Walker talks to Willingham

UCLA interim head coach DeWayne Walker met with Washington head Coach Tyrone Willingham yesterday in Los Angeles. Our source said Willingham "will do whatever it takes" to get Walker to shore up the Husky defensive unit.

That being said, Washington has no history of paying its assistants anywhere near the $300,000-plus that Walker is now getting, and he will get a raise if he stays at UCLA as the new head coach or the defensive coordinator. Willingham is paid $1.4 million per season.

Comments

[M Scott]

Who's to say Washington won't come up with additional money to get Walker. Unfortunately, Bruin fans don't get with Walker goes one of the top recruiting classes in the country. The people who are anti-Walker refuse to understand loss of the recruiting class will haunt the program for the next 4 years.

[cv]

So Dohn is wrong? He says they are offering DW a raise from what UCLA is paying

[bruinz50]

It grates me that everyone thinks (perhaps to the chagrine of Coach Walker) that he is the linchpin to keeping a promising recruiting class. While Walker no doubt has deep personal relationships established with the recruiting class, UCLA needs to overcome its inferiority complex about such things as the nation's ONLY 100 NCAA Championship university. Students should be well-advised to attend for the great sports as well as academic programs we offer.

[Gerrrg]

I think I figured it out.

DG wants a guarantee from any prospective head coach to keep DW on as defensive coordinator, but that isn't flying with anyone.

DW knows that he wasn't really in the mix to be a head coach unless everyone else refused, and at this point, that's where things stand. But who wants to coach at a school where your AD doesn't really want you to be in the top position, and thinks of you as the coach of last resort?

That is why DW is interviewing with UW, and it is no bluff.