Winless Washington growing weary of Willingham

Text and photos by Joe Connor, our eco-friendly road trip correspondent.

1991. That was the year, not USC, not LSU, not Texas – but Washington, yes Washington – won the national championship in college football. Hard to conjure, huh? The Tyrone Willingless-Huskies, numero uno. In fact, it was so long ago that was also the year I graduated from high school, which only goes to show you how little I've matured in nearly 20 years -- considering I'm spending the next four months driving around the country in a car running on vegetable oil.

But back to the Huskies, where I took in their home opener last Saturday against BYU. There are few givens in life, but here's one of them: Tyrone Willingham's chances of returning to Washington next year as head football coach appear about as likely as John McCain winning "American Idol." And to hear many Washington boosters and alumni tell it, the only question seems to be whether Willingham will be canned during this season. He certainly didn't help himself, losing to the Cougars, 28-27, which puts the Huskies off to another roaring start at 0-2.

Washington didn't sell out its home opener, with several pockets of empty seats on a glorious Pacific Northwest afternoon in Seattle. That can't be good for any business, especially among recruits and boosters. And the buzz in the south parking lot of Husky Stadium was not of high hopes with the dawn of a new season, but rather one of a crystal-clear consensus: Willingham must go. Did I mention the college football season is only two weeks old?

"You know when he was [the head coach] at Stanford, he never beat the Huskies," said Roger Anderson, a season-ticket holder since 1966 who will let you know he has been to every Washington Rose Bowl appearance and saw his first Huskies game two months after being born in 1941. "He doesn't know Husky football. This is Willingham football."

Added another long-time season-ticket holder, Patrick Thrapp of Kirkland, Wash.: "He's already lost his job. Now, he's fighting to get it back."

Anderson, who incidentally graduated from Hamilton High School in West L.A. in 1959, longs for the days when the Huskies were defined by their defense. Like the time when Todd Marinovich and the USC Trojans lost, 32-0, at Husky Stadium. Anderson's tailgate includes a real Husky dog named Blue.

"I have a picture of Marinovich in my office with his quote to the newspapers, 'All I saw was purple,' " said Jim Lambright, who was the Huskies defensive coordinator back then before becoming Washington's head coach (1993-1999). Lambright, today a motivational consultant, tailgates with Anderson's crew that boasts a decal on the back of its RV with directions to Washington State: "Go east 'til you smell it, then south 'til you step in it."

At least the Cougars (both Washington State and BYU) boast a full-time athletic director. The same cannot be said of Washington, which is also looking to renovate Husky Stadium. And losing doesn't appear to be accomplishing those objectives. Neither does Willingham's closed-practice policies and general aloofness. But even worse, adds Mike Butcher of Vancouver, Wash., there appears to be a genuine disconnect between the Washington athletic department and its customers, which can't be good for any business either.

"There's a fracture between the fan base and the department as a whole," Butcher explained. "There's a bunker mentality."

Many of the diehard Husky fans I spoke to look at the enthusiasm Pete Carroll brought to USC in resurrecting the Trojans as a model they need to follow in hiring a new football coach – and permanent AD.

Tom Poirer, 56, has been coming to Huskies football games for nearly his whole life. When he was a kid, he would sell copies of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, one of the Emerald City's two daily newspapers, on game day in front of Husky Stadium, so he would have money to buy a general admission ticket. Some 15 years ago, he began a tailgate not far from Anderson's RV that has since grown to 150 strong.

Now, Poirer is just hoping for a win next Saturday, when the Huskies host Oklahoma. It will be his 57th birthday.

"We'll celebrate," Poirer said. "But we won't remember the losses."

Up next: I'll provide some more bad karma to another Pac-10 team looking for its first win when I visit Oregon State for its home opener next Saturday against Hawaii.

-- Joe Connor

For more from Joe, check out www.greenpowersportstour.com.

Comments

[gerrrg]

That was almost the same question I asked my co-workers...whether or not Willingham would lose his job before the end of the season.

Does anyone remember when Oregon State was the perennial bottom feeder? That's become the domain of the Washington schools, lately.

[Steve Body]

I've watched these UW Husky fans at close quarters for seventeen years, now, and they're ALWAYS tired of EVERYTHING that doesn't suit their momentary fancy. They fired the last proven winner they hired - Rick Neuheisel - and here - four YEARS later they're still blaming him for everything but the war in Iraq. This entire football culture is hopelessly mired in their irrational worship of Don James, a coach who produced winners for a number of years but quit when his conference did something he didn't like (like penalizing some of his players for borderline felonies) and left the program coachless, very close to the start of a new season. When the going gets tough, the tough go play golf, I guess, at the UW. For this spineless decision, James is now revered as "Tha Dawgfather" and is the subject of such universal adulation that they've spent every year since firing Neuheisel trying desperately to find someone, anyone who'll return to the quasi-military values and mythologized "toughness" that James preached, stubbornly ignoring the fact that the entire college game has changed so radically since James' day that there's a very good chance that his aloof, players-as-indentured-servants pose probably wouldn't work now, anyway. Having spent many years having an up-close look at the Tennessee-Alabama rivalry, the sense of entitlement to the PAC-10 title displayed by Washington fans is maybe the most unfounded expectation I've ever seen from a fanbase. Even 'Bama fans, obnoxious as they can be, realize that every season in the SEC is a crapshoot and that a title every year is not guaranteed. In Seattle, they really think NOBODY should ever win it but UW. And they say this publicly, in defiance of all logic and history.

That's their problem. They can't expect to move forward when they've built a tract home in the past.

[Ian]

I'm a Husky fan and I support TW. The talent cupboard was bare when he arrived and things won't get a lot better until the junior and senior classes see an influx of talent next year and the year after. Ty is doing a good job recruiting but his best players are freshmen and sophomores. Given one of the nation's toughest schedules that's an awful lot to ask. The realistic fan base understands that. The unrealistic fan base - the spineless whiners - just don't have the backbone to deal with a little adversity. They are like the kids laying down on the grocery store floor kicking and screaming because Mom didn't get them their favorite candy bar. Heaven help us if these types start calling the shots at UW.

[Ryan]

Great article. Thanks for taking the time to get to know us Huskies and not just rush to judgment like many have done in the past.

Anyone who superficially criticizes Husky fans from afar does not truly understand the attachment and fondness many of us have toward the University and the football program. It cannot be explained in a reasonable way because it defies logic. While the ranting of some can be excessive and the patience of many can be short, the Husky Fan's passion runs deep. There is an almost British quality to the proud lot of UW fans. We may not be winning much at the moment but we can take a punch on Saturday and be ready for another by Monday morning, always telling ourselves that the next game is the start of the winning streak that gets us back on track.

If you can't understand a word of this that's fine. But you should at least respect the passion, commitment, and loyalty of those of us who unflinchingly endure the weekly beatings and are proud to rank amongst the Husky Nation. We will be back.

-PDX Dawg Fan

[Larry P.]

Ian,

You say as sooooo many "Typologists" do, that the "cupboard was bare" is a blanket of defense against the glaring FACTS that the previous season, 2004 was the FIRST losing season in 27 seasons...something USC, LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma, or any number of other Current football poweres have had. The first two teams Ty had, the 2005 and 2006 teams had 8 players drafted by NFL teams....EIGHT!!! How many were drafted off of last years Team? NONE!!! How's that for player development?

Ty is a loser and so are those that support LOSING!

As for Steve Body's comment, Steve I don't know ANY Husky fan that EXPECTS to win the PAC-10 every year...however every Dawg fan I know EXPECTS them to COMPETE for it every year. There has NEVER been a period in the entire history of UW football that the Huskies have been THIS bad....EVER! Please forgive us Steve for demanding better but this program USED to be about the 12th-13th winningest program in CFB history...under Ty Willneverwiningham's stewardship we've dropped into the high teens and rather than competing for the PAC-10 championship every year, we are only competing for 9th place! Notre Dame had it right...Ty MUST go!