When the Washington Huskies take the field at Arizona Stadium on Saturday, they will be playing for their first win, playing for pride, playing to turn around a rapidly tumbling season.
But they will not be playing for coach Tyrone Willingham’s job – at least not in the short term.
When Scott Woodward was awarded the permanent athletic director duties last month, he said he is against in-season firings except in exceptional circumstances. And he repeated that this week as the Huskies (0-4 overall, 0-2 Pacific-10 Conference) prepared to visit the Arizona Wildcats (3-1, 1-0) at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in Tucson.
“I’m not in any way going to say everything’s ruled out,” Woodward said Wednesday. “But it’s not my inclination to make a midseason change. I don’t like to do that. We’re going to do everything we can to help Coach Willingham get this team back on track. And I’m not any happier than I was last week; in fact, I’m less happy. But I know Coach Willingham is the same way and the team is the same way.”
Speculation about Willingham’s job status began even before his fourth UW team reported for fall camp.
However, the volume has increased with each loss to the point that the Huskies are now the only team from a major conference that hasn’t yet won a game.
Speculation has spiked especially high this week for one reason behind and one reason ahead.
Looking back, everyone associated with the program seemed especially disappointed with the 35-28 home loss to Stanford on Saturday, the first game this season in which the Huskies had been favorites.
Also looming ominously is the week just ahead: a bye, which led to speculation that the extra time between games could accommodate the immediate disruption of a coaching change.
However, “No” was Woodward’s simple answer when asked if an in-season move would be more likely in a bye week. After next week, the Huskies will have one more bye: between the Nov. 22 Apple Cup and the Dec. 6 season-ender at California.
Questions about an in-season coaching move have survived Woodward’s recent statements, in part, because he and UW president Mark Emmert have presided over such a move before. That was in 1999, when Emmert was chancellor at Louisiana State, Woodward was his key connection to the LSU athletic office, and Gerry DiNardo was the football coach.
DiNardo had taken over the proud LSU program in 1994, during one of its rare periods of decline. He enjoyed some success, leading the Tigers to three consecutive bowl victories. However, his 1998 team returned below .500, and when his 1999 team regressed badly, DiNardo was fired with one game remaining.
“They weren’t reported widely, but there were clearly a ton of off-the-field problems at the time there,” Woodward said this week.
Still, DiNardo was offered the chance to coach that final game, but he declined.
He was replaced by Nick Saban, who led LSU to the BSC national championship in the 2003-04 season.
Extra points
In his final meeting with the media before kickoff, Willingham said Thursday that he remained uncertain if receiver D’Andre Goodwin (bruised ribs) and tailback David Freeman (ankle) will be available Saturday. Safety Johri Fogerson (ankle) is doubtful, but it appears safety Victor Aiyewa (groin) will play for the first time this season. … Willingham said true freshman receiver Cody Bruns will probably make his college debut at Arizona, and he said it is possible receiver Anthony Boyles could, too. True freshman tailback Terrance Dailey had also been in the mix, but he was slowed this week by illness. … The Huskies fly to Arizona today, their first travel in 34 days since the season-opening loss at Oregon on Aug. 30. … The team will be greeted by the hottest weather they have faced in a while. The forecast for today in Tucson calls for partly cloudy skies with a high of 93. The game day forecast calls for a high of 89.
Don Ruiz: 253-597-8808
blogs.thenewstribune.com/uwsports
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