University of Washington brass made the tough (and right) call

Published 11:39 pm Wednesday, December 5, 2007

SEATTLE — Firing Tyrone Willingham after three seasons would have been the easy thing to do. After all, Notre Dame did it.

It would have been easy to look at the 11-25 record the past three years, designate wins and losses as the bottom line and show him the door.

Certainly, it would have made a segment of the purple-and-gold contingent happy, the ones who demanded Willingham’s head after each of this season’s nine losses as well, as strange as it seems, after each of the four victories.

But doing the right thing isn’t always easy. Athletic director Todd Turner, to his credit, looked deeper into Willingham’s football program and saw enough good things to decide to keep the coach on for at least another year.

Despite the record.

Despite the verbal barrage Turner knew he was going to get once he made the announcement.

Despite the continuing haranguing he’ll get if the Huskies aren’t at least 8-4 next season.

It was the right decision, the only logical decision. Fire Willingham and the program’s back to Square One. And it isn’t a pretty view from Square One.

This was the most important thing Turner said during Wednesday’s 37-minute press conference: “We feel really good about where we’re going. We’re not feeling good about where we are.”

He’s right. How can they feel good about a 4-9 record, when Washington’s record at halftime was 8-4-1? But those who rely solely on 4-9 as their evaluative criterion have short memories.

Remember Willingham’s first team, in 2005, the one that came off a 1-10 season under Keith Gilbertson? The one that finished 2-9, with victories against Idaho and Arizona.

Fast forward and make that team play the 2007 schedule, the one commonly judged the toughest in the country. It’s difficult to find a game it could have won. We’re looking at 0-13, maybe 1-12.

So what’s the point? Improvement. Those who don’t see it aren’t trying. They don’t see a positive direction, yet it’s there. It’s slow, slower than Turner, Willingham, UW president Mark Emmert and every fan who wears those silly little stuffed dawg faces on their purple baseball caps, but it’s grinding along.

There are those who say the rugged schedule is no excuse for 4-9. Had the Huskies finished 9-4 or better, it’s not a stretch to surmise that they would be the first and loudest to point to the schedule and say, “See, we did it with THIS Murderer’s Row.”

Failure to take into account the schedule is irresponsible and wrong. Strength of schedule will continue to be an issue next season, when out-of-conference foes are Oklahoma, BYU and Notre Dame. The Huskies will play most of their toughest Pac-10 opponents — USC, Oregon, Cal, Washington State — on the road.

Warts and all, the 2007 team was Willingham’s best at Washington. Louis Rankin was the program’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Rashaan Shehee in 1997. Quarterback Jake Locker fell just 14 yards short of 1,000 yards rushing. That means the offensive line had to be doing something right.

Yes, the defense stunk in record numbers. Although he announced no changes in the defensive coaching staff, Willingham acknowledged the problem and said it would be examined in the evaluation process.

That means tough choices. It also means a possible exit of some or all of the defensive staff, including defensive coordinator Kent Baer, a Willingham aide and friend for 13 years, and defensive-line coach Randy Hart, a UW holdover from the Don James years.

“I am committed to Husky football,” Willingham said, “to do what’s right and appropriate in our program.”

How serious Willingham is about turning around the program will be demonstrated by how he deals with the defensive issue. He said the evaluation would be finished “sooner rather than later.”

A major factor in Turner’s favorable decision where it concerns Willingham is the incoming recruiting class, Willingham’s best since his arrival.

Included are tight end Kavario Middleton and wide receiver Jermaine Kearse, both of Lakes High School. Also committing verbally are wideout Cody Bruns of Prosser; defensive tackle Craig Noble of Woodland Hills, Calif.; and offensive tackles Drew Schaefer of Eastlake and Senio Kelemete of Evergreen.

These are big-time recruits who could have gone virtually anywhere they wished. They chose Washington.

Willingham has a chance at two more biggies this weekend, when the Huskies host guard Alameda Ta’amu of Rainier Beach (6-4, 330) and defensive end Everette Thompson of Kennedy (6-51/2, 231).

The haters will scream as they have for years, but even they can’t deny the program’s upward trend with any credibility.

Columnist John Sleeper: sleeper@heraldnet.com. To reach Sleeper’s blog, click on cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/danglingparticiples.