Sunday, November 23, 2008

UW: The Nadir

I was snookered. Consider it the last time I overestimate an 0-10 team. After the Huskies stole defeat from the jaws of victory in a 16-13 double-overtime Crapple Cup loss to the Cougars, it can't get any worse for UW -- except that it can. The Huskies will be heavy underdogs against Cal Saturday in a quest to go 0-12. Wow. The only winless team in major-college football is also one that made a Rose Bowl this decade and won a national championship during the last one, all the while a Top-20 program. The fall from grace is complete. So how did Tyrone Willingham drive this train so far off the rails? It's instructive to look at Willingham's past to see how his present is so bad.

It's hard to remember that four years ago Willingham was a hot coaching prospect. He had success and moral outrage on his side after getting canned by Notre Dame. His ouster after a three-year record of 21-16 caused consternation among some Irish faithful who felt the school debased itself in the name of winning at any cost. Prior to that, Willingham was successful in Palo Alto, where he brought Stanford -- Stanford! -- to a Rose Bowl. (It's also hard to remember a time when USC didn't have a stranglehold on the Pac-10). But what those schools have in common are high academic standards. Willingham was a success working under those circumstances, but apparently doesn't have what it takes to operate outside them.

I imagine Willingham in living rooms coming across as a military recruiter, exuding confidence and integrity, while appealing as much to parents as he does to the athlete. When you're recruiting people considering Stanford or Notre Dame, you're dealing with kids who are real student-athletes, insofar as they exist in major-college football. Presumably they're successful at juggling the rigors of football with long hours of classwork. By and large, they're self-motivated. But at a place like UW -- or most schools, for that matter -- where more external motivation is needed, Coach Ty fell flat.

Willingham clearly failed as a motivator. He has the charisma of dry toast, and his press conferences and interviews are notoriously bland, even by the diluted standards of coachspeak. You don't have to be a quote machine to be successful, but it helps to change your expression once in a while. Pete Carroll, Nick Saban and Mike Leach are different in that they're affable, slick and quirky, respectively, but they all have personality. In addition to being good recruiters, they seem to get through to their players most of the time. But Willingham never got through to his UW teams. (Also, Willingham didn't recruit well early on, but his recent classes have been better. I bet a better motivator has more success with Ty's players next year.) His stoic demeanor looked more distant and icy as the losses mounted. At schools like Stanford and Notre Dame, Willingham could get away with the edict-from-on-high thing, but that didn't cut it at UW. Willingham didn't motivate his players, and if you're not a motivator, you're not really a coach.

Despite all this, I still think Willingham can be successful elsewhere. UW fans probably don't care where Willingham goes, just that he is going. But install Ty at a service academy or a brainy school and he can win again, and some schools fitting this description might soon have openings. It's not hard to picture Willingham at Vanderbilt, where Bobby Johnson has the Commodores poised to go to a bowl for the first time since 1982. Certainly bigger programs will come calling, and Johnson's name has been linked to the Clemson vacancy. Northwestern has won 9 games under hot young coach Pat Fitzgerald, but it's not clear if he wants to leave Evanston; Fitzgerald was a linebacker on the Wildcats team that made the 1996 Rose Bowl. Rice is also uncharacteristically bowl-eligible, and the Owls' fan base might approve of an established name like Willingham if that job were to open up. (Lt. Daniels could weigh in on this). But it's also quite possible that Willingham's reputation is so bruised by his UW failure that he has to take an assistant job somewhere.

Fans might disagree, but I think the UW program is in better shape than when Willingham came on four years ago. That's not saying much because he took over a house in shambles, following a 1-10 season in 2004. The team had little talent and was still dealing with the aftermath of Rick Neuheisel's malfeasance. These days, the program is cleaner, and if you surround Jake Locker with a modicum of talent next year, UW will win at least a few games. Nonetheless, much of UW's failure clearly lies at the feet of its coach. He didn't recruit well enough early on, and his style was a bad fit at a place like Washington. It's almost too bad because it confirms the old adage: nice guys finish last.

5 comments:

Stanklin said...

Dag, Moisture Fetch, great post. I have nothing to add.

Lt. Daniels said...

Great post, Fetch.

You mention Rice. First, let's get one thing clear: the phrase "Rice fan base" does not describe a great many people. According to Rice Alumni Association, there are 46,509 Rice graduates. On the entire planet. There are fewer Rice alumni alive today than students currently attending Ohio State.

Rice has been invited to the Texas Bowl (December 30 on the NFL Network - set your TiVo now). If every living Rice grad made the trek to Reliant Stadium to watch the game, there would still be 24,991 seats available. That's just enough room to fit the Longhorn Band if you don't invite the twirlers.

Anyway, I digress.

Rice doesn't have especially high expectations for its major athletics, outside of baseball (where we won a national title in 2003, and no I never get tired of mentioning it). So we tend to hang on to losing coaches if they graduate good kids. This explains Ken Hatfield, he of 12 seasons, 3 of them winning efforts. (Though he did beat Texas, and no I never get tired of mentioning that either.) He was a good guy who recruited good kids who graduated.

Willingham is also a good guy who recruits good kids who (I assume) graduate. So I could see him finding a home at Rice when the current coach inevitably gets hired away. His predecessor lasted one year before Tulsa (!) lured him away.

That said - Willingham is leading his team to a historically horrific season. Give him a few seasons as an assistant to buck up his image, and for us to forget the horrors if 2008, and maybe he'll land a nice gig in Houston. But not yet. We may be Rice, but we ain't desperate.

Lt. Daniels said...

P.S. Rice finished the year at 9-3, on a 6-game win streak, the 5th best passing offense, and the 10th most productive offense overall. Jarrett Dillard is #1 in the country in yards, receptions, and touchdowns. QB Chase Clement accounts for more yards than all but 5 other players in the country, better than Colt McCoy, Pat White, and Tim Tebow.

Ty Willingham is... Ty Willingham.

Stylistically, he could be a good fit for a school like Rice. But if he's going to end up there, he'll have to do a pretty damn good reclamation job, and Rice will have to fall pretty damn hard.

Lt. Daniels said...

P.P.S. Of Clement I should say: His production ranks him above McCoy, White, and Tebow. Better than? I love Chase, but I know who I'd pick in a sandlot game.

And what's with all the QBs named Chase all of a sudden? There are 3 of them among the top 10 passers in the country: Clement, Daniel, and Holbrook (New Mexico State).

Moisture Fetch said...

When I referred to the "Rice fan base," I really meant to write "Owl Nation."