Jane You Ignorant... Part 1: Tyrone Willingham
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From: http://afraidofedhochuli.blogspot.com/
There has been a storm brewing in the Seattle area for quite some time, causing flooding, mudslides and cave-ins. The eye of this squall is sitting right over Montlake. The University of Washington Huskies are done for the season and ended with a 4-9 record. They have ended the third season of Tyrone Willingham’s tenure as the head coach and they have yet to get six wins.
His record? 2-9, 5-7 and 4-9. They have now missed a bowl for the last 5 seasons and have not been above .500 in the same time frame. They ranked 89th in the country in Passing Yards per Game (191.2), 40th in Points Scored (380), 18th in Rush Yards per Game (203.1) and 35th in Total Yards (5279). Their Defense? Well, that was the Achilles heel. They allowed Oregon to put up 55 points and let Arizona QB Willie Tuitama put up 510 yards (an Arizona record). And over the last 11 games they were outscored in the 2nd half by 83 points.
Tuesdays are the weekly press conferences and we are all waiting to hear about what is going on…but it has been postponed… So questions have been raised. Will he be fired? Are their changes coming to the Athletic Department? Maybe just coordinators leaving? Or maybe it is true that it is just because they just returned from Hawaii.
But the main question stands at: What is the fate of Tyrone Willingham?
Since I am a supporter of Ty and what he has done, I decided that I would like to do a point/counter-point with a dissenter.
Enter: Joe.
Joe is a UW alum who has been very vocal about Ty’s failures. Now, both of us would like you to believe that we are right, but I will leave it up to you.
Joe:
I have been a rabid Dawg fan since I could remember, going to games with my dad, never missing a game on TV. I happened to be lucky enough to grow up during the pinnacle of Husky football. When UW challenged for the Pac-10 every year, went to 3 consecutive Rose Bowls from 1990-1992 and won a national championship in 1991. Unless you experienced it is difficult to describe how dominant this program was during the early 1990’s. I bring this up to reference exactly how far the UW has fallen.
Jim Lambright was canned after too many 7-5 seasons which were not good enough for the UW. In case Slick Rick Neuheisal who was very successful in his tenure, finishing 11-1 with a Rose Bowl win over Purdue, ending with a #3 national ranking.
Unfortunately for Rick he was spotted at the SF airport and the rest was history. In came the savior Keith Gilbertson who had to deal with the mess Rick left behind. The results were dismal and something needed to be done. We needed a man of character who would clean up the program and return it to its proper place as one of the dominant football programs in America.
Ty Willingham was hired in 2005 and has had the worst 3 year run of any coach in UW history. Here are some numbers: Career Record: 76-76-1 UW Record: 11-25 UW Conf Record: 6-20 Bowl Games: 1-5 Record against NW Rivals: 1-8
Since Ty took over four Pac-10 coaches have been fired, his record against said coaches: 2-7
Matt:
What was his record before he came to UW? 65-51-1. I understand those are not Don James numbers, but with what he had (inheriting a 1 win team) his numbers would go down. You comment that Gilby got stuck with the mess that Rick left behind, but you don’t comment on the trash that was at the school for Ty.
According to rivals.com Gilbertson’s final recruiting class (2005) was ranked 66th in the country, 10th in the Pac-10. Ty is at 35th (6th in Pac-10), 36th (4th) and is at 35th (4th) as of right now. Those may not be glaring numbers, but how many in state kids has he kept? 2005 Gilby had 5. 2006: 5, 2007: 6 and as of today Ty is at 9. Gilbertson didn’t leave a future for this team or this program and Ty has had to restock the cupboards.
Joe:
Ty has overseen the worst defense in Husky history. He has sold his players out to the media, he has blamed his players for losses, he strips the eligibility of RS seniors. Why not make a change? The only thing that I have heard that has any validity is that change is bad for the program. Ask Cal or OU about that.
Ty has had good recruiting classes, they get better every year in fact especially this year AND he recruited Jake Locker. Locker was going to the UW no matter who the coach was, it happened to be Ty so you give him credit for that. The recent top tier recruits that signed last week, Kavario Middleton and Jermain Kearse? "I kind of knew from day one I was going to U-dub because my family's here, and my parents have supported me well through everything I've done since I was little," Middleton added that there wasn't ever a time he thought he wouldn't be playing at UW. Both recruits have said they are going to UW no matter who the coach is.
Matt:
Joe, you can’t slight him for bad recruiting and then when he does well with recruiting say it was luck. Do you think that Middleton and Kearse were alone? No. They had a PR guy with them. There is no way the conversation (which I heard live) was completely free formed. They were being coached.
And you can’t have it both ways. Either he doesn’t get credit for anyone, or he gets credit for it all. You can’t give him credit for some and not others just because they MIGHT have come without him. I agree that he shouldn’t have called his players out, but come on, do you not agree? With the exception of Locker, could ANY player on that team start for a top-10?
Joe:
I cannot stand the mediocrity any longer. I am sick and tired of moral victories. Wins are the only thing that matter; wins bring in the money that refurbishes the stadium. There has been little or no progress in the 3 years Ty has been coach. The UW in his 3 years finished last, last and you guessed it last. We are almost good enough to beat WAC teams, some of them at least, although we do continually beat out Montana, Nevada and Idaho for prized 2 star recruits.
Matt:
I agree that they need to win, but what about their strength of schedule? They played the toughest schedule in the country this year. If they played the schedule that was played under Slick Rick they would have had at least 8 wins. Why? Because they could hold their own.
The 2000 Rose Bowl Season Schedule (record): Idaho (5-6), Miami (11-1), Colorado (3-8), Oregon (loss) (10-2), Oregon State (11-1), Arizona State (6-6), Cal (3-8), Stanford (5-6), Arizona(5-6), UCLA (6-6), Washington State (4-7), Purdue (8-4).
77-61 (55.8%) combined record. This season’s opponents combined record? 96-59 (62%).
I know it isn’t a jump of a lot, but come on, it is a jump.
I know that it irks you to hear: “They competed”, but they did, and I don’t use this to say that they should have won; (they could have but they blew it by either poor play or poor coaching) what I am saying is that they were good enough to put up points on 3 teams that were in the top-10 at some point.
According to Steve Megargee of Rivals.com (on SI.com):
“Add up Washington's challenging Pac-10 slate and you have the nation's toughest schedule…The Huskies' schedule includes nine teams that played in bowl games last season and six schools that won at least 10 games a year ago…
Combined 2006 record of Division I-A opponents: 105-62 (.629) Bowl teams: Nine Home games: Seven Teams that finished last year in the AP Top 25: Five (four at home). Hawaii was a USA Today Top 25 team but didn't make the final AP poll. Division I-AA opponents: None An injury to quarterback Isaiah Stanback was probably the only thing that kept Washington out of the postseason last year, but it's tough to imagine the Huskies earning a bowl bid with this murderous schedule.”
That was dated June 21, 2007. This means that even before the season started they weren’t expected to win very many. So why is it not a good thing to say that they were able to hang into games? Sheesh, they were in the lead at half against a team that is playing in the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.
Would you have preferred they play Idaho, Cal Poly and Citadel?
I would prefer that they play a tough schedule. You only get better by playing people that are better.
Joe:
The time for a change is now unless the UW administration wishes the football program to die. Other schools such as UCLA and GT have no problem canning coaches who have winning records and go to bowls every year. Why should our expectations be any different? We can keep Ty and disregard the previous 13 years and hope, hope, hope that he turns it around, or we can not be content with mediocrity.
Matt:
What else is out there right now? And don’t say Mora. Because really, he has yet to prove himself. For every Pete Carroll there are 8 Bill Callahans, Chan Gaileys, Dave Wannstedts or Charlie Weiss.
And speaking of Weis…when was he winning? When he had Brady Quinn…who was the one that got Quinn in the school? Where is old Chuck now?
How do we know Mora could handle: “the paperwork--compliance forms, admissions requirements, scholastic checks and more…The constituency a college coach serves is much broader, and the things that impact a program cover a wider range. In the NFL, it's a coach, his team and one city.” ( The Sporting News)
I am not going to say that he WILL stay, but really, he should. Until he has full control over the players on the field I don’t think you could judge him.
More coming later.
