Dreaming Big

by John Berkowitz on Sep 26, 2008 10:19 AM PDT Comment 25 comments

If Tyrone Willingham is fired after this season is over you can count on the fact that Mark Emmert, and Scott Woodward have been performing some due diligence on narrowing down possible successors since last December.

One of the things that happen when you are looking to hire a new football coach is to dream and dream big.

In the mid 1950's Washington tried to lure Bear Bryant, and Bud Wilkinson to Montlake. They weren't interested at all but they did mention Darryl Royal and Jim Owens who both ended up coaching at Washington

The first person on the Emmert/Woodward dream list in 2008 is Nick Saban who is currently the head coach at Alabama. Emmert hired Saban when he was at LSU and the two have remained close ever since. Saban has no current interest and Washington probably does not have that kind of money even if he was interested.

What Saban does have is good advise to give his friends that will figure heavily into the discussion of who will be Washington's next head football coach. A couple of names that have come up from that discussion are Brian Kelly, and Pat Hill. Both of those guys would seriously entertain coaching at Washington and they meet the criteria of program builders with plenty of experience. Both would look at the Washington job as a logical step up in their respective coaching careers.

Gary Pinkel is probably the top guy on the wish list and this weeks hot name. The big question is at 56 years old and happily entrenched running a top ten program in Missouri is if he would have any interest in returning to UW.

Gary has those Don James bloodlines and has shown he can build programs the right way. Pinkel will probably be tempted because he has so many good memories from his stay in Seattle. The reality of the situation is that at 56 years old the smart thing to do is finish out your career at Missouri rather than take on the mess at Washington.

Legendary Husky coach Don James feels the same way and had these comments in an article that came out yesterday in a Missouri publication concerning UW's interest in Pinkel.

I got to the same place out here. When I got the program going, why would I want to go anywhere else?

"It would be a monumental task here. ... There's a lot of negativity."

Jim Mora Jr. is another name on most fans dream lists but insiders are saying that he has never been contacted informally and that his comments on KJR even though in jest with his old friend Hugh Millen may have soured him with Emmert and company. Another roadblock is his contract with the Seahawks to be Mike Holmgren's successor in 2009. If they get serious about hiring Mora it would cost around $2.5 million per year.

Jeff Teford is another name that is going to come up again. The facilities at California are terrible. Even though the money is in place to do something to correct that it may take another ten years before it is all completed. Expect him to be contacted again to gauge his interest.

Oregon State's Mike Riley is coming off a huge victory over USC last night. that win probably propelled him into being a hot national coaching candidate. I think he realizes that he may never reach his full potential as a head coach in his hometown. Count on the powers that be to contact him through the side channels to see if he is interested.

I know there are some hot coordinators out there such as DeWayne Walker (UCLA), Chip Kelly (Oregon), Steve Sarkesian (USC), Will Muschamp (Texas), and Dave Christensen (Missouri) whose names will come up, but count on Washington to try to hire an experienced head coach who has experience building a program from the bottom up before resorting to going the hot an upcoming assistant route.

Rebuilding the program and uniting the fan base at Washington is going to be a monumental task just like Don James says. It just isn't about hiring an excellent head coach. They need to restructure the entire foundation of the athletic department or whoever they hire is going to have a limited chance of success.

UW can't screw this up again. They need to pick a guy that can obviously coach and recruit. Most importantly they need to hire a guy that will attract the fans and attract the big money support back to the program again.

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Not so fast on a replacement

Don’t be so fast to boot Ty. He needs more than three years to get his style of players in the system. Two more years and he will have this program competing for Pac 10 titles. If we can him now are we no better than the previous program that unjustly canned him. Ty is our coach and we shouldn’t waste time thinking of a replacement right now.

by blackdawg80 on Sep 26, 2008 11:35 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Wow

just wow

by T9ODawg on Sep 26, 2008 11:58 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

T90Dawg

Why do you want Ty to be fired so badly? He took a total shit program and is doing what he can to fix it in THREE YEARS. I don’t care how good of a coach you are, everyone needs time to build up a program.

I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.
~Fred Allen

by Hook'em13 on Sep 26, 2008 3:57 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

my bad...

He has had 4 years, but still my point remains.

I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.
~Fred Allen

by Hook'em13 on Sep 26, 2008 4:00 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

This is his 4th year

The first two years he did not recruit hence the reason for so many frosh and RS frosh playing this year. Getting HIS players has nothing to do with the fact he not a good game day coach. The senior day fiasco of two years ago proves he has no concept of management. Ty is a PR disaster..he looks down on the fans and boosters… he has alienated most of the big money boosters to the point that they have told the UW administration…no money from me until he is gone.

Rick Neuheisal was smart enough to figure out the players he had could not run the offense he preferred and switched to running the option offense mid season of his first year at Montlake because that was what his starting QB knew.

Why should the FRAUD get how many ever years it takes to get his players when he didn’t bust his a$$ recruiting the first two years?

A good coach can figure out how to use what he has at the time and recruit what he wants in the meantime.

by T9ODawg on Sep 26, 2008 11:13 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'd like to see some wins now

Because I really want to see the Dawgs win and win out, I am indirectly rooting for Ty to get extended. I’m not willing to root for losses jus so that we can get some unknown coach next year. That said, it really is going to take winning 7 of 10 (including a W in a bowl game) for Ty to keep his job. There really are not any other scenarios that can result in a “same regime” outcome.

Shake that hand that shook the hand of Hustlin' Hugh

by Minny C on Sep 26, 2008 12:56 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ty has the rest of this season to turn this thing around.

After watching USC vs. OSU last night I just don’t see it happening. The old saying of “a team takes on the coaches personallity” seems to be true. Reily, while being quiet and calm to the media can get quit fired up behind closed doors and so do his players. Unfortuanatly, our players have the same monotone enthusiasm game after game. When was the last time you saw a Husky team as fired up as OSU was last night? I can’t remember a time in the last 5+ years. When was the last time you saw a great game plan exicuted by UW? OSU used and abused USC’s team speed to their advantage by running cut back play after cut back play. UW never seems to have a great game plan.

by Snostrebla on Sep 26, 2008 1:12 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Sad

There was a day when I would LMAO at the thought of bringing in a coach from Oregon State to save the program.

by wenatcheedawg on Sep 26, 2008 2:35 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Wow

Blackdawg80 – This is year four not year three and the majority of the players on the team are Ty’s recruits. The last of the Gilby guys graduate after this season. I think four years is more than fair in this day of age to prove you can get the job done. If Ty can put together a winning season this year he will get an extension. If they don’t win he gets shown the door and gets to take $1.5 million in severance. That isn’t exactly treating someone poorly.

As far as competing for titles in two years I just don’t see it happening under Willingham. He got himself in this mess by opening up his tenure with two poor recruiting classes. I admit the last two classes were good, but the upcoming recruiting class looks like it could be a disaster.

Everyone here is entitled to their own opinion. That is what makes it fun, but like T-90 said wow, just wow.

by John Berkowitz on Sep 26, 2008 2:54 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Hook Em

I think the reason that people want to fire Ty is that they have no confidence that he will fix or even address the problems facing the program. Ty is a PR disaster and he doesn’t win. We need to raise $300 milion to rebuild the stadium and he is an inadequate point man at this point.

It is isn’t all about winning, it is how you treat people, and Ty hasn’t done a very good job in that respect.

by John Berkowitz on Sep 26, 2008 8:17 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Coaches

The truth is simple, we’ve been out coached, and we’ve been under performing. Like an earlier post of John’s pointed out, why haven’t we been tackling in practice, we OBVIOUSLY need to working on tackling!!!!

John – Don’t forget about the other NFL names. I’m curious if you think any other NFL coaches could be possible. What about Kiffin, Linehan, Tice . . .

And if we are coming up with a “dream” list, Holmgren would be at the top of my list, he will be “available”. Although that would be as likely as Don James coming out of retirement.

by Lear Pilot on Sep 26, 2008 9:28 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Kiffen, Linehan, and Tice

They all have two things in common.

1. They haven’t won in the NFL
2. No college head coaching experience.

I really think the answer is someone who has experience building a winning college program.

by John Berkowitz on Sep 26, 2008 10:02 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Awesome Jack

“A good coach can figure out how to use what he has at the time and recruit what he wants in the meantime.”

That is really what it all comes down to. I thought what NEu did his first year on the job at UW was awesome. Good coaches do that. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets it figured out at UCLA this year too.

by John Berkowitz on Sep 27, 2008 6:50 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Thanks John

I’ll never understand how people think Ty needs all this time to turn things around when we have examples like Tedford (at Cal) and Zook (at Illinois) that got things turned around in one to two years.

Neither of those programs were in great shape when those guys got there nor did they complain about not having enough bullets. They played with the cards they were dealt…to steal a phrase from Chuck Knox…and won. They also recruited hard from the gitgo…hmmm…what a concept, eh?

Jack

by T9ODawg on Sep 27, 2008 8:52 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Totally different situations. Cal & Illinois wern’t comming off of a huge national gambling scandle. Also, those two schools were able to go get immediate JC help. We tried but wern’t sucsessfull at it as you can see in the well done recruiting report that John did. Sometimes all it takes is a good coach and a program can turn around right away. UW had soooo many other issues besides coaching starting with the talent that was left here, the lack of coaching those kids had been givin (remember Stanback saying he had no idea how to “watch film”) the Nue demolishing of our streingth/conditioning program and sub par facilities were just a few obsticals.

by Snostrebla on Sep 27, 2008 11:43 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I gotta disagree

UCLA has always turned soft at some point during every season and Neu has a history of turning teams soft. I bet he goes down in flames at UCLA in about 3-4 years. Especially if someone takes Walker off his staff.

by Snostrebla on Sep 27, 2008 7:55 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Neu

I think Neu is a great game day coach.

by John Berkowitz on Sep 27, 2008 9:54 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Wait a second

Aren’t we the same school that joined in with the rest of the nation and malinged Notre Dame for not allowing Ty enough time – even calling his firing racist. I would like to see Ty given more time. He runs a clean program, the players respect and fight for him. We just need to see a few more W’s and that will come. Recruiting has gotten better every year that he has been here. Replacing him will set this program back another 4 years. I sure don’t want to see that happen right now. We have the athletes to compete – and the wins will come.

by blackdawg80 on Sep 27, 2008 9:59 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

4 years?

I cited two instances where it was now where near close to 4 years to get the respective programs winning.

We have some players…we need a coach…a good coach will get wins next year and the money will start rolling in for the stadium upgrade.

John is right…keep Ty and we’ll be in Qwest forever. There will be some sort of mediacl facility where the stadium is now. Have you ever tried to tailgate at Qwest? It sucks.

Jack

by T9ODawg on Sep 27, 2008 11:35 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Tyrone

Blackdawg80- I don’t think you will find many allies here or elsewhere even though we respect your opinion.

I think if you hire the right head coach you won’t have much down time. This recruiting season is already down the tubes so it is actually a good time to make the change if needed.

I beg to differ on another point, we do not have the athletes to compete at this point. That is why we keep losing games. We also don’t have the coach that can compete, that is why we keep losing games in the fourth quarter.

I think keeping Willingham will set the program back permanently and lead to the demolition of Husky Stadium.

by John Berkowitz on Sep 27, 2008 10:11 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

WOW!!!

“I think keeping Willingham will set the program back permanently and lead to the demolition of Husky Stadium.”

WOW, that is one HUGE statement to make! Unfortunately, I agree.

Nothing scares me more than the very idea of playing in Qwest Stadium. The only exception would be during renovations of Husky Stadium. It would be the truth death of Husky Football.

John – I’m torn, what would be more risky, a NFL Head Coach that didn’t work out, or a hot college assistant? I think it would really depend on who, their ties to the NW, and their desire to stay for a very long time.

by Lear Pilot on Sep 27, 2008 11:18 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Just thinking

Tedford is an example of a hot assistant that worked out very well, but it is still a roll of the dice.

The three NFL coaches you mentioned haven’t been succesful and haven’t been head college coaches. Linehan’s stint at UW as an OC was just so-so. From what I hear Kiffin is a complete mess.

I guess you could put Mora Jr. in that category too, but he has the advantage of the DJ bloodline and being a former Husky. Hiring Mora would be a big deal….the other three not so much.

I think you pick a guy that has built a program and proved himself. Gary Pinkel obviously comes to mind along with Brian Kelly, Mike Riley, and Pat Hill.

by John Berkowitz on Sep 27, 2008 12:36 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs