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Tyrone Willingham is planning on being at Washington a long time.
Delusional, right? Ty has lost a broad base of support, 25 games in three seasons at U-Dub, his AD and maybe his touch as a big-time head coach. All this situation lacks is a cigarette, a blindfold and a president with an itchy trigger finger. But you had to listen close last week when Teetering Ty was selling his own job security to every recruit in the country.
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| Tyrone Willingham is trying to send recruits a message he plans on staying. (Getty Images) |
Ty suddenly had every ear in the conference room. Freshman? Who's the kid and how does he possibly project to becoming a major college athlete? Kentucky's Billy Gillispie offering an eighth-grader in basketball is one thing, but a high school freshman in football?
"I thought this one was ready," Willingham said with his typical authoritative tone. "I thought physically he could probably do it right now."
The player is Kasen Williams, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound receiver who starred as a 14-year-old freshman at Skyline High School in Sammamish, Wash. He's good but probably not as good as teammate Jake Heaps, a sophomore quarterback who also has been offered by Washington. Both players were coached, until recently, by Steve Gervais, who was hired by Willingham as Washington's running backs coach.
See where is this headed? If Williams is part of Washington's class of 2011, he would have quite a support system waiting for him. That's assuming Ty is still around and Williams doesn't break a leg, fall in love with another school or have his ego pumped with so much sugar that his head explodes.
"I've never heard of it before," Skyline coach Mat Taylor said. "USC was here (recruiting). ... They said, 'We will never offer a kid before his junior year.' Does it really mean anything right now? I don't know."
It's a chance Willingham is willing to take, especially if a roomful of media is there to spread Ty's real message. I'm not going anywhere. He is a nice guy, a complete gentleman, a respected peer and accomplished coach. This year he is also the coach most likely to be fired according to the annual coaches' hot seat rankings at CBSSports.com.
We rated the job security of all 120 Division I-A coaches coming into the 2008 season. The ratings range from zero (totally safe, could run for governor) for the likes of Les Miles and Pete Carroll to a five. That number translates to "Fetch an extinguisher, the coach's office chair is in flames."
We mercifully gave Ty a 4.95. Until the act actually happens, he has a chance. All signs, though, point to Husky Nation being fed up. Now entering his fourth season at Washington, Willingham is 11-25, only 5-15 since the Huskies started 4-1 in 2006. AD Todd Turner resigned under pressure in December less than a week after proclaiming that Willingham would be back as coach. It was Turner who hired Willingham after firing Keith Gilbertson in November 2004.
Then there was the embarrassment of a booster offering $200,000 in law school scholarships if both Turner and Willingham were fired.
"It was a low offer," Willingham said stoically. "If it had been a little bit more, maybe I'd be concerned."
