that it’s a smoke screen and filling a pc checkmark, although I hadn’t thought of him as a possible assistant until you mentioned it. His bio sounds pretty nice and he’d bring in some recruiting ties to potentially very profitable areas. It’s also really hard to judge his current performance for the same reasons it’s hard to judge UW’s current assistants. Who knows who is really calling the shots?

Haywood gets a little press for interviewing for the job which will help him in the future and Washington gets a gold star for promoting diversity during the coaching search. I don’t think he is a serious candidate.

I really hope he’s not a serious candidate. I have no problem with him being an assistant coach, just not the head coach.

I’ve got to agree that this is a PR interiview, it’s interesting that the first interview to leak out was a minority candidate.

Every time I read an article that Mora could get the job I get my hopes up. I’m really hoping there is something to the Mora talk, and that it’s not just wishful thinking.

Sounds like Pete Carroll

… but it also sounds like Al Groh, Dave Wannstedt, and Greg Robinson.

I’m not sayin’ … just sayin’.

Frankly if I had my choice it would be Jeff Tedford. He knows how to build a program and he already has a great West coast network set up.

I may be wrong here, as I don’t pay alot of attention to Cal, but I believe Tedford built them up with a ton of JC recruits that he wouldn’t be able to get at UW. Also. there is getting to be alot of people down south that are not real happy with the job Tedford has been doing the last year or two. His talent to results ratio is not were it should be. Not my opinion just what I’ve heard from others.

… but I, too, like Tedford as a first choice. Maybe we should take our act on the road and call it the “JB and Minny C Show”.

I’m much more swayed by the “builder of program” quality than I am by personality. There have been a ton of “motivational” coaches that have flamed out or never succeeded. The really good ones not only connect with the kids, but they have the talent, maturity and vision to organize the complex tax of constructing a program in all phases. They can handle the operational side, they can handle the teaching side, they can handle the PR side and they can handle the Booster/Fan side. They can navigate the media, they can keep the attention where it belongs (the kids) and they can help the players who have the talent fulfill their dreams to go pro while helping all of the rest maximize their college education. Most importantly, they can manage a staff of coaches that are full of conflict, ego, and paranoia and keep them all focused on executing their jobs, which is to teach and coach-up the players.

The last point is one that we don’t talk about but, in my mind, is the most critical. How well our coach does in attracting and extracting the best possible output from his assistants is the key to developing a stable and winning program.

As far as unhappy fans, that comes with the territory of coaching. Cal does not have the advantages that UW would have for Tedford … better tradition, larger and more dedicated fan base, less rigid admission standards, better facilities (hey, its relative) and an open mandate to do whatever it takes to win again. I posted earlier how the USC fans want to fire Sarkisian because of his team’s apparent lackluster offense. What a joke.

I think Mora if hired will do a great job.

I do prefer Tedford but I am pretty sure that Mora will be the next coach from what I am hearing.

if you want JB to endorse someone either than Mora, then pay me $5 bucks and I’ll endorse Mora. That’ll send JB to another coach for sure!

Or not.

I think the one thing Husky fans like about Mora is that he is one name out there that is available that can unite the entire fan base. I like his level of expereince even though he was only ahead coach three years in the NFL. Obviously that didn’t bother the Seahawks who named him to be the succesor to Holmgren over Jim Zorn.

How well Mora does will be predicated on the type of staff he brings with him. He should be able to attract a pretty good staff.

… if Mora is the target, then we have to wonder why he isn’t the coach already. Unlike other college head coaches, he is the one guy out there that could have been hired mid-season and installed with plenty of time to right the ship on the recruiting front (even if Ty was kept in place to coach the rest of the games).

It really would be another inexcusable blunder from administration if Mora was the top target all along and the situation has dragged itself all the way out to this point.

The Seahawks are going to be playing two games in eight days so if there is going to be an announcement it would probably come the Monday after Thanksgiving which would be one week before the Cal game.

I don’t think things will drag on very long no matter who they name as head coach. I fullexpect a replacement to be named no later than the Monday after the Cal game if it isn’t Mora. That should give the new coach plenty of time to assemble a staff and hit the recruiting trail.

It also helps the hawks to have a little bit of PR prep time before they have to start a coaching search.

Mora is being used as a smoke screen. The real canidate is either Leach or Petersen. By continuing to float Mora’s name it’s keeping people preocupied so one of those two can quietly finish their season and then be announced as the new UW coach. We should find out in the next 2-3 weeks. Go Dawgs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

During the Apple Cup broadcast, PP said that he saw a “currently unemployed Head Coach” at the airport in Seattle. I didn’t hear all that he said – did he actually name a name?

It is all probably nothing, but since I’d rather not discuss the game … who could it have been? Billick comes to mind. Kiffin? A long shot like Mariucci? Linehan?

Another guy with LSU connections? Will we ever interview someone without a significant past at LSU?