Sarkisian or Venables?
by John Berkowitz on Dec 4, 2008 3:42 PM PST
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PrintESPN is reporting that Mike Leach has pulled out of the running. Not sure if it was by his own volition or UW found someone they liked better. From what we heard his interview wasn't a home run.
It looks like it is down to two well regarded assistant coaches. Steve Sarkisian the OC at USC and Brent Venables the DC at Oklahoma. I will be reporting back as soon as we find something out but they are about out of known candidates to speculate about.
Update
According to what I am hearing the UW decided to put Leach on hold rather than make a decision on him. Like I said above the interview wasn't a home run and UW officials didn't feel comfortable with him. The guy is a genius but he also dances to the beat of a different drummer and it would be pretty hard to control what comes out of his mouth in most cases.
So I wouldn't say Leach dropped UW it was more the other way around. They liked the results on the field but they had reservations about working with him. Was it a good choice? Only time will tell. As we all know Washington can't screw this one up and they are being very careful about who they bring in.
As far as Pat Hill goes don't buy the story that he isn't coming because of any deadline. IF UW calls next week he would be on the next plane even though he has told people he is staying at Fresno. Hill is a very solid coach and would have put together a great staff but the mediocre results this year and a lack of sizzle put an end to that.
So who does UW turn to now? Venables or Sarkisian? I have to think they are trying to work Tedford or Petersen before opting to go the assistant coach route. Phil Fulmer and Tommy Tuberville are available and interested too so maybe they go in that direction.
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TERRAIN, TERRAIN, PULL UP, PULL UP!!!
Crash and Burn
"Bow Down to Washington"
"Kick the tires and light the fires!"
If the interview didn't go well
… then I’m glad they didn’t pull the trigger. The last thing we need is another case of administration and coaching not supporting one another.
"Greed is Good."
So is Rudy.
yep
I wouldn’t want Woodward hiring a guy he wasn’t totally sold on, just because he felt pressure from the fans. And maybe Leach felt the same way – if the reports are true that the interview wasn’t a home run, maybe Leach felt the same way and preferred not to continue pursuing a job where his boss had some doubts about him.
.......
Leach’s interview didnt go well but Hill’s did. How hard is this to make a decision?
Two questions they should have asked Leach..
1. Have you ever had a losing season?
2. When can you start?
Sign on the dotted line!
Now we are stuck with Coordinator’s. Not even lower level confernce coach’s want to come here. What the heck man!!!!
He is saying UW waited to long...
how hard is this…say it with me…“you hired! when can you start?”
He pulled out..
not UW. That means they screwed this up. How much does it take to get a coach in Seattle…
Maybe not?
Who knows maybe one of these young hotdog coordinators will fire the boys up! We all know they need a shot of something!
If I was so addicted to knowing who the next coach was
I would stop reading this blog until next Tuesday and ACTUALLY get some work done….
Leach
…apparently he didn’t want to wait and the UW wasn’t ready to commit to a decision. Condotta thinks Petersen and Whittingham may still be in the mix.
who....
the hell knows any of the real stories here…? this stuff is fun, i admit, although my stomach is starting to turn on this roller coaster. it’s amazing how many people decide what their version of the real stories are and then react to their own assumptions. this is WAY better than anything reality tv can throw at me. personally, i hope they make the right decision, whoever that may be, and if it takes a couple more days, so be it. although i did warm up to the idea of the pirate patrolling the sidelines…..
Pirate Ship
Yeah I was thinking that would be perfect, having coach Leach’s pirate ship anchored off the shores of Lake Washington…
by doubledeucedawg on Dec 4, 2008 2:43 PM PST up reply actions
I dont know what everyone is worried about
we already have our next head coach. Why do you think Ty had to leave the press conference? He was signing his brand new 5 year extension! That s what it feels like!
Just keep in mind Leach had no HC experience when Tech hired him. There are some great young coordinators out there who could turn UW into the power it used to be. Being a HC is nice, but from what I have always felt, coaches don’t usually do as well at the “step up” job as they did in their prior gig. Sure, there are exceptions…but just keep that in mind. No guarantee Leach/Hill, et al would have brought the same level of success. There’s a formula they use at their respective schools that may not translate at the next place…food for thought.
So we are left with...
OU DC…their defense is ranked 66th in the country and 98th in the pass. Wow, i cant wait to get those kind of stats at UW!!!
Sark – the USC offense this year has been one of the worst since Carroll took over. He has numerous All Americans at his disposal and still only put 17 on Arizona and Cal.
WOW…i am so over whelmed with the coaching talent we have left to choose from!
As a Coug fan, I'm rooting for Sarkisian
Not impressed with what USC has done offensively since Kiffin left. He’s not innovative with his schemes; he’s cute. Innovative obliterates people. Cute figures out ways to keep unbelievable talent from blowing out opponents it should beat.
Risky, very risky
For every great coordinator becoming head coach story, there is at least one coordinator who turned out to be a horrible head coach story.
I really hope the UW administration has something up there sleeve, this could get ugly.
"Bow Down to Washington"
"Kick the tires and light the fires!"
Yep...Tech admittedly lucked out with Leach
But considering that we had been mired in 20+ years of very average, occasionally decent football, anything would have been an improvement. Plus, our expectations were tempered and we allowed Leach to grow into the job. Will UW be as patient? Doubtful. But this hire needs to be a good one or it could be another 10 yrs before UW is relevant again.
Hmmm...
There must be someone out there that we haven’t thought of or that we think is off the list that is still in play. There really is no other way of expaining this. I don’t buy Sarkisian or Venibales as serious canidates. If they were willing to go the assistant route I’d MUCH rather have Dave Christensen yet they didn’t even give him a sniff.
There is MUCH more going on than we know.
There better be much more than we know about
"Bow Down to Washington"
"Kick the tires and light the fires!"
Dawgman
John,
I don’t even go to Dawgman for breaking news anymore. They seem to need someone like you to get fresh information in a timely manner. I hope they are not becoming like the coach Ty. You are on top of it. Interesting day today in the coaching search????
What Now??
Sure I would have liked Leach as HC…but I truly want the right man for the job. Please remember nobody knew Don James when he came here from Kent State and looked what happened. Take the time and make the right choice. I personally would like to see either Sark or Venables. Sark would be great for Jake!! Maybe we would then get Heaps from skyline next year!!!!
Mystery Candidate part 2...
Remember when Nueweasel was hired? Nobody had a clue he was even in the mix. I wouldn’t be so sure we won’t get Sark or Venables. Solid young coaches and way more gettable.
Turner Gill
How about him? Bright young head coach. Turned around a program. Etc Etc How is he less qualified than these two coordinators?
HC
Interesting that Hill told a friend of mine that he was turned down by the UW. No way in hell does the UW turn him down if they do not have their guy locked up. Also no way are they hiring a OC orDC for the HC job before they hire Hill. Now I see leach is out and I assume the real story is we told him no. That leads me to believe that we do have our guy locked up and it could be Mora, mystery big hire (Saban etc) or I have no clue. I suspect it is Mora as everything I have heard has said it is. Call me delusional. We will see.
We'll see...
If UW was willing to really open up their wallet I guess it’s possible
by doubledeucedawg on Dec 4, 2008 3:08 PM PST up reply actions
You are delusional
But I sure hope you are right.
"Bow Down to Washington"
"Kick the tires and light the fires!"
Committee's Values
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/huskiesfb/archives/156155.asp
In a nutshell Passionate (anti Ty?) Integrity Football knowledge with a specific reference to “rebuilding” a program as a head coach. Lastly the ability to be flexible and deal with the media and many groups to build support for the UW. This would seem to really focus in on head coaches though they may be running out of candidates with rebuilding experience. Did Tuberville do that?
How weird can it get?
1) Auburn fires a 10 year coach who has owned the Bammers, achieved an SEC championship and is four years out from an undefeated season…
2) Tennessee hires Kiffin. While I won’t go into the manifold reasons here that this was an incredibly stupid move, I will say that Oregon wouldn’t have even sniffed in his general direction.
3) Udub is seriously considering Sarkisian (who can’t coach offense despite having players every other school can only dream of) and Venables, who can’t coach defense (See Sarkisian).
Why don’t you peeps go after a proven winner like Tuberville or Fulmer? Sheesh, all they need is a quarterback. You have one of those, don’t you? Or find a Chip Kelly out there, maybe that guy from Cal Poly…
It’s not that I want Washington to be good, but there isn’t much satisfaction beating them when they suck so bad.
I'd go w/ Sarkisian I guess
If I had to choose: Steve over Brent. I would hope that Sarkisian knows his limitations enough that he could hire a good schemer for play calling. At the very least, however, it would be a boon for Locker’s development.
Sigh…
Our leather lungs together...
What happened to the NFL coach no one was talking about??
Linehan possibly? Mandel said last week (?) that when coaches all start pulling out of jobs (Hill, Leach), its because the school already has it’s guy. I would love to assume its someone BIG (Les Miles??) but at this point I dont have enough energy to care.
Are all coaching searches this secret?? Maybe they are being so secret because they really have no idea what to do?
re: the update
I hope it’s true that there are other candidates that Woodward is talking to. It doesn’t make any sense to me that he’d hesitate on pulling the trigger on Leach if Sarkisian and Venables were the only guys left on his list.
I also can’t believe that some contact hasn’t been made with Tedford – I mean, you have to at least find out if there’s any interest right?
I think at this point Emmert is going to have to approve a significant budget for salaries so Woodward can flash $3M per in front of guys like Whittingham and Peterson and dare them to say “no”. Given the state of this program, I think we’ll have to pay extra to make the job attractive.
Woodmert better pull a rabbit out of his ass…
We have all heard that Woodmert is great.
LSU was 2-8 when Woodmert took over.
Woodmert hired Nick Saben.
Woodmert won the national championship…
And Woodmert lived happily ever after.
I pray that Woodmert gets this right.
Otherwise they are going to get hammered!!!
Crazy rumor right now is they have their guy
The rumor going around is they have their guy and it will be announced Monday.
I don’t have a clue who it is.
Reece Davis - news breaker!
new coach is Sark…enjoy him, UW…could be interesting. Could be a disaster. Best of luck!
Just what I didn't want to see
another clown from $C.
Crew gets a bigger donation than football, just like I did last year, as my way of protesting keeping Ty or in this case hiring a Trojan.
Jack
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