Holt had to go? No question

The Saturday morning announcement that Nick Holt had been fired came two years and 51 weeks after the Huskies’ defensive coordinator introduced himself with an enthusiasm best described as gusto.

Listening to his former USC colleague deliver a press-conference mission statement that rambled on for four minutes without pause, UW coach Steve Sarkisian smiled and asked: “Any question why I wanted him?”

If there was no question why Sarkisian wanted Holt to supervise the rebuilding of one of the nation’s most inept defensive units, there was also no question why Holt had to go. Year Three of the Nick Holt Project found the Huskies fundamentally challenged on defense, physically overmatched and spiritually broken.

Holt looked helpless as he groped for answers, and even more helpless when he actually enunciated them.

“We missed a couple of tackles that went for big plays there in the third quarter,” he said after the Debacle Alamo Bowl on Thursday.

A couple of missed tackles might explain the difference between a 20-17 victory and a 20-17 defeat, but a couple of missed tackles cannot begin to explain a game that turned the UW defense into fodder for punch lines on both coasts.

Sarkisian remained circumspect in his remarks to the media – well, as circumspect as a coach can be after watching his team lose on a night it scored eight touchdowns – promising he’d evaluate all phases of his football program.

The evaluation of Holt, safeties coach Jeff Mills and linebackers coach Mike Cox didn’t take long. They apparently were informed of their fate Friday.

The abrupt overhaul of the defensive staff suggests Sarkisian was, uh, encouraged to take action by his boss, athletic director Scott Woodward.

This is mere speculation – Sarkisian won’t comment on the firings until he meets the press later in the week – but it’s not unreasonable to suspect Woodward was as grossed out by what he saw in San Antonio as any other Huskies fan.

But unlike any other Huskies fan, Woodward had the power to force Sarkisian’s hand.

If that was the case – and again, I’m just speculating – should fans be worried about a rift between the AD and the head football coach?

I wouldn’t be concerned. To the contrary, I see the possibility that Woodward influenced Sarkisian’s decision as the one positive development of an otherwise joyless New Year’s Eve saga.

Look it at this way: Sarkisian and Holt share a friendship that goes back years. Loyalty isn’t the best business policy – it clouds judgments, and thus impedes logic – but there are worse reputations football coaches can own than maintaining a blind trust in their assistants.

If Sarkisian was disinclined to fire Holt, Mills and Cox, the candidates in line to replace them should note that the head coach always will have their back. Loyalty can be perceived as a weakness, but it also can be perceived as a strength – especially by those mulling the prospect of putting their homes on the market and moving their families to Seattle.

As for Woodward? If it turns out the call was his, he enhances his status as a tough-minded administrator. During his days as a competitive athlete, Woodward’s sport was tennis – another tough-minded administrator, Pacific-12 Conference commissioner Larry Scott, also played tennis – but Woodward knows enough about football to realize an assistant coach responsible for coordinating a defense that gives up an average of 453.3 yards per game is unfit for a job that pays $6.50 an hour, much less $650,000 a year.

Holt’s dismissal was inevitable, but it also finds us asking: Why were Mills and Cox also shown the door? Simple. The new defensive coordinator will want a say in assembling his lieutenants, and with Mills and Cox gone – along with cornerbacks coach Demetrice Martin, who left to join Jim Mora at UCLA – the floor is open.

The UW press release that confirmed the coaching-staff shake-up Saturday noted that the Huskies will begin a “national search” for a defensive coordinator. The search might turn out to be national, but Holt’s replacement figures to have ties to the West Coast generally, and southern California specifically.

Timing is a problem: While Washington is approaching a critical stage of the recruiting season – the minds of impressionable 18-year-olds are changing as we speak – the Huskies must scour the land for four defensive coaches willing to commit to a team that just surrendered 777 yards and 67 points in a single night.

Who’d want to take on that challenge in exchange for the guarantee of a contract well into six figures?

Good question, and it leads to a better one.

Who wouldn’t?

john.mcgrath@thenewstribune.com

NO DEFENSE

The regular-season defensive statistics for the Huskies in 2008 – when they finished 0-12, which led to a coaching change – and this season, when they finished 7-6: