Tui Is Coming Home

One of UW's most fondly looked upon players of the last 20 or so years is, according to a tweet from Dave Mahler, coming back home:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Breaking Husky News: Marques Tuiasosopo coming back to Washington as UW QB's coach. Just texted me: "I'm coming home."</p>&mdash; Dave Softy Mahler (@Softykjr) <a href="https://twitter.com/Softykjr/status/285155803013451776" data-datetime="2012-12-29T22:50:16+00:00">December 29, 2012</a></blockquote>

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This is a big hire for many reasons. Firstly, it fills a need. With the movement of Jimmy Dougherty to San Jose State to take their OC position, UW has a vacancy at WR coach. Tui coached "Y receivers" at UCLA, so him taking the WR coaching gig here seems a natural transition. However, UCLA's Y receivers are basically tight ends, so he was essentially their tight ends coach, and there's been some chatter about another possibility.

With the... uneven play of Keith Price this season, many in the fanbase were eager to point the finger at Eric Kiesau as being the reason why as his hiring was a tangible thing that could be pointed to. And that may have been the case. There is speculation that Kiesau may move out of the QB coaching business and return to coaching WR's, where he was one of the best in the country at Cal. You may have heard of some of the guys he coached: DeSean Jackson, Keenan Allen, Geoff McArthur are just a few. Moving him here would allow Tui to take over QB's and probably maximize the coaching potential of the staff.

Another place where this hire could hit big is recruiting. Marques is listed by rivals as the UCLA recruiter heading up their pursuit of Myles Jack. Pay no mind to any listing you see of Jack as a UCLA commit, as he's said his decision will come down to visits. He's very much in play, and getting the guy with whom he probably has the best relationship to switch schools will probably have a big effect.

Any way you slice it, this is a huge get for the Huskies, and should be massive with the fans to bring in a tie with the last UW team to taste roses.

Welcome home, Marques.

EDIT: Its official, here's UW's Gregg Bell's story:

http://www.gohuskies.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/122912aaa.html