It's been nearly two years, but Idaho athletic director Terry Gawlik says she'll never forget when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Vandals.

"We were down in Boise," Gawlik recalled recently, during a stop in Coeur d'Alene for an Idaho football booster function at The Coeur d'Alene Resort.

"Women’s basketball is going to play the next day in the (Big Sky Conference) championship game, and we get told, we’re shut down, in Boise," she said. "But we didn’t realize that the NCAA (Tournament) was also going to get shut down. We’re going to play in a championship game to send us to the NCAAs, and we get told we’re not playing. We had to tell the team; that was really hard. I was in the room with coach (Jon) Newlee when he told them. Then, either the next day or a couple hours later, the NCAA said, we’re shutting down."

The Vandal women were set to play Montana State for the conference's lone berth to the NCAAs. When the Big Sky tourney was canceled, Montana State would have advanced to the NCAAs, as the higher seed in the league. Idaho needed to play the title game, and beat the Bobcats, to go.

Then the NCAAs were canceled as well.

"So in a way it was bittersweet that nobody got to go," Gawlik said. "And then all the other sports shut down.

"And then you try to do a football season in the spring."

Two years later, Idaho, the Big Sky and the world are still dealing with COVID issues.

"Basketball teams have been shut down, opponents have been shut down … games have been moved," Gawlik said. "Every day I wait for the text from the Big Sky Conference — 'Hey, can you meet?'"

When that happens ...

"ADs, head trainers and conference office meet on a joint call," she said. "We tell each other what’s going on with COVID protocols and the Big Sky has already forward-looked to when the makeup game could be for basketball. That way everybody’s on the same page, and we release it at the same time."

The hardest part of the pandemic? ...

"I’m a people person, and I like being around people and see people," Gawlik said. "So when you come to work and you have to wear a mask and you can’t have fans, and you can’t be engaged as you used to be, that was really hard. On the flip side, as a department, because we Zoom-called so much, particularly with our head coaches and staff, we actually grew closer. And when you go through a pandemic together, it really joins you, and makes you stronger."

GAWLIK TOUCHED on a few other topics:

ON THE 71-21 BEATDOWN AT EASTERN WASHINGTON, AND HOW THAT FACTORED INTO THE DECISION TO PART WAYS WITH FOOTBALL COACH PAUL PETRINO

"Obviously when you have a game like that, and you get beat by a good team, it’s difficult," she said. "I knew we could have played better. We were down in numbers, because of COVID and because of injuries. I’m proud of our athletes and coaches, they hung together and fought to the very end. Nobody gave up, and we won that last game. So ...

"There’s no specific point and time when you make that decision (to change coaches). You just try to do it to the best of your ability … because there’s a lot of factors that go into play when you make a coaching change. Especially with a football staff; because that’s a lot of people, there’s a lot of people you’re affecting. So I don’t take changes like that lightly.

"You’re always watching to see if they’re making progress, and give coach Petrino credit, we still have great men in our program. Very personable, very respectful people. They don’t get into trouble much. We did a lot of base building, we just needed that extra edge, and get the wins. We got close on a couple. We got close with Davis, we got close with a couple. We just couldn’t turn the corner."

ON WHAT GAWLIK SEES IN OTHER BIG SKY PROGRAMS THAT COULD APPLY TO IDAHO

"A lot of things you look at as an administrator is, what are their strengths, what are their weaknesses," she said. "But more importantly, how do they expose our weaknesses? How did they take advantage of what we’re not doing?

"I think every program is different. ... we’re not Montana, we’re not Montana State, we’re not Sac State … we’re Idaho. I need to have a fit as to what is going to move Idaho forward.

"(We) need to look at recruiting Idaho kids. We need to look at out-recruiting Eastern Washington. Why are they getting the Washington kids and we’re not? What are some things that Idaho stands for? Are we known for our O-line, or D-line? … what makes Idaho tick?"

ON NAME, IMAGE AND LIKELESS, AND ITS IMPACT ON VANDAL ATHLETES

"We don’t have too many kids that are dabbling in it," Gawlik said. "I can’t say that it’s going to flame out, I just don’t know how many companies are going to continue to invest in it. It’s time consuming for the athletes, and as a department, we can’t really have anything to do with it. We have a policy in place, we have a system that we work with through the Big Sky … athletes sign up online … but we can't really give them advice and direction."

ON PLAYING THE SPRING FOOTBALL GAME IN THE BOISE AREA, AT EAGLE HIGH, RATHER THAN IN NORTH IDAHO

"It was my decision and my idea," Gawlik said. "We are actually doing a renovation inside the Kibbie Dome with our track surface, so the Kibbie Dome is going to be unavailable. So I told staff, and this was even before (new football coach) Jason (Eck) got here, we can’t play in the Kibbie Dome.

"We don’t know what the weather will be like on the new outdoor turf that we have, and we don’t have bleachers … so we started thinking, let’s take it on the road. So we pitched the idea to Jason and we all landed on, let’s go down to Boise.

"We were looking at different places that had (artificial) turf. Eagle was the one that was available. We had staff visit (recently), and they were more than thrilled about hosting us. It’s going to be a great event, going to have a kids clinic, and do all kinds of things.

"We talked about (Sandpoint, which also has artificial turf), but the weather … late April. And then the draw of people. And people in Boise want us to get down there, so we’re trying to find ways to get down there."

ON BUD FORD, THE LONG-TIME VANDAL BOOSTER AND COEUR d'ALENE RESIDENT WHO PASSED AWAY RECENTLY

"I love Bud Ford," Gawlik said. "I am so sad that Bud is not here. I was telling my husband driving up (to Coeur d'Alene), I'm going to miss seeing him.

"I appreciated his phone calls. Out of the blue he would call me, and start talking to me about different things. ... stories, stories about his wife ... what a great man, and great Vandal. He really was."

ON THE TRANSFER PORTAL

"You either love it or you hate it. You love it if you can get kids in, you hate it if you lose good kids that are going out," Gawlik said.

"I think there’s a lot of young people that think, if they throw their name in the portal, they’re going to get a better opportunity. Well, what does that mean? Better might be, you’re closer to home. Better might be, you play more. Better might be, they think they can get to a higher level, and a lot of times that’s not what happens. There’s not that many people from our programs, and a lot of programs I’ve seen, that go in the portal that are in a more competitive program, and playing more. They’re usually dropping down a step, so to speak.

"I think it will even out eventually. I do think that graduate students should be able to transfer freely – you’ve already put in your time and you want to go get a different degree, that’s fine. But I’m a big believer that you sign on with the school, you sign on with your team. I think you would make it difficult for coaches in the locker room to keep the locker room aligned, because of kids that leave and come in. In some respects, I’m old school on that."

BUT, COACHES CAN LEAVE

"People say that, but there’s always a detriment there," Gawlik said. "Somebody’s always having to pay a buyout. It’s not as easy as people think. I am not a believer in athletes should be paid. Coaches get paid; athletes do not."

OK WITH NIL?

"Yeah, that’s fine. But I’m not fine with athletes being paid; not at the collegiate level," Gawlik said. "You’re artistic, you’re a model or a singer, sure, go out and do whatever you need to do. But hopefully you still have time to practice your sport and go to school."

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.