Regardless, Washington is 0-4, Locker could be out six weeks and the coaching staff is running out of answers. The calls for coach Willingham's head grow louder, and the opinions on the Seattle Times' Husky blog predictably espouse firing Ty (and hiring Lane Kiffin) or recommend that he do the "honorable thing" and step down.
If fans want to spew venom at the coaching staff, some of it should go in defensive coordinator Ed Donatell's direction. UW gave up 466 yards to Stanford, a season-high for the Cardinal, and amazingly, the Huskies still don't have a single sack this season. But Donatell is no joke. He was a longtime NFL defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach, including a stint with the Broncos when they won two straight Super Bowls. Maybe he's turned into a terrible coach, or maybe he's dealing with an inexperienced unit that still should have a bright future.
Willingham deserves a mulligan this season. With a brutal non-conference schedule and now dealing with the loss of their leader, the Huskies are living in a bad dream. But kicking out a good recruiter and solid citizen like Willingham under these conditions is not only unfair to him, it could potentially scare away established successors. Think about what it would look like to the rest of the country if UW fired its coach four games into a season that featured three games against top-25 clubs, a terrible excessive celebration penalty and a major injury to its starting QB. UW isn't a top program any more, and the administration can't think they would get top-shelf candidates if the head job were vacant. But the decline started before Willingham got here. Let him see this through and no doubt next year will look a lot better. Besides, UW isn't even the worst team in the state; it's only 54 days till the Apple Cup.
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