Statement from Emmert and more quotes from press conference

Published 4:36 pm Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Mark Emmert wasn’t at the press conference today, but he did issue this statement:

“There has been much speculation following the conclusion of our football season about the state of Head Football Coach Ty Willingham. Everyone connected to Husky football, from the coaches and players to the students, alumni, and fan, is disappointed with this season’s record. No one is more disappointed than Coach Willingham himself.

Our central goal in athletics is to build and sustain a program that gives our student-athletes the best chance to achieve excellence in the classroom, on the field, and in life. College football is more competitive and balanced than ever before. The UW must and will compete within that context. As university leaders we must proved our students with the resources they need to do so, including talented committed coaches.

I believe Tyrone Willingham has the talent, character and drive to reach the level of success we all want for our football program. He and I have discussed the need to evaluate all aspects of the program, determine what changes need to be made to strengthen it, and set in motion those changes to point the program in the right direction. Everyone understands we need to become more competitive, and I am confident Tyrone will do what it takes to make that happen.”

Here’s how Todd Turner opened at the press conference:

“I’m here to reaffirm my support and that of the university’s higher administration of Coach Willingham as our football coach.

I think it’s clear that none of the Husky nation is thrilled to have only four wins under our belt this past year, but the body of work that I’ve observed and the university leadership has observed over the past three years gives clear evidence to me that that record will change in the very near future. We’re committed to that and we feel strongly that Coach Willingham has provided the kind of leadership that gives us the base to make it happen.

The charge that Tyrone had when arrived at the University of Washington was to put in place the building blocks for a program that could sustain itself over a long period of time, and by any measure the foundation, we believe, is firmly in place to allow the wins now to take care of themselves.”

He said the key building blocks he sees are the strong recruiting, the attitudes of players (they never quit, etc.) and the context of the strength of the Pac-10.

Willingham said that he feels the team is poised to do good things, and when asked what he would say to those who wanted to see him go, he said this:

“My message to them is ‘Please hold on. We’ve had some rough and turbulent waters to navigate. Hopefully we are in the process of getting through those difficult waters and punch through to be the kind of football team I think we can be and, to me, that’s exciting.’”