Mike Levenseller returned to Pullman in 1992 to build a receiver corps around then Washington State quarterback Drew Bledsoe. Nearly 20 years passed and Levenseller, a 1978 graduate of WSU, didn’t picture himself retiring in anything other than the Cougar crimson.
Ilya Pinchuk | Argonaut New Idaho receiver coach and passing game coordinator Mike Levenseller talks with senior receiver Mike Scott on the sidelines during practice Thursday afternoon in the Kibbie Dome.
When ex-WSU coach Paul Wulff was let go, Levenseller and the entirety of Wulff’s staff followed closely behind.
“I honestly thought that I would end, finish out at Washington State and go off into the sunset,” he said.
The departure of ex-Idaho offensive coordinator Steve Axman and a fair majority of his staff, presented Levenseller with a favorable situation in Moscow, where less than a month ago he was named the Vandals’ receivers coach.
Though Levenseller may not have foreseen Idaho in his future, the former NFL receiver brings valuable experience to a youthful group of Vandal receivers.
“You can tell he was a player and brought that to his coaching ability,” junior receiver Daniel Micheletti said.
According to Michelettei, Levenseller has implemented change to a receiving corps that graduated three seniors.
“When he got here he changed everything 180 degrees,” Micheletti said. “We restarted from the ground up and from our stance, to how we catch, to the little things everything is important that we do.”
Coach Robb Akey is familiar with Levenseller and the two met when Akey joined the WSU staff in 1999.
Akey said having coached wide receivers for so long and playing the position at the highest level makes Levenseller one of the nation’s premier wide receivers coaches.
“If he’s not the best receivers coach, he’s one of them and I was able to witness it first-hand,” Akey said. “To be able to get him to come over here and help us as our receivers coach, passing game coordinator. I’m really happy about it.”
Before Jason Gesser was named the Vandals’ offensive coordinator, rumors that Levenseller would be Idaho’s O.C. swirled through the Palouse.
Levenseller was suited for the job, Akey said, but the situation surrounding the coaching staff, and the experience Gesser had with the program helped simplify Akey’s decision.
“Well Levy obviously could’ve handled it, he’s done it before,” Akey said. “I think it’s a really good blend and obviously there’s a good strong relationship with Levy and Gesser, having been together before and even since their time when he was a player there, there’s a lot of strengths there.”
Levenseller’s extensive coaching career at WSU lined him up with high-caliber players such as Bledsoe, Gesser and Ryan Leaf.
The success that such players have had helps Levenseller better relate to and teach his receivers.
“I’m pretty close with all those guys,” Levenseller said. “It was fun but what it does, it teaches you as a coach. I can see and show my players what it takes to succeed.”
Levenseller’s career has taken him from Pullman to Cincinnati, from Toronto to Tampa Bay and whether he concludes his career in Moscow or not, it hasn’t taken long for the receiver expert to make an impact on the program he now calls his own.
Theo Lawson can be reached at [email protected]