This is a very interesting article.
Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times, and UW Administration has obviously been reading the Dawgman message boards.
It's kind of assumed: Big-money boosters will, from time to time, try to influence the direction of their favorite college teams, however discreetly. But when Ed Hansen — lawyer, multimillionaire, University of Washington alumnus and former three-term Everett mayor — wrote UW President Mark Emmert six weeks ago, he abandoned all sense of delicacy.
It is followed up with an Op-Ed piece that President Emmert wrote for the Times on collegiate sports in general.
Emmert Editorial
Americans' passion for sports is far from unique. Many nations share our love of athletic competition. What is unique about America is the extent to which we have linked sports to our universities. Only in America are intercollegiate athletics a national obsession.
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Loved both articles...thanks for posting them. I completely understand the love for a team...I go through it everyday at work as I read the scores this past year and watch recruiting battles and I didn't even go to UW...I went to Bloomsburg University, a small Div 2 school in PA. I really hope that Ty gets this thing rolling. I am more than willing to give him one more year...look at Kansas. Never met him but he seems like a good man regardless of how little he talks to the media or how many losses he racks up...that doesn't deter him from being a good man. But I need UW to start winning. I need enjoyment out of life on Saturdays as I hear and see all the Penn State fans go crazy for another bowl year and another bowl win. I dont want just one good year. If Ty doesn't do it next year then get a HUGE name to come in and coach...not Mora, a guy who hasn't had the best luck as a head coach, but a proven winner. Like Michigan with Rodriquez. Again, I hope that Ty turns it around and makes everyone eat crow...but if not have alumni break the bank to get a new coach not to fire a good man.
Sorry for the long post lately just have had a lot on my mind...if any of this is unclear let me know and I will try my little heart out to help.
Everybody says go out and hire a high profile coach like Rodriguez but it is more difficult than you think, esspecially at UW.
First of all you have to find someone that is interested in coming to Washington.
Willingham was pretty high profile. He was just fired from ND, and had been head man at Stanford before that.
He wasn't exactly the first choice. The Huskies were interested in Spurrier, Tedford, and Meyer just to name a few before they came up with Ty.
Rick Neuheisel was the most high profile hire in the history of our Athletic Department.
Lambo was a longtime assistant who was hired immedialtely after James resigned with no search.
James was a coach from Kent State of all places. He was the Huskies fourth choice. UW wanted Dan Devine, Mike White, and Darryl Rodgers ahead of James.
Jim Owens was an assistant from Oklahoma, and Texas A$M. Same with Darryl Royal who preceded him.
John Cherberg was a local HS coach.
If Mora is the head coach, and I think he has a good chance, most will be happy.
Willingham may surprise us all by winning big next year, you just never know.
I guess my point about the big name hire was that it maybe hard to get someone to come to Washington but money talks. All of these booster want to give hundreds of thousands of dollars to get rid of Ty but what about putting that money to hiring a coach or building new facilities to help get a new coach (obviously this is if Ty loses next year which i hope is not the case). I was excited when they hired Ty but his success at Notre Dame wasn't that great but I do think that he deserved to end with the recruits he brought in just like I think he should have the chance to do that here. Don James was a great coach but bringing in a no name coach these days doesn't bring in recruits. Michigan is now the front runner for Pryor just because the offense they will now run along with his and the programs success. With the days of online recruiting upon us and tv contracts, kids want the spot light. They want to go play for the big names, not some high school coach who got a promotion to D-1. Look at the immediate impact the Walker would have brought...it would have brought us Woods and possibly Carter (who by the way is coming this weekend). Like i said...I hope with all my heart that Ty wins next year because I do believe that kids like Seattle when they visit and want to play there for him. Crossing my fingers for a great year.
I loved the quotes from Mike Lude and Sean Alexander. Two good men.
The Times story was a joke. Rich boosters attempt to exert influence over sports program! Wow, who knew?
(Meanwhile, Condotta's alma mater fires its AD and replaces him with a booster because Phill Knight won't buy him a new basketball arena.)
Ask yourself this: Would it be top-of-page-1 news if the Seattle Times uncovered similar e-mails from donors to Mars Hill church or any of the megachurches on the Eastside? Of course not. Rich people who donate loads of money attach strings. Who cares?
The real news -- that Emmert forbid the extension of TW's contract, and his reasoning for that decision -- barely made the paper. It was buried in Condotta's blog. That should have been the story at the top of page 1.
Shaun Alexander? Jeff Kemp? Puh-leez. They're defending TW for no reason other than their Christian connection. If Shaun had to run as hard as Jake Locker, he'd hate TW.
TW may be a great guy. You and I can't really know, because he won't let us. But we know one thing from watching his team: He's a bad coach and an ineffective leader. In the 12th game of his fourth year, his defense came out of a time out and the players didn't know what play they were running.
He couldn't get a play into the game at crunch time at U$C. He can't hold a giant lead at Hawaii. We could go on and on.
Eventually a good coach wins you a game. Can you name a single time -- one game! when TW and his coaching staff won a game for Washington? Now ask yourself how many games they lost for Washington. Much easier, huh?
I'm off point, though. My point is, the Times story was a joke. Traditional media have decided that those of us who believe TW must go -- Bloggers! Spoiled rich babies! -- are crazy. The traditional media are threatened by the rise of nontraditional communication beyond their control. They demonize those of us who use the Internet to make our voices heard. They're not professionals, so they can't be trusted. You can trust us, because we get paid. Trust us, because we spell and punctuate better. Crazy people are all bloggers, and bloggers are all crazy.
The Times and all of TW's defenders at the Times and P-I are less for TW than they are against us. Remember that.
I agree with B.T.
Ty may be a "great" man but he's a lousy coach. How many other "great" men in this country get paid $1.5 mil to be ineffective plus he put a fence between the team and the fans when he came in?
Since Ty's enabler is gone 31 Jan, 2008 we'll see if he has the cajones to go along with the changes that he will be told to make in the PR area very soon.
If Ty has such great integrity why is he still here after two straight years of not meeting his goals and regressing to 10th place in the Pac 10?
Johnb, the problem with the Condotta article down here was it was broadcast in a very negative light on all the media stations in LA. Basically, our program was the butt of the joke and innuendoes to Tys staying power plus booster influence on the program was rekindled in So Cal market. Not a great plug, although many on DMan are praising Hansen, its comes off as a very poor mans Phil Knight type of effort. Our boosters never do learn all the way back to the 50s.
Why is Charlie Weis still at Notre Dame...why did Penn State not fire Joe Pa, why did Kansas stay with Mangino?? There will always be questions after losing seasons, but it wasn't like Ty inherited USC and turned them in to a bottom feeder. He inherited compost and unfortunately hasnt produced a rose. You need a seed. If he is such a bad guy and coach then why do players believe in him? Why do we have such a great recruiting class? What is wrong with shielding ameuture atheletes from the media who only want to degrade them for a poor season...he did what Mike Gundy did without the circus show. These are paid players who are obligated to talk to anyone in the media, they are 18 year olds who will read the paper about how bad they played and go online to read articles written about them, even if their not supposed its nature. Like I said, if Ty fails again then bye bye Ty Ty. But at least give him the chance to prove in his last year of his contract that they didnt make a mistake. Unfortnately for him they have another very tough year ahead of them schedule wise and they are relying heavily on freshmen receivers. If Ty does fail, it seems as his successor will inherit a lot of great rose seeds.
Ron Zook took over the same kind of mess at Illinios and made a bowl game in three years. Ty won't make a bowl game in the fourth year of a five year contract. OK Dave you win. Ty gets as many years as it takes because he's a "Great" man
I don't really think the Condotta article was news, and it also invaded privacy.
As for LA the same sort of stuff was going on at UCLA. Neu brought around 4 million dollars in promises from boosters that wanted to see him hired.
Money works the same way in all programs. If you give $100,000 you want to stipulate how it is spent.
As for Willinghams performance as Husky coach it all comes down to wins and losses, that is all that really matters. The graduation rates, the lack of trouble, the collegiate experience are all nice, but winning is paramount.
I truly believe that Ty will be canned next year if he doesn't win eight games plus a bowl victory. I also believe that he won't get close to that next year.
Thanks...but the Big 10 is not that hard of a conference to be competitive in. Look at what happened when they steped into the Pac 10. They play in a weak conference and schedule weak out of conference games (Illinois played Missouri (Lost), always tough Western Illinois, Syracuse, Ball State and obviously USC (Lost)). Give UW that schedule and everyone is talking about how we got to a bowl game and not asking for Ty's head. All I am saying is that he deserves the chance to finish what he started. He was given a program that had Zero talent and was in the midst of scandal after scandal. I think he has turned the program around and brought in good young men that can play football. Thats why he deserves at least 1 more year, if he fails he is gone and we can once again argue over who should right the ship.
If wins and loses are all that matter then why does everyone always talk about slick rick as a scam artist. He won and look where he is. He cheated and got caught, as well as, bet on NCAA tournament?!?! But hey, he won so who cares. Who cares if these kids dont graduate or become productive members of society. As long as they win. If thats all they are there for then open up the check book and pay them a salary, because they have now become employees. This is why i dont blame Ty from shielding his players from the media. Poor writers who want to fill pages on behalf of 18-23 year old young men and slam them for not winning last night, as though they are nothing but a W or an L. I want to see W's just as bad as anyone else but at what expense. A properly ran program will do more for the football team and the university they represent more than scandals. Wins will come.
Side note...I think Ty can be a great recruiter, he has shown it this year, but i think that he is a coach that needs to surround himself with great coordinators and allow them to do what they do best. Very few coaches are great at every aspect...Ty's strength is to run a clean program and recruit great kids.
I love productive arguements.
Ty inherited such a mess and the Pac 10 is so tough he needs an infinite anount of time to prove he can get UW winning more that it loses. I understand now, thank you
Not an infinite amount of time but like i said at least next year. I have ALWAYS said if he fails next year then fire him...but i think he deserves at least 4 years to turn the ship around.
The laundry list on why Ty Willingham is a poor fit at Washington is very long, and it isn't just the wins, and losses.
To me the biggest single reason is the disconnect with the boosters, fans, and media.
We all know Ty is a fine person, but you are hired to win football games, promote the program, and raise money. He is 0-3 if you are keeping score at home.
Ty has to be held accountable at some point in time. All I see is more excuses on why he should be here. He has a great recruiting class going, finally, in year four of recruiting, so he deserves to be able to coach them, yada, yada. What happens after next season when we win 4 or 5 games, because of the tough schedule, but he has another great recruiting class going? I wonder how many Gator fans were clamoring for Zook to stay so he coach the great recruits he had coming in?
As you can tell I'm frustrated with this whole situation. My entire working life was based on results of my performance and I managed to do quite well overall. I don't understand the amount of a pass Ty is getting for the most measurable aspect of his job, wins and losses.
Ty has never shown a sense of urgency in any aspect of his job from the time he started at UW that bothers me as well.
You hit the nail on the head when you mention lack of urgency.
Whether right or wrong, I believe that the lack of urgency is a personality trait, just like stubborness or having a loud mouth. I am not defending his personality but I think that a lack of urgency is mistaken for a relaxed attitude and trust me I am not saying that is right...just who he is and always has been. It just depends on how you want the team to be run. We can agree we all want the team to Win, but what else...do you want a Mike Gundy who will yell and scream to defend his players or a Charismatic Slick Rick type who has been named a players coach...I don't believe that there is one trait that is better than another and anyone used positively and in the right situation could be successful. I just dont want you to get your hopes up on him showing more urgency because its just not the kind of person he is...for better or worse.
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