If there’s one thing Tyrone Willingham is not, it’s slick.
Integrity, discipline and excellence were the words University of Washington President Mark Emmert used Monday to describe Willingham, the new Husky football coach. They are welcome traits for a program that imploded on and off the field with the messy departure of Rick Neuheisel, a divorce hastened by recruiting violations, deceit and a gambling scandal. All the distractions surely contributed to Washington’s 1-10 record this season, one in which departed coach Keith Gilbertson never had a chance to succeed.
Some will tell you that such woes are woven into the fabric of modern college football, with its win-at-all-costs value system. Willingham’s availability itself was a sign of how far the game’s priorities have sunk. He was fired just halfway into a six-year contract at Notre Dame because impatient boosters and some trustees wanted more wins – now. Even that storied university’s president said he was embarrassed by the decision.
So Notre Dame’s loss is Washington’s gain. The Huskies have hired a deeply principled coach with a reputation for plain-speaking honesty who treats players with respect but demands that they earn it. In three years at Notre Dame and seven at Stanford, the football graduation rate was between 82 and 92 percent. Washington’s rate is 67 percent – much better than average, but with room to improve.
Willingham has had his share of on-field success, too, taking Stanford to the Rose Bowl in 2000.
The fact that Willingham is African-American, one of just three such football coaches out of 117 NCAA Division I-A schools, is secondary but a plus. Washington is the only I-A school with African-Americans running both the football and men’s basketball programs, a fact that sends a strong message of inclusiveness.
Emmert, who came to the UW earlier this year from football power Louisiana State, has called college football “the front porch of the university.” He understands that a program that not only wins but builds successful student-athletes reflects well on the character and values of the entire university.
Let the character building begin.
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