Jimmy Lake held together UW’s top-15 2020 class. What makes the Huskies’ new coach a strong recruiter?
Jimmy Lake stepped onto the floor at Alaska Airlines Arena on Jan. 18 to a standing ovation. A timeout had just been called during Washington’s basketball game against Oregon, and the new football coach had something to say.
Standing at mid-court, microphone in hand, Lake opened by praising the sold-out crowd — “This is why we will continue to dominate the West Coast,” he said, “because of fans like you.” Then he quickly turned his attention to recruiting in a message for fans and, perhaps more importantly, the 2021 recruits in attendance.
“In December, we just signed the No. 1 recruiting class in the Pac-12,” Lake said. “And what’s really exciting is we’re currently working on the 2021 class and in the state of Washington, we have some of the best players in the country and we need those guys to state right here, at home, in Seattle.”
Lake had officially been UW’s head coach for less than a month at the time. Former head coach Chris Petersen announced he was stepping down just days after the regular-season finale against Washington State. Lake was immediately appointed his successor, but Petersen coached the Huskies through the Las Vegas Bowl victory on Dec. 21.
Meanwhile, Lake was busy holding together what was the No. 1 class in the conference and the No. 13 class in the country, according to 247Sports. And thanks to the work of Lake and the staff, not a single player de-committed during the transition.
“It showed the respect that these players had for him that there was no sense of panic that he was taking over,” said Brandon Huffman, a national recruiting editor for 247Sports. “There wasn’t any, ‘Oh, he’s a first-time head coach, is this really where I want to go?’ I think a lot of times when you have a succession plan in place, it helps alleviate the fear.
“But I also think in this particular case, not only was the succession plan able to alleviate the fears, there was almost an anticipation by a lot of these guys to be really, his first recruiting class. A lot of the defensive guys, the reason they committed to Washington in the first place was because of Jimmy Lake and now he’s their head coach. I think that shows that the buy-in to him as a coach whether as a coordinator or now a head coach, players are all in.”
James Smith, a three-star cornerback out of St. John Bosco (Calif.) who signed with the Huskies in December, certainly felt that way. He was taken off-guard by the news that Petersen was leaving, but finding out Lake was taking over calmed his nerves.
“I felt way better about it finding out that he was going to do it,” Smith said during a phone interview in December. “Jimmy Lake is such a great coach and a great guy. I knew he would end up getting a head coach job, just not at Washington. I was just kind of hoping that he would stay there as long as possible. Hearing the news now, it just feels way better.”
‘Really a class individual’
Masaki Matsumoto has been the head coach at Lincoln High School for five years, and he can count on one hand the number of head coaches that have stopped by for visits during that time. But between his stint as defensive coordinator and head coach, Lake has been through four or five times just over the past three years.
Among other targets, Matsumoto coaches four-star 2021 athlete Julien Simon, whose offers include UW, Oregon, Penn State, Auburn, Stanford, Michigan and UCLA.
“For a defensive coordinator or a head coach to come and recruit and visit the coaches and come and see the school, I think that speaks volumes that he’s not too big for anything,” Matsumoto said. “(Lake’s) very personable, easy to talk to, really funny guy. I think he’s also just honest. He’s recruiting a couple of our players and he’s been honest with them from the start. He’s been honest with me. I’ve always appreciated that.”
After Petersen announced he was stepping down, Matsumoto said Lake immediately reached out to the players he was recruiting at Lincoln.
“I’ve seen him interact with the kids and he jokes around with them and he gets super excited when he’s talking to them,” Matsumoto said. “I think kids can kind of relate to him. He has a young personality. He’s able to joke around and relate to them to pretty well.”
Lakes High School head coach Dave Miller — who’s known Lake since he was an assistant at Eastern Washington — agreed. Lake has always been a strong recruiter, and Miller credits that to his dynamic personality. He’s upbeat and positive and energetic. He’s outwardly excited to meet people, Miller said, no matter who they are.
“He’s just really a class individual,” Miller said, “who I’ve felt to be one of the best recruiters I’ve dealt with over the years.”
It’s uncommon, Huffman said, for one of the top coordinators in the country to also be such a strong asset on the recruiting trail. With Lake, UW had both — and it showed in the way he consistently fielded one of the top defenses in the Pac-12 and one of the best secondaries in the country.
“He was one of those rare coordinators that his coordinating didn’t skip a beat when it came to recruiting and his recruiting didn’t skip a beat when he got promoted to coordinator,” Huffman said.
“That ability to continue to connect with his players and foster those relationships and develop those relationships, there was no negative effect when he moved into the DC job when there might have been more responsibility on the football side of things. His classes seemingly got stronger and the DB rooms got better even with him being a coordinator.”
‘He’s very, very passionate’
Miller sees a lot of similarities between Petersen and Lake. They’re both honest, and they prioritize building relationships and conducting thorough evaluations. During Petersen’s time at UW, the Huskies were known for keeping their scholarship offers low. In 2018, the average number of offers for a school was 232. UW issued 91, which was the third-lowest nationally.
That’s another thing Miller expects to stay the same under Lake: An offer from UW will still mean something. Huffman agreed, saying he anticipates Lake keeping the same deliberate approach. But he also expect Lake to make offers to players earlier in their high school careers.
“That’s probably what I loved about Coach Petersen is if you got his word on something, it was solid,” Miller said. “Jimmy is the same way. When he tells you something, you can count on it being rock solid. In the recruiting business, that’s not always the case.”
But Miller also anticipates Lake putting his own touch on things. While Petersen was older and more traditional, Lake can relate to players in a different way.
“I think Jimmy is just more into the current with the kids like joking with them a little more, connecting with them a little more that way,” Miller said. “But Jimmy’s not too young. He still does things right. Some of the younger coaches go too far that way, but I think he’s good blend of both.”
Kennedy Catholic head coach Sheldon Cross will send a few players to UW over the next few years. Four-star defensive end Sav’ell Smalls signed with the Huskies in December while four-star quarterback Sam Huard is already committed for 2021. Like Miller, Cross took note of Lake’s ability to connect with recruits.
“I think he’s bright, he’s sharp, he’s very, very passionate,” Cross said. “He comes off really, really well with the players. He has a way of communicating with players really well. When he speaks about something, you can see the excitement of it and you can see where he’s a phenomenal recruiter.”
That’s something you don’t have to tell his players, even the ones who were on the opposite side of the field.
“He has an edge about him that I think is going to be important for the team coming up these years,” said former UW center Nick Harris. “I’m excited. He has an edge that he coaches with. All his DBs have the same edge. That’s why they’re always so good. If that happens to the whole team, they’re going to be pretty dangerous.”
