Moscow Football Coach Leaves For Payette Job Bjorkman Faces Rebuilding Task, Similar To When He Came To Moscow 17 Years And Two State Titles Ago

Another veteran Intermountain League football coach has resigned. In this case, though, the coach isn’t leaving the profession.

Moscow High coach Eric Bjorkman accepted a similar job at Payette High in southern Idaho. The Payette school board approved Bjorkman’s hiring Thursday morning.

Two months ago, St. Maries coach Curt Carr resigned to devote his full attention to duties as the school’s athletic director.

Bjorkman, who coached Moscow to two State A-2 championships (1982 and ‘92) in 17 years, takes over a floundering program. Payette has had back-to-back winless season. Bjorkman takes over for Todd Limoges, a former assistant at Coeur d’Alene who couldn’t turn the program around in two years as head coach.

The stoic and always frank Bjorkman, 53, cited several reasons for moving. His adult children, a daughter and son, are attorneys in Boise so the move gives him and his wife the chance to spend more time with their children.

“That was the biggest reason,” said Bjorkman, whose career record in 23 years is 174-85-1. “This was a great opportunity to get closer to them.”

Payette, located about 50 miles northwest of Boise, offers Bjorkman a challenge. To an extent, he’d become trapped by the success he’d built at Moscow, creating difficult expectations. Moscow had won just two games the year before Bjorkman arrived. The school had posted five straight below .500 seasons, too.

“Moscow had become a hard place to coach,” Bjorkman said.

He had yet to decide whether he was going to return when he interviewed for the Payette job. One of the factors that was weighing on Bjorkman’s mind was Moscow’s move to the A-1 division next year.

“It’s a new challenge at Payette,” said Bjorkman, known as an innovative coach with a love for the passing game. “I’m looking forward to it. Nobody expects you to win. It’s a chance to build something. We’ll get it to where we’re competitive with people.”

Bjorkman said he’ll miss the coaching relationships he’d built with Nick Menegas at Lewiston and Terry Kiefer at Lakeland.

“That’s one of the things that made my decision difficult,” Bjorkman said. “Terry’s been a good friend even though we’ve been very competitive at times.”

If Bjorkman had to pick his successor it would be an easy decision, he said. He’d select Doug Fisher, a 17-year assistant under Bjorkman.

“There should be something said about loyalty in this business,” Bjorkman said. “Doug coached the offensive and defensive lines and had taken over running the defense the past couple of years. He’s the only coach I’ve given that much responsibility to. He should get the job.”

Kiefer will miss Bjorkman.

“In a way he was kind of leaving anyway with Moscow going into a different league,” Kiefer said. “We had some real rivalries. Sometimes he’d make me mad with some of the things he’d say. Our relationship was one of those where you may not have been the best of friends before the game, but after the game you could shake hands. I’ll miss Eric. I’m sure we’ll meet up with him down the road. We’ll probably see him in the playoffs some time.”

, DataTimes