SEATTLE – Zach Tuiasosopo has had better days.
The University of Washington senior fullback likes Keith Gilbertson, who recruited him, was later his offensive coordinator and then his head coach.
The last thing Tuiasosopo wanted to see was what happened Monday: the announcement that Gilbertson would step down as head coach at the University of Washington at the end of the season
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The following is a list of likely candidates to coach the University of Washington football team next season: Jeff Tedford, Cal Urban Meyer, Utah Pat Hill, Fresno State Dan Hawkins, Boise State Gary Pinkel, Missouri Frank Solich, formerly of Nebraska |
, effectively fired after starting the year 1-7.
“On a personal level, it’s a real low point for me,” Tuiasosopo said. “It really is. Coach Gilbertson has been my coach. He’s been there from Day 1 with me and I’ve been there from Day 1 with him, from my senior year in high school, when he recruited me to my last year here as a fifth-year senior. I wouldn’t trade those times for any other.”
Gilbertson informed his players of the news Monday in a 1:30 p.m. meeting. He said that it was business as usual, that they have to go to class, that they have to prepare for Saturday’s game against Arizona at Husky Stadium, that they have to practice hard in doing so.
Then he left, leaving athletic director Todd Turner to address the team. Turner told the players the process he would take in hiring a new coach.
Junior linebacker Joe Lobendahn said the mood was respectful, solemn and confusing at the same time.
“I was standing in the back of the room and I could see that everybody’s head was down, like, ‘What’s happening here?’” Lobendahn said. “Guys are feeling so bad about this. We’re shocked. We didn’t expect this.”
Crusty and cantankerous on the outside but soft on the inside, Gilbertson is a popular coach among his players, one who gets into his players’ faces one second and hug them and laugh the next.
“He’s our guy,” cornerback Derrick Johnson said. “We play for him as much as we play for each other. We played hard; things just did not go our way.”
Said Tuiasosopo: “Coach Gilby is a good guy who you liked to play for a lot. You know when you’re on the football field, he’s going to give everything he can give you to become the best football player you can be. I think that if you’ve got that, there’s no reason to part with that coach.”
Some questioned the timing of the announcement, wondering why it wasn’t made at the conclusion of the season. This way, some said, Gilbertson and his staff are lame ducks, which can put an even harsher damper on an already disappointing season.
“I think they could have waited until after the season and saved us all a lot of commotion,” Johnson said. “I’m disappointed, but that’s part of the business. If you don’t win games, then they’ve got to do something.”
Gilbertson said that he’s a football coach, period. It was what he is, the way he saw himself. It’s all he wanted to be.
His players saw that. And they loved him for it.
“What I want to do before he leaves is make him laugh a couple of times,” senior wide receiver Charles Frederick said. “I want to try to get it off his mind. I want these last days he has with us to be the best time of his life.”
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