Keith Gilbertson Keith Gilbertson , Jr . ( born May 15 , 1948 ) is a former American football coach and former player . Gilbertson has served as the head football coach at the University of Idaho ( 1986 – 1988 ) , the University of California , Berkeley ( 1992 – 1995 ) , and the University of Washington ( 2003 – 2004 ) , compiling a career college football record of 55 – 51 . Gilbertson retired in 2011 as a coach . Early life and playing career . The son of a high school football coach , Gilbertson grew up in Snohomish , Washington , northeast of Seattle . He graduated from Snohomish High School in 1966 and attended Central Washington University in Ellensburg , Columbia Basin College , the University of Hawaii , and returned to Central Washington , where he received a bachelor ' s degree in social sciences in 1971 . He later earned a degree in education from Western Washington University in 1974 . Coaching career . After three stints as a graduate assistant , Gilbertson became an offensive coordinator in 1977 at Utah State under head coach Bruce Snyder . After five seasons in Logan , he joined Dennis Erickson ' s new staff at Idaho , who immediately turned the Vandal program around in 1982 , going 8 – 3 in the regular season and advancing to the quarterfinals of the I - AA playoffs . The following spring , Gilbertson departed for the Los Angeles Express of the newly formed USFL , where he coached as offensive coordinator for three seasons . Following the demise of the league , Gilbertson returned to Idaho in 1985 , and the Vandals won their first Big Sky Conference title in 14 seasons . Erickson departed for Wyoming following the 1985 season , and Gilbertson was promoted to head coach of the Vandals program . In his three seasons as head coach ( 1986 – 88 ) , Gilbertson ' s win - loss record was 28 – 9 ( . 757 ) . Following consecutive conference championships and advancing to the Division I - AA national semifinals , Gilbertson left Moscow in 1989 for Seattle to become an assistant at Washington under Don James . His three - year stint concluded with the undefeated 1991 national championship team , for which served Gilbertson served as offensive coordinator . After Washington , Gilbertson became the head coach at California in 1992 . Despite leading Cal to a 9 – 4 record with a decisive victory in the 1993 Alamo Bowl , he was dismissed after his fourth season when the 1995 Bears went 3 – 8 . Gilbertson ' s overall record at Cal was 20 – 26 ( . 435 ) . After Cal , he was an assistant coach for the NFL ' s Seattle Seahawks for three seasons ( 1996 – 1998 ) under Erickson . He would serve as the TE coach for the 1997 and 1998 seasons . In 1999 , he returned to the Washington Huskies as an assistant head coach under new head coach Rick Neuheisel . 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 7 – 16 ( . 304 ) , the second worst coaching record in the history of the program , next to that of his successor , Tyrone Willingham . He then returned to the Seattle Seahawks as an assistant under Mike Holmgren . Gilbertson overall record as a collegiate head coach stands at 55 – 51 ( . 519 ) .