Keith Steven Gilbertson Jr. (born May 15, 1948) is a retired

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and player. He was the head coach at the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The Universit ...

(1986–1988), the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

(1992–1995), and the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

(2003–2004), compiling a career

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

record of 55–51. Gilbertson retired in 2011 as a coach.

Early life and playing career

The son of a

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

coach, Gilbertson grew up in

Snohomish, Washington Snohomish is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The population was 9,098 at the 2010 census. It is located on the Snohomish River, southeast of Everett and northwest of Monroe. Snohomish lies at the intersection of U.S. Rou ...

, northeast of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. He graduated from

Snohomish High School Snohomish High School (SHS) is a secondary school located in the Snohomish School District, in Snohomish, Washington, United States. SHS, built for 1200 students, contains 1,689 9th–12th graders (as of 2016–17). The school serves primarily t ...

in 1966 and attended

Central Washington University Central Washington University (CWU) is a public university in Ellensburg, Washington. Founded in 1891, the university consists of four divisions: the President's Division, Business and Financial Affairs, Operations, and Academic and Student Lif ...

Ellensburg Ellensburg is a city in and the county seat of Kittitas County, Washington, United States. It is located just east of the Cascade Range near the junction of Interstate 90 and Interstate 82. The population was 18,666 at the 2020 census. and was ...

Columbia Basin College Columbia Basin College (CBC) is a public community college in Pasco, Washington. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. The college offers English as a second language and General Educational Development (GED) ...

, the

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

, and returned to Central Washington, where he received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in social sciences in 1971. He later earned a degree in education from

Western Washington University Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, succeeding a pri ...

in 1974.

Coaching career

After three stints as a graduate assistant, Gilbertson became an

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

in 1977 at

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

under head coach

Bruce Snyder Bruce Fletcher Snyder (March 14, 1940 – April 13, 2009) was an American football player and coach. After playing college football at the University of Oregon in the early 1960s as a fullback, Snyder embarked on a coaching career. He was the h ...

. After five seasons in Logan, he joined

Dennis Erickson Dennis Brian Erickson (born March 24, 1947) is an American football coach who most recently served as the head coach for the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football league. He was also the head coach at the University of Idaho ( ...

's new staff at

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

, who immediately turned the Vandal program around in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

, going 8–3 in the regular season and advancing to the quarterfinals of the I-AA playoffs. Shortly after, Gilbertson departed for the Los Angeles Express of the newly-formed

USFL The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

, where he coached as offensive coordinator for three spring seasons. Following the demise of the league, Gilbertson returned to Idaho in 1985, and the Vandals won their first

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...

title in fourteen years. Erickson departed for

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

in December, and Gilbertson was promoted to head coach of the Vandal program. In his three seasons in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

as head coach (

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

– 88), Gilbertson's win–loss record was , which remains the best in UI history. His record in conference play was the best-ever in the Big Sky. Following consecutive conference championships and advancing to the Division I-AA semifinals, Gilbertson interviewed at

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stu ...

in December 1988 but withdrew from consideration. Days later he accepted an offer to coach the offensive line in the

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

under head coach Don James and offensive coordinator

Gary Pinkel Gary Robin Pinkel (born April 27, 1952) is a former American college football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Toledo from 1991 to 2000 and the University of Missouri from 2001 to 2015, compiling career record ...

. The compensation was similar to his Idaho salary, about $55,000; Gilbertson replaced Dan Dorazio on the UW staff. (After three wins to start the

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

season, the Huskies finished 6–5 and 3–5 in conference, with losses to USC, UCLA, Oregon, Arizona, and WSU.) Gilbertson's three-year stint concluded with the undefeated 1991 national championship team, for which he was also offensive coordinator. Two weeks after winning the Rose Bowl, Gilbertson became the head coach at

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in January 1992. Despite leading Cal to a 9–4 record in 1993 with a decisive victory in the

Alamo Bowl The Alamo Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played annually since 1993 in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Since 2010 it matches the second choice team from the Pac-12 Conference and the secon ...

, he was dismissed after his fourth season when the 1995 Bears went 3–8. Gilbertson's overall record at Cal was After Cal, he was an assistant coach for the NFL's

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

for three seasons (1996–98) under Erickson; the last two years as tight ends coach. In 1999, he returned to the Washington Huskies as an assistant head coach under new head coach

Rick Neuheisel Richard Gerald Neuheisel Jr. (; born February 7, 1961) is an American football analyst, coach, former player, and attorney. He served as the head football coach at the University of Colorado Boulder from 1995 to 1999, at the University of Washi ...

. Gilbertson became the head coach at Washington in 2003 following the abrupt summer dismissal of Neuheisel. His first season was fairly respectable at 6–6; only a blowout loss to Cal in the next-to-last game of the season kept the Huskies out of a bowl game. The bottom fell out a year later, in which the Huskies finished 1–10, including only their second winless PCC/Big Five/Pac-8/Pac-10 record in peacetime. He was fired near the end of the season; his record at Washington was , at the time the worst in the history of the program; it has since been surpassed by that of his successor,

Tyrone Willingham Lionel Tyrone Willingham (born December 30, 1953) is a former American football player and coach. He was the head coach at Stanford University (1995–2001), the University of Notre Dame (2002–2004), and the University of Washington (2005–2 ...

.Raley, Dan
Gilbertson ousted as UW coach.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Monday, November 1, 2004 He then returned to the Seahawks as an assistant under

Mike Holmgren Michael George Holmgren (born June 15, 1948) is a former American football coach and executive. He began his NFL career as a quarterbacks' coach and later as an offensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers, where they won Super Bowls XXI ...

. Gilbertson's overall record as a collegiate head coach is .

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbertson, Keith 1948 births Living people California Golden Bears football coaches Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football players Idaho State Bengals football coaches Idaho Vandals football coaches People from Snohomish, Washington Seattle Seahawks coaches United States Football League coaches Utah State Aggies football coaches Washington Huskies football coaches Western Washington Vikings football coaches Players of American football from Washington (state)