Sep. 5—Four years ago, Jesse Bobbit was a graduate assistant to then-Washington State defensive coordinator Jake Dickert during perhaps the most tumultuous year in Cougar football history.
Now, he is back on the Palouse as WSU's defensive coordinator.
If it were not for Bobbit, first-year Cougar coach Jimmy Rogers may not have taken the job.
"I didn't see Washington State. I (had) never been here before, and I asked (Bobbit) how it was, and he loved his experience here working under coach (Jake) Dickert and just the overall town and Pullman in general," Rogers said. "And he felt like we would fit. And I trusted him, and I'm glad I did, because I love it here. My kids love it here, my wife loves it here."
Rogers was Bobbit's linebackers coach when Bobbit played at South Dakota State from 2013-16. The two have worked together as coaches in several capacities in the past six years.
The Rogers era at WSU began Saturday when the Cougars beat Idaho 13-10 in the Battle of the Palouse.
It was a game that left a lot to be desired for the Cougar football team across the board, but the WSU defense did its job. The Cougs held Idaho to 10 points, even as the offense failed to get much going.
"We expect a lot on defense, myself and (Bobbit)," Rogers said. "So a team runs for 4 yards, it feels like the end of the world for both of us."
A calling for coaching
Bobbit was already a leader when he got to Brookings, S.D., as freshman in 2013.
"Didn't always play a ton as a true freshman, but that's why he played, because he was consistent," Rogers said. "He knew his job, he was passionate, (he would) fly around and make plays, and when he got the opportunity to coach, he kind of grew into his own."
Bobbit said he recalls telling his head coach, John Stiegelmeier, in his freshman year exit meeting that he wanted to be a team captain and a leader on the team.
The SDSU locker room had an old-school mentality of making it hard on the freshmen when Bobbit got there.
"My goal was to make that locker room 'one' as a player," Bobbit said. "And by the time I left, we did."
The 6-foot-2 bruiser from Palatine, Ill., grew up as the youngest of four boys, all born within five-and-a-half years of each other.
Bobbit's father, Kevin Bobbit, played football at Illinois Wesleyan and was a high school teacher and coach. He did not allow his sons to play football until seventh grade, which made baseball Jesse Bobbit's first love.
However, he was still "chomping at the bit," to play football, especially after watching his older brothers succeed.
Bobbit thrived on the gridiron, making varsity as a freshman and playing alongside his older brothers.
"As a defensive guy, the violence of the game and just the energy and emotion that can come — that's (why) I fell in love with football," Bobbit said.
Bobbit committed to SDSU, but to a different linebackers coach than Rogers. The coaching change did not change his decision to go to the school.
As a Jackrabbit, Bobbit made an instant impression, appearing in all 14 games on special teams or as a reserve backer. He ended his four-year college career with 306 total tackles, racking up at least 90 in each of his last three seasons.
He graduated with a degree in education and became an elementary physical education teacher and a high school assistant coach at Bellevue West, a suburb of Omaha, Neb.
Bobbit was well on track to achieving his dream of being a high school coach like his father. However, his coaches at SDSU, including Rogers, had other ideas for his life.
"They kind of convinced me that it was kind of a 'now or never thing,'" Bobbit said. "So if you ever wanted to scratch that itch and try out college (coaching), now's the time to do it."
Shelby, Bobbit's then-girlfriend and now wife, encouraged him to pursue coaching in college.
In 2019, Bobbit joined the SDSU staff as a graduate assistant and realized that he absolutely loved the process of not only coaching guys, but forging relationships with young men.
"You impact so many guys in so many different ways, not just on the field, but more so off the field," Bobbit said. "And I realized as a GA in 2019 that you could do that."
With Bobbit back in Brookings, S.D., Shelby stayed in Nebraska. Bobbit was busier than ever, but he had no regrets.
"With how busy I could be and at that time making like no money, I knew that I was still so passionate about it," Bobbit said. "There was this love I'm like, 'This is what I'm meant to do.'"
A tumultuous two years
When he was a player, Bobbit didn't know Dickert, the SDSU safeties coach, very well. However, the former SDSU assistant and future WSU head coach later advised Bobbit of a potential opportunity to work with him at Wyoming when he was the defensive coordinator there.
Several months after that conversation, Bobbit found himself in a suit and tie in a room full of Wyoming coaches at a coaches convention in Nashville.
"It was kind of wild," Bobbit said. "The whole staff was in there, I'm in a suit and tie and I'm in there for like an hour-and-a-half interview for a graduate assistant job. But that kind of is Dickert for you right there."
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Bobbit got the job, but several days before he planned to move to Laramie, Wyo., Dickert called again with news that he would be the DC at WSU.
What did that mean for Bobbit?
Dickert didn't know.
Soon after, Dickert called back with good news: Bobbit was going to Wazzu. One catch. He needed to leave the next morning.
On Bobbit's drive to Pullman, news broke publicly that Dickert got the WSU DC job.
"I start getting a million phone calls telling me, 'Dude, turn around. He's going to Wazzu.' And a lot of those phone calls ended up with me saying, 'Yeah, I know I'm going there too,'" Bobbit said. "Dickert's line when he called me — he said, 'Keep on driving.'"
Bobbit got to Pullman and got to work. Two months later, the world shut down and football was put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Cougs played an abridged schedule in 2020, going 1-3 under first-year coach Nick Rolovich.
The next year, the Cougs started 4-3, but WSU fired Rolovich and several other coaches for not complying with the state's vaccine mandate.
WSU elevated Dickert to interim head coach and Bobbit and his fellow GAs took on larger roles, with Bobbit becoming WSU's linebackers coach for the latter half of 2021.
"That was one of the best growing moments of my life. But I wouldn't say when I look back, that was one of the happiest moments of my life," Bobbit said. "There was a lot of emotions, of what went down. There was zero sleep. My fiance was here, and we didn't see each other. I was working a lot, and at the end of the day, I didn't really know what I wanted."
On the other side of the chaos, he got a call from an old friend.
Reunited with Rogers
Bobbit wasn't sure what to think when he first stared into Rogers' intense eyes as a freshman at SDSU.
"My first impression of this guy was like, 'Oh, man. Who is this?' Like, same thing you get now. And he was even more so back then — some of the intensity," Bobbit said. "As we went through that first summer, I realized that he's got, like a lot of people, he has sides to him. He has his intense side, his football side and then he has a side where he's a really down-to-earth guy that has a good personality and jokes around and has a good time."
After Bobbit's first stint at WSU, he rejoined Rogers at SDSU as a linebackers coach — and the pair saw immediate success winning a Football Championship Subdivision national title in 2022 as assistants and again in 2023 when Rogers was head coach and Bobbit was promoted to DC.
Bobbit made Rogers look like a genius when the Jackrabbits continued to excel.
"In just his short time of being a coordinator he has done an unbelievable job, as far as just getting people connected and doing it differently than me," Rogers said. "And probably doing it better than me."
Now, the two are doing it again at WSU.
Bobbit credits Rogers with allowing him to be himself, joking around and creating positive relationships with his players and staff, while also knowing when to be serious and coach football effectively.
"He's been someone from that first interaction till now that's had my back and been in my corner every step of the way," Bobbit said. "And I owe a lot to him for where I'm at right now."
WSU safeties coach Pete Menage was not close with Bobbit when the two played together at SDSU when Menage was a freshman and Bobbit was a senior.
However, when Menage's playing career ended early because of an injury, he became a student coach, working directly with Bobbit, who returned as a GA.
When Bobbit left for WSU in 2020, Menage was bummed to lose a coworker who had become a friend.
"He taught me a lot about coaching, about having fun while you're doing your job," Menage said. "I really enjoyed working with that guy.
"He always said we would link up again, and we'd end up coaching together, and it happened."
On Saturday, many of the aspects that Rogers, Bobbit and the Cougars' first-year coaching staff pride themselves on defensively materialized in the win over Idaho.
The Cougs were swarming close to 11 hats to the ball time and time again, guys were flying around making plays and WSU held Idaho QB Joshua Wood to 33 passing yards.
That's not to say things didn't go wrong. There were missed tackles, Wood ran for over 100 yards and the Idaho ground game found success.
Rogers said even through some of the short fields and tough situations the defense inherited, they never complained — a testament to the standard that the Cougar coaches created.
"Coach Bobbit just continues to grow," Rogers said. "He's emotional in that press box, and that might have been the least emotional I've heard him. ... More calm and keeping his cool."
Rogers, Bobbit and the entire staff have a specific standard for each other and it's one that will only help WSU navigate what is an odd 2025 schedule that sees the Cougs face schools from 10 different conferences. Done right, this year could position Wazzu for great success in the new Pac-12 next year.
"If you fall short, how are you going to be better? And so it's not about an adjustment year," Bobbit said. "We're not looking forward to just trying to make a bowl game. We're looking forward to being one of the best."
Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com, or on X or Instagram @Sam_C_Taylor.
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