Bob Gregory Takes a Bite of the Apple from Each Side
It's Apple Cup week and Bob Gregory finds himself in the unique position of being a former Washington State safety and linebacker who enters Friday's game as the Washington head coach, albeit as an interim guy.
Asked on Monday if he has any issues declaring his allegiance for this rivalry game, the answer was a definitive no.
"We're all mercenaries anyway as coaches," Gregory said. "Whoever pays us and puts food on our table for our kids, that's who we're rooting for."
Gregory enters this game having won six consecutive times as a Washington linebackers coach, all as part of Chris Petersen's coaching staff. Last year's game, of course, was canceled because of the pandemic.
He's been the interim coach for the past two games for the Huskies (4-7 overall, 3-5 Pac-12), taking over when Jimmy Lake was first suspended and then fired. Against the Cougars (6-5, 5-3), Gregory will wear a multitude of coaching hats, serving as the head man, defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach, all at once.
As a WSU player in 1984-86, Gregory went 1-2 against the Huskies while playing for coach Jim Walden's final three Cougar teams. The Spokane native lost 38-29 as a sophomore in Pullman, won 21-20 in Seattle as a junior and lost 44-23 as a senior in the Palouse.
Interestingly enough, he drew a lot of pregame attention entering the 1986 Apple Cup. A rash of injuries at the position forced him to move from strong safety to outside linebacker right before the season began.
He ended up as an often overmatched 175-pound player gamely trying to take on players up to 100 pounds heavier than him.
While he came up with an 11-tackle outing against California in the opener and recovered a Rodney Peete fumble in a 34-14 upset of USC at midseason, Gregory got picked on by opposing offenses all season without fail.
Just like now with the UW, Gregory took one for the team 35 years ago.
"I feel sorry for him," Walden said before the 1986 Apple Cup. "I'm not mad at him. He's thrown his body at more fullbacks than I've seen in my life."
Gregory will try and motivate his wounded UW team to make a game out of it with the Cougars, who have a winning record and are bowl eligible even after losing coach Nick Rolovich to a midseason firing over his vaccine resistance.
Gregory won't be able to totally shield himself from his Washington State past.
"I get a lot of texts this time of year," he said, "from a whole bunch of Cougars."
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