Tia Jackson is out

Published 4:54 pm Monday, March 14, 2011

SEATTLE — In what can best be described as the inevitable end to a disappointing era, the University of Washington and women’s basketball coach Tia Jackson officially ended their relationship on Monday afternoon.

Jackson, who had one year left on the five-year contract she signed upon her hiring in April 2007, had a record of 45-75 and failed to turn in a single winning season while at UW. All four of her teams finished in the bottom half of the Pac-10 Conference standings and failed to get beyond the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.

While the official announcement said Jackson had resigned, the decision appears to be more of a mutual one. Athletic director Scott Woodward confirmed that Jackson will receive her final year’s base salary, or about $180,000, as compensation, and he made no bones about the reason for the decision.

“I think it’s pretty obvious,” he said via telephone early Monday evening. “The record spoke for itself.”

In a press release put out by the athletic department, Jackson was quoted as saying that she appreciated the opportunity given to her four years ago by then-athletic director Todd Turner and former school president Mark Emmert. She did not mention Woodward by name.

“Although we did not accrue the amount of wins ultimately desired,” Jackson was quoted as saying in the release, “I do feel (the players’) character, integrity, and academic success should be highlighted. With the addition of the incoming top-ranked recruiting class, the pieces are in place for this program to go to the next level.

“I’d like to wish the University of Washington, its athletic department and most important my current and past student athletes all the best and a great deal of success not only on the hardwood but in life. It was an absolute privilege to be a part of their development.”

Jackson had a somewhat controversial first couple of years at UW after replacing longtime Huskies coach June Daugherty in 2007. Jackson, a former Duke assistant with no head coaching experience, saw her tenure at UW get off to a rough start when four members of her first full recruiting class opted to transfer. Several of them cited Jackson’s coaching style as a reason for transferring, and the mass departure created a ripple in the program from which the Huskies never seemed to recover.

The current players seemed to have genuine respect for “Coach J,” but they weren’t able to get enough wins to save her job.

In each of her four seasons, Jackson finished below .500 in conference play. Only one other UW team in the previous 28 years had failed to break even in Pac-10 games.

While this year’s Huskies made strides and had some momentum following a successful trip to the Bay Area, where they beat Cal and battled fourth-ranked Stanford well into the second half, UW just couldn’t get over the hump. A late-season loss to Oregon State _ the Beavers’ first win of the Pac-10 season — and a pair of home losses to Arizona seemed to seal Jackson’s fate.

When the Huskies lost to Cal in their opening game of the Pac-10 tournament, the writing seemed to be on the wall.

“I always told (people) I always wanted to see marked improvement, and I just wasn’t seeing it,” Woodward said early Monday evening. “In Year 4, I felt that we needed to make step forward, and that just wasn’t the case.”

Woodward added that Jackson’s positive relationship with her players made the decision a tough one to swallow.

“These things are always difficult, and I’ve had a lot of sleepless nights,” said Woodward, who came to UW in Dec. 2008. “You look at the whole body of work and the whole trend. That’s why I’m very complimentary of Tia. Over the time I’ve been here, the student-athletes have had a very positive experience. But unfortunately, like I said, the record kind of speaks for itself.”

It marks the second time in just over three months that the UW athletic department has parted ways with a head coach. Men’s soccer coach Dean Wurzburger resigned in December. Since Woodward joined the athletic department a little over two years ago, UW has made changes atop four programs: football, baseball, men’s soccer and — now — women’s basketball.

Woodward, whose first coaching hire at UW was current head football coach Steve Sarkisian, said the search for a new women’s basketball coach will begin “immediately, and I’ll be intimately involved.”
When asked what qualities he will seek in a new coach, Woodward said: “Just the right fit; that’s the most important thing. We’ll know it when we see it.”