UW Huskies football announces defensive coordinator, other staff changes
Washington head coach Jimmy Lake held a nationwide search for the Huskies’ next defensive coordinator. He interviewed college and professional coaches, searching for the right person to take over for the Texas-bound Pete Kwiatkowski.
But as he listened to the candidates speak, one thing became clear.
“We had the best defensive coordinator right here on our staff,” Lake said. “That’s Bob Gregory.”
Lake made it official Monday, announcing Gregory had been promoted to defensive coordinator. He’ll also continue to coach the inside linebackers.
Gregory has 15 seasons of experience as a defensive coordinator, eight at the FBS level. He spent seven of those years (2002-09) as the defensive coordinator at Cal and one season (2001) at Boise State. Gregory joined former UW head coach Chris Petersen’s staff in 2014 after coaching linebackers at Boise State from 2010-13.
During his time with the Huskies, Gregory has coached Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year Ben Burr-Kirven and first-team All-American Shac Thompson, among others.
“Our defense has been extremely successful,” Lake said during a Zoom interview on Monday. “We definitely didn’t want to bring in just a whole different, brand-new defense for our guys to learn. There’s a lot of stability here and knowing that we’re not just going to just completely throw our defensive scheme in the garbage can and start from scratch.
“We’re going to build on what we’ve done in the last eight years and add different wrinkles just like we normally do. Our coaches are already doing what they would normally do in an off-season in researching the best of the best, and we’re going to bring those new wrinkles here and install them and continue to be successful on that side of the ball.”
Kwiatkowski left UW last month to take the same position with the Longhorns. He had been on the Huskies’ staff as the defensive coordinator or co-defensive coordinator since 2014. Kwiatkowski served as the defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach during the 2020 season, taking over play-calling responsibilities after Lake’s promotion to head coach.
With Kwiatkowski and Lake leading the defense, the Huskies ranked first in the Pac-12 in scoring defense and total defense every year from 2015-18. In four games in 2020, they were second in the conference in points allowed per game (25.0) and first in total defense (346.3).
Lake said Gregory is the right person to continue building on that success, citing a relationship that stretches back nearly nine years. During their time at UW and Boise State, the two worked closely on the sideline to make game-time adjustments.
“He’s a defensive guy,” Lake said of Gregory. “Being able to see him coach his guys, being able to see him in the meeting room. We go over a new coverage, maybe a new blitz, and him being able to consume it and then come out with really good ideas how we should do it. … He’s extremely smart. He knows the back end, he knows the linebackers, he knows the fronts. He’s got extensive experience.”
During the 2019 season, inside linebacker was arguably UW’s weakest unit. Thin at the position due to a combination of injuries, graduations and transfers, the Huskies struggled to fill the holes left behind by Burr-Kirven and Tevis Bartlett. Gregory admitted to the struggles.
Lake said he was “extremely excited” about the way the unit played in 2020, particularly All-Pac-12 second-team selection Edefuan Ulofoshio. Before the start of the season, he said inside linebacker was one of UW’s two deepest position groups. While Gregory agreed, he also commented on the lack of experience. Ulofoshio and Jackson Sirmon, both redshirt sophomores last season, were the veterans of the unit.
“Going back and looking at the film, there’s definitely some things structurally where we could have helped our whole defense out better, to help them,” Lake said. “Our inside linebackers were one of the strengths of our defense last year, and even the conference noticed that with voting one of them all-conference.
“I’m expecting even more accolades for that position as we move forward. We have a bunch of depth. And structurally, we’re going to be able to help those guys so all 11 can play better.”
Lake said salary restrictions weren’t a factor in the decision to promote Gregory, adding that athletic director Jen Cohen and president Ana Mari Cauce were “unbelievable” during the process. It simply wasn’t the right decision to bring in a coach that was going to completely change the Huskies’ defensive scheme, he said.
“Anything we need, we will be able to do,” Lake said. “I know that’s going to be the case here going forward.”
Additional staff announcements
Other than offensive coordinator John Donovan, all Lake’s hires since he took over as head coach in 2019 have been internal. That trend not only continued with Gregory but also with other position moves Lake announced on Monday.
Co-defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe has shifted from defensive line coach to outside linebackers, while defensive analyst Rip Rowan has been promoted to defensive line coach. Running backs coach Keith Bhonapha will take over as special teams coordinator for Gregory.
“I always want to be able to promote from within when guys are doing their job and we know it’s going to make us better,” Lake said. “You’re always going to see that our quality control coaches and even our GAs, they are working to become that next guy at whatever position it is. If for whatever reason the qualifications are not there and we’re not happy with that candidate then we will definitely go outside of the building.”
Rowan joined the UW’s staff as a defensive analyst in 2019. Lake, the defensive coordinator at the time, said Rowan was his hire. Rowan, who previously served as a graduate assistant coach at Florida Atlantic and Southern Miss, also played defensive end and linebacker at Austin Peay.
“We add even more recruiting juice with Rip Rowan,” Lake said. “Young guy that is ready to get after it, ready to prove his worth. Since he’s been here all he’s done is work hard and has given us an advantage in all his duties that we gave him as quality control coach on defense. We’re excited to watch the connection he’s going to make with these recruits and having that young energetic mentality is going to be fun to watch.”
This story was originally published February 1, 2021 at 11:00 AM.
