As a head coach, no matter what job you take, at some point, you have to win games. If you don’t, you won’t be around after a while.
Tyrone Willingham won’t be at Washington in 2009, as his official departure was announced on Monday. He’ll finish out the season, but that’ll be the end for him after four unsuccessful seasons.
Not a lot has gone right for Washington in what was clearly a make-or-break season, from losing star linebacker E.J. Savannah (injury, then academic ineligibility, then his release from the school), to a blocked extra point that cost them a chance at overtime against BYU, to losing quarterback and team centerpiece Jake Locker to a broken thumb against Stanford.
Saturday’s loss to Willingham’s previous employer, Notre Dame, dropped U-Dub to 0-7 and ensured their fifth straight losing season, four of those under Willingham. As much of a guy as Willingham is (he even did his radio show on Monday!), and as bad of a situation as he inherited at Washington when he arrived after the 2004 season, even he had to know after a while that the situation wasn‘t going to work.
So where do the two parties go from here? Well, obviously their separate ways, but I thought I’d nip that potentially smart-mouthed (but true) comment in the bud.
Willingham isn’t a bad coach by any means, and he’ll end up somewhere, whether it’s after this season or in another season or so, whether it’s as a head coach at a struggling non-BCS school (say, Utah State or San Diego State) or as an assistant coach on the collegiate level or in the NFL.
As for Washington, despite its fall into the abyss, it‘ll be an attractive job to someone. BCS conference, school that was a regular winner not very long ago, some talented pieces to work with (mostly on offense), plenty of potential if it‘s someone with a lot of energy that can light a fire under the administration and reignite a flagging fan base .
A few years ago, former Atlanta Falcons head coach Jim Mora (the younger one) said he’d jump at the chance to coach at his alma mater. Mora is penciled in to be in Seattle next season already, but it’s as the Seahawks’ new head coach.
Given their successes this season, it’s all too easy to throw Bronco Mendenhall (BYU), Kyle Whittingham (Utah), Gary Patterson (TCU), and Chris Petersen (Boise State) in as potential candidates. Petersen’s a sexy choice, but of those, Mendenhall and Whittingham stick out the most, thanks to their regional proximity and the fact that their strength (defense) is Washington’s biggest weakness right now. Patterson is also a defensive coach, but if he leaves TCU after this season, I don’t see Washington being high on his list of options.
Other potential options? Names could emerge from the BCS head coach, assistant coach, NFL ranks, but another current head coach from the non-BCS ranks that is definitely worth considering is Tulsa’s Todd Graham.
The offensive numbers that his Rice and Tulsa teams have put up are what many might think of first, and one can get carried away thinking of what Jake Locker could do under the staff that Graham would likely bring in. But, Graham’s background is as a defensive coach (co-defensive coordinator at West Virginia in 2002, defensive coordinator at Tulsa from 2003-05). Better yet, he could get things done on the resources front - when he arrived at Rice, he helped raise $5.5 mil to fix up the stadium. Perfect fit, if you ask me.
Whoever the next head coach is, president Mark Emmert and athletic director Scott Woodward can’t afford to screw the hire up. The program can’t take another step back, but there’s really not too much farther to fall.
Whoever Emmert and Woodward do find, he has a long road ahead in trying to turn around a program that’s fallen on hard times, but there’s no reason why Washington can’t do well in the near future.
