Tschirgi’s metamorphosis

PULLMAN – On the first play from scrimmage in Oregon’s 53-7 Pac-10 football rout of Washington State in Eugene last year, the Ducks’ Jeremiah Johnson popped through a hole and raced 42 yards to a score.

That hole came courtesy, in part, of Josh Tschirgi, a Port Angeles, Wash., native who was a three-year starter on Oregon’s offensive line.

“I got the game ball that game,” Tschirgi said.

A year later Tschirgi sits in offensive line coach Harold Etheridge’s office in Bohler Gym, wearing a polo shirt with a WSU logo on it.

“It’s crimson,” he answered when asked his color this week, before pointing to his shirt. “I’m a Cougar now. … You know, I’ll always be a Duck. I’ve got a great allegiance there. But I’ve got this great opportunity sitting in front of me here, so Cougs all the way.”

Tschirgi is a WSU graduate assistant working with WSU’s offensive line, especially its younger members.

His main chore is breaking down practice and game tape, preparing it so the coaches can learn and teach from it. Plus, he’s learning another life skill.

“I’m getting awful good at making coffee,” he said.

Tschirgi was a solid collegiate offensive lineman but not NFL material. He knew coaching was the profession he wanted to try. When an opportunity presented itself to learn a different system at the Pac-10 level, he jumped – if former offensive linemen can jump.

Coming out of Port Angeles, Tschirgi wanted to be a Cougar. But he made a vow to sign with the first Pac-10 school that offered a scholarship. That would be Oregon.

Now, with all the injuries suffered by WSU’s offensive linemen, is there a temptation to sneak back into the fray, this time as a Cougar?

“It’s funny you should say that,” Tschirgi said. “(Reserve lineman) Michael Bruce and I have the same body type, so Coach Etheridge actually joked about that. But, no, I don’t see that happening.”

But that doesn’t stop him from mentioning the Ducks’ struggles last week in a loss to Boise State to his friends who are still playing for Oregon.

“We’re jibber-jabbing about what’s been happening with the game,” Tschirgi said. “Obviously, they’re coming off a tough loss, so I let them know they’re having problems too, like everyone else.”