lot of head jobs I’d been interested in over the years but I thought this one was unique. I thought it was a special place, and a place my family liked living. And with their position in the Big Sky Conference, with the stability – we know what conference Idaho’s going to be in for the next 10 years, which was the problem during the whole FBS years; you never knew what conference they were going to be in for the next couple years. The Big Sky is a great fit and the Big Sky has positioned itself as one of the top two FCS conferences, with five teams in the playoffs last year."

ON MOSCOW AND IDAHO NOW, COMPARED TO WHEN ECK WAS OFFENSIVE LINE COACH AT IDAHO FROM 2004-06, THE FIRST TWO SEASONS UNDER NICK HOLT, THE FINAL SEASON UNDER DENNIS ERICKSON

"I think you forget how beautiful it is, seeing Moscow Mountain … I almost forgot how hilly the terrain was," Eck said. "Been in South Dakota the last six years, which is really flat.

"My wife (Kimberly) was fired up that they got a Target. They didn’t have a Target last time.

"The Dome renovations are awesome ... the field turf … when I was here before it was the old AstroTurf ... nice place to raise a family.

"First spring I was here (the practice field) was grass, and it was muddy. I think it was that summer when they installed the first turf on the practice field."

ON BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE AREA'S HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COACHES

"Ryan Knowles (Sandpoint coach) is a good friend … he was a grad assistant in 2005 (at Idaho) when I was the O-line coach, we worked together a year here," Eck said. "He went to Colgate, we stayed in touch, my wife and his wife stayed in touch, I would see him at the coaches convention.

"He gave me a call (when I got the Idaho job) and was feeding me, 'Look at this kid … ' He was giving me some leads.

"In FCS in general, I believe in recruiting regionally, if you can draw a six-hour circle around your school and recruit most of your kids from there, that’s awesome. He certainly helped with that.

Coach (Shawn) Amos (Coeur d'Alene), he was here when I was here before. And I’ve known Blaine Bennett (Post Falls) since back when he was in college."

ON THE CURRENT VANDAL ROSTER

"Before I was hired we lost 3 to the (transfer) portal," Eck said.

Since then...

"I haven’t scared anybody off. No one’s left since I met them," he said with a laugh.

Last year, because of injuries and inexperience, Idaho sometimes got caught short at quarterback, having to play a converted running back at the position.

This year, Eck said the Vandals have "seven or eight" quarterbacks, including three who played last year that were eligible to return — C.J. Jordan, Zach Borisch (the converted running back) and Giovani McCoy.

On Borisch, "I think he’s a guy we can use some at quarterback, some at receiver, some at running back," Eck said.

ON THE TRANSFER PORTAL, WHERE FOOTBALL PLAYERS GET ONE "FREE" TRANSFER, WITHOUT HAVING TO SIT OUT A YEAR

"I think it’s a great rule for players," Eck said. "When I move here from South Dakota State, I don’t have to sit out a year. So I don’t think they should have to either.

"But it really puts a premium, as a coaching staff, we have to keep developing our players, getting them better, make them feel like they’re getting great coaching here, helping them reach their potential. And that they’re also having fun, having a great experience."

ON HIS PLAN TO "AWAKEN THE SLEEPING GIANT" AT IDAHO

"This is the blueprint," Eck said. "One, we have to do a great job recruiting Northwest kids. Recruiting kids who are within driving distance to Moscow, kids whose families are going to come to most of their games, and get to come to Eastern Washington and Montana and Montana State (games) ... it's special for a family to (watch their kid) play in a regional conference. When I was an assistant here the first year we were in the Sun Belt.

"Having a younger-tilted staff that has a lot of energy to recruit and develop kids. I think player development is crucial at the FCS level."

Eck noted when he was on Nick Holt's staff at Idaho as offensive line coach, many of the other assistant coaches moved on to bigger jobs — including quarterbacks coach Jonathan Smith (head coach at Oregon State) and running backs coach Joel Thomas (a former Vandal, and now running backs coach with the New Orleans Saints).

"He (Holt) was able to get a lot of guys who were on the rise in their career, future NFL coaches, future Power 5 coaches," Eck said. "Just like guys you identify that you can develop into great players, you've got to have some guys you can develop into great coaches.

"That’s the simple blueprint."

ON COMING FROM A SUCCESSFUL FCS PROGRAM

"When you look at FCS football and where the power is, the final four, James Madison (moving up to FBS), South Dakota State, North Dakota State, Montana State. Those states are contiguous to Idaho. A lot of similarities with the population in those states. Not programs that have Power 5 teams in your state," Eck said.

"The weather in north part of the country lends itself to guys not being as far along in their development. A kid in Texas and California hits his peak at 18. A kid up here might peak at 21 or 22."

Rural high schools have more three-sport athletes, Eck said, so those players have more room to grow in college when they focus on one sport.

"I think player development is crucial in FCS football," he said.

And, he notes, it's been done before at Idaho.

"The last 18 years Idaho was FCS the first time (through the 1995 season) they went to the playoffs 11 times," Eck said. "So they had a lot of success. So it’s not like we’re trying to do something that’s never, ever been done before. It’s shown it can be done here; we’ve just got to get back to it."

ON HEARING FROM FORMER VANDAL COACHES

Since getting the Idaho job, Eck said he's chatted with former Vandal coaches Erickson, Chris Tormey and Keith Gilbertson.

"It shows you that Idaho is a special place," Eck said. "Even though they moved on, it shows that Idaho has a special place in those guys’ hearts that they’re still interested. They want to see this program do well.

Those guys know the potential of this place, because they won big when they were here. They all had some good wisdom."

ON HIS OFFENSIVE PHILOSOPHY

As OC at South Dakota State, Eck called the plays. With his increased responsibilities as head coach, he said Idaho offensive coordinator Luke Schleusner, who coached with him at South Dakota State, will call the plays, and knows "how I wanted the offense to look."

"I think running the ball is important to winning," Eck said. "I think running the ball can discourage the other team, and it makes your defense better. When they have to stop the run in spring ball and fall camp, it helps your defense be more physical and tougher at the line of scrimmage.

"But I also think creativity on offense is one of my fortes, and trying to keep people off-balance."

ON HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH WASHINGTON STATE COACH JAKE DICKERT

At previous stops, Eck coached against Dickert one season, and with him for two.

In 2013, Eck was offensive line coach at Division II Minnesota State-Mankato, and Dickert was defensive coordinator at conference foe Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Mankato went 11-1 that season, but Eck noted that Augustana defended Mankato perhaps as well as anybody that season.

"I’ve probably only done this a handful of times in my career, but I sought him out after the game and told him 'You guys did a good job defensively,'" Eck said. "You could tell they were well-coached."

The next year, Eck was promoted to offensive coordinator, and when Mankato needed a defensive coordinator, Eck suggested Dickert.

"So we hired him away from (Augustana), which I thought was a good move because it not only made us better, but it made a conference rival worse," Eck said.

Mankato went 14-1 and made it to the national championship game.

Eck went to Montana State for one season, then landed at South Dakota State in 2016, where the Jackrabbits hired Dickert from Mankato to coach safeties.

"And we a heckuva year that year," Eck said. "We won the Missouri Valley Conference, beat North Dakota State for the first time in a while, and went 7-1 in league, went to the playoffs."

Dickert then left for Wyoming where he coached the safeties for two seasons and was defensive coordinator for a third. And in 2020, he became defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Washington State, and became interim head coach midway through the 2021 season.

As it turns out, Idaho is scheduled to play at Washington State in this year's season opener, on Sept. 3.

"We’ve had a little personal trash talk about it," Eck said of the upcoming matchup. "Obviously he got a little bit of a head start, getting a few games (this past season) as interim coach. I was rooting for him down the stretch; I was following him. Nice thing about those West Coast games when you’re in the Midwest is, our games would get over and I could watch the late-night games, and root for him. And I was very happy for him to get that opportunity, and he’ll do a great job there. I’ll be rooting for him every game — except the opener."

ON THE POSSIBILITY OF PLAYING BOISE STATE AGAIN. THE TWO SCHOOLS HAVEN'T MET SINCE 2011

"I would (like to play them)," Eck said. "Our administration is working on it. Over the next three years we play three other Mountain West teams — Wyoming, San Jose, Nevada. If we’re going to play Mountain West teams, I would just as soon play one in our home state, and give an opportunity for our players who are from down there to play in front of their home fans. Obviously it was a great rivalry when they were both in the Big Sky together back in the day."

From 1982-98, most of those years in the Big Sky, Idaho beat Boise State 12 straight times, and 15 out of 17. But Boise State has won the last 12 meetings, from 1999-2010.

"I think it would be neat to hopefully play them down the road," Eck said. "It’s not finalized yet, but it’s been talked about, and I think there’s interest on both sides. I think it can be a win-win — I think it can help them sell it out if we’re playing down there. I think they’ve started playing some FCS programs where in the past they haven’t. Same thing for them — if they’re going to play an FCS program, I think it makes a lot of sense to play us."

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.