The first time Bill Doba took a head coaching position in football was 1965.
He was in his mid 20s and a busy man also serving as the assistant basketball coach and a math teacher at Angola High in Angola, Ind.
Fast forward to the present to find a more mature head coach, slightly aged into his early 60s, who has been inducted into two Hall of Fames, raised three children and has a coaching tenure spanning more than four decades.
Doba took control as Washington State head coach on Dec. 18, 2002, replacing former head coach Mike Price after the latter’s departure to Alabama.
Doba now must go back to the days of being 25 years old and remember what it is like to be a head coach for the first time. For the past 25 years, the South Bend, Ind., native has been an assistant coach.
“It’s a different atmosphere,” Doba said.
But he hasn’t forgotten the most important thing to a team defending its Pacific-10 Conference championship: winning. Under Doba”s leadership, the Cougars have jumped out to a 3-1 start, only losing to Notre Dame in an overtime game decided by a field goal.
And thus far, the players remain confident, especially quarterback Matt Kegel, in what Doba can do for a program that advanced to the Rose Bowl in 2003 for the first time since 1998.
“He’s a real player”s coach,” Kegel told The Daily Evergreen earlier this season. “We’re really excited about playing for him, busting ass for him. The future holds good things for the team with him in control.”
Through the speculation and turmoil that surrounded Price in his short stint at Alabama, he is now very aware that this is Doba”s team although he did attend the Washington State game against New Mexico and spent time in the locker room.
“Before I did anything, I wanted to make sure this was Bill’s team,” Price told The Spokesman-Review on Tuesday. “I don’t want to be a distraction. I wanted to make sure the players were 100 percent behind Bill.”
The players remain behind their new coach as nothing appears to have changed from Washington State’s winning ways of last season. And now in the head coaching position, Doba is more aware of the increased impact he has on his players’ lives, as opposed to when he was an assistant.
“You’re the dean of boys, you”ve got to be careful,” Doba said.
Doba has experienced challenges through the start of the season, including maintaining confidence in his decisions. But Washington State”s 30th head football coach has been able to enjoy some peace and quiet. As Doba said, “it’s a lot quieter on the offensive side.”
Now, 25 years after being in the assistant spot, Doba is clearly remembering what it takes to lead a team and has his players and the former coach behind him.
After nearly four decades since becoming a head coach for the first time, Doba isn”t teaching math anymore. He”s teaching what it takes to return to the Rose Bowl, and that”s winning.