Published: Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Willingham tries to take attention off Willingham
But that may be hard to do with rumors of his impending firing and his former school, Notre Dame, coming to town Saturday.
SEATTLE -- As much as he'd prefer not to be, Tyrone Willingham is the center of attention as Washington prepares to host Notre Dame this weekend.
Truth be told, Willingham is a story this week and every other week regardless of who is on the schedule. The Huskies are 0-6 this season and are 11-31 under Willingham, who is in his fourth -- and many people are assuming -- last season at Washington. A coaching change seems inevitable at this point, so Willingham is a story every week.
But factor in the opponent, a program with more history and tradition than just about any other in the country, a program that, oh by the way, fired Willingham four years ago, and whether he tries to downplay it or not, the spotlight this week is going to fall on Willingham.
"What I always try to do is take the Tyrone Willingham out of things," Willingham said. "It's not about me. It's about the two teams from 2008 that will line up on the field and play. And the team that plays the best that day will win."
This will be Willingham's second game against his former employer, the first being a 36-17 Notre Dame victory in Seattle in 2005. Willingham coached the Irish to a win over Washington in 2004.
Heading into this season, this game looked like it could serve as a measuring stick between two programs trying to bounce back from a down year. So far, however, Notre Dame, at 4-2, looks to be making progress while the Huskies seem to be going backwards. Notre Dame fans seem to be embracing Charlie Weis in his fourth season, while in Seattle, more Husky fans are turning against Willingham with each loss.
Still, Willingham said it's not impossible to, as he put it, take the Tyrone Willingham out of things when it comes to preparing his team for the game.
"No it's not," he said. "That's something that everybody else will dwell on. After we finish this morning I will be simply focused on our football game and try to move our football team in that direction. And at some point, some of you [in the media] will tire of that and move on to something else."
Willingham hopes his team can tune out the outside noise heading into this game, and the players say this game is big not so much because it's Notre Dame, but because it provides an opportunity to finally win a game.
"We're not really paying attention to that stuff," said tailback Terrance Dailey. "We're just trying to get a win, we're not really paying attention to that extra stuff."
That being said, a few players admitted Monday that they'd like to get this win not only for themselves, but for their embattled coach who was fired by Notre Dame four years ago.
"We're really just trying to get a win, but in the back of my mind it definitely resonates that he kind of got dealt a bad hand there," said junior linebacker Donald Butler.
So you wouldn't mind helping Willingham get a little revenge against his former team?
"Something like that," Butler said with a smile.
USC game time selected: Washington's Nov. 1 game at USC will be played at 3:30 p.m. and televised nationally by FSN.
Players of the game: Receiver D'Andre Goodwin and tailback Terrance Dailey, both of whom had their first 100-yard games at Washington, were named co-offensive players of the week. Sophomore linebacker Mason Foster, who had eight tackles, including two and a half for loss, earned defensive honors, while Devin Aguilar was named special teams player of the week.
Fullback Tobias Togi, linebacker Bradly Roussel and defensive back Taylor Lappano earned service team player of the week honors.
New linebacker look to stick: Willingham said that the team will likely stick with the new linebacking unit of Donald Butler, Mason Foster and Trenton Tuiasosopo, though the Huskies may play more nickel defense than base this weekend because of Notre Dame's tendency to play with an empty backfield.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on UW sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog
Truth be told, Willingham is a story this week and every other week regardless of who is on the schedule. The Huskies are 0-6 this season and are 11-31 under Willingham, who is in his fourth -- and many people are assuming -- last season at Washington. A coaching change seems inevitable at this point, so Willingham is a story every week.
But factor in the opponent, a program with more history and tradition than just about any other in the country, a program that, oh by the way, fired Willingham four years ago, and whether he tries to downplay it or not, the spotlight this week is going to fall on Willingham.
"What I always try to do is take the Tyrone Willingham out of things," Willingham said. "It's not about me. It's about the two teams from 2008 that will line up on the field and play. And the team that plays the best that day will win."
This will be Willingham's second game against his former employer, the first being a 36-17 Notre Dame victory in Seattle in 2005. Willingham coached the Irish to a win over Washington in 2004.
Heading into this season, this game looked like it could serve as a measuring stick between two programs trying to bounce back from a down year. So far, however, Notre Dame, at 4-2, looks to be making progress while the Huskies seem to be going backwards. Notre Dame fans seem to be embracing Charlie Weis in his fourth season, while in Seattle, more Husky fans are turning against Willingham with each loss.
Still, Willingham said it's not impossible to, as he put it, take the Tyrone Willingham out of things when it comes to preparing his team for the game.
"No it's not," he said. "That's something that everybody else will dwell on. After we finish this morning I will be simply focused on our football game and try to move our football team in that direction. And at some point, some of you [in the media] will tire of that and move on to something else."
Willingham hopes his team can tune out the outside noise heading into this game, and the players say this game is big not so much because it's Notre Dame, but because it provides an opportunity to finally win a game.
"We're not really paying attention to that stuff," said tailback Terrance Dailey. "We're just trying to get a win, we're not really paying attention to that extra stuff."
That being said, a few players admitted Monday that they'd like to get this win not only for themselves, but for their embattled coach who was fired by Notre Dame four years ago.
"We're really just trying to get a win, but in the back of my mind it definitely resonates that he kind of got dealt a bad hand there," said junior linebacker Donald Butler.
So you wouldn't mind helping Willingham get a little revenge against his former team?
"Something like that," Butler said with a smile.
USC game time selected: Washington's Nov. 1 game at USC will be played at 3:30 p.m. and televised nationally by FSN.
Players of the game: Receiver D'Andre Goodwin and tailback Terrance Dailey, both of whom had their first 100-yard games at Washington, were named co-offensive players of the week. Sophomore linebacker Mason Foster, who had eight tackles, including two and a half for loss, earned defensive honors, while Devin Aguilar was named special teams player of the week.
Fullback Tobias Togi, linebacker Bradly Roussel and defensive back Taylor Lappano earned service team player of the week honors.
New linebacker look to stick: Willingham said that the team will likely stick with the new linebacking unit of Donald Butler, Mason Foster and Trenton Tuiasosopo, though the Huskies may play more nickel defense than base this weekend because of Notre Dame's tendency to play with an empty backfield.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on UW sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog
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