Ty Willingham is Leaving - Now What, UW?

As has been widely reported, Tyrone Willingham is stepping down at the end of the season. If you’ve been following UW football at all this year, this is absolutely no shock to anyone. Many folks were surprised that he kept his job after last year, and as the losses piled up the expectations grew that he’d be fired in the middle of the year. UW, however, doesn’t think of itself as that kind of institution, and so they offer him a graceful exit. That’s fine; as a caller to KJR said, there’s not much difference between an interim coach with no shot at the job and Willingham playing out the string.

The problem, as I listened to KJR (I love the sports radio in Seattle), is that Husky fans think that they’re going to hook a 1st rate, established coach. The head coach at Missouri(!), Gary Pinkel, came up a couple of time. Folks, get real. Washington has been awful for years now, it has outdated facilities, and it has to recruit against Oregon, Cal, and USC in the Pacific Northwest; no established, successful coach is going to want this gig right now.

I have three words for you, Husky fans: Mark Muthafuckin’ Richt.

When Georgia was in the doldrums in the 90s (when I was there; thanks, Ray Goff!) it had to come to the hard realization that they weren’t any successful coach’s idea of an upgrade. Granted, the facilities are first rate, but you also have to recruit against, what? Florida, Alabama, LSU, Tennessee, and Auburn, not to mention Florida State, Miami and the like. They tried offering a promotion to a coach from a lower division (hi, Jim Donnan!) before going after a seasoned, successful coordinator who knew how to recruit the region: Mark Richt.

Now, I fully believe that hiring a coach is a crap shoot. But just like craps, there are some bets that are better than others. UW is *not* going to pry away a coach of the caliber the fanbase thinks they can get.  They also aren’t going to get Jim Mora, Jr. like some have hoped. The guy has a contract to coach the Seahawks next year - even if he was willing, do you want to hire a guy who’d try to break a contract that the Seahawks have made such plans around? No, the best bet is to find a ripe coordinator in the Pac-10 who comes in and wows them in the interview. Give them a 5-year deal and stick to it. You guys suck right now and it will take some time to turn things around.

Oh, and if you have a spare $200 million, buy your team a stadium.