Willingham’s departure best for program

At least the news conferences have become more succinct.

When Tyrone Willingham was fired at Notre Dame four years ago, athletic director Kevin White – trying to mitigate what many found indefensible at the time – sort of parallel-parked his way into an explanation.

“From Sunday through Friday,” White said after an extended preamble, “our football program has exceeded expectations in every way.”

On Monday, the University of Washington gave Willingham another pink slip for his collection, and he didn’t leave anyone groping to do subtraction with the calendar.

“We didn’t win enough games,” Willingham said.

Or this year, any.

This, by the way, was the most candid, straightforward, un-cat-and-mouse public utterance to come from Willingham in his three-plus seasons as the steward of Husky football. That’s of no particular concern to his infantry of detractors, who care only that whatever he has to say, he says it walking.

Except he’s not going anywhere yet.

As orchestrated by president Mark Emmert and athletic director Scott Woodward, this divorce does not become effective until the gun sounds to end the Huskies’ Dec. 6 game at California. The theory is, six weeks of awkward hanging around is better than six more weeks of Willingham being reviled in headlines, columns, letters and talk-radio call-ins – and, of course, assassination by Internet.

Better for the players, Woodward insisted.

“It’s in their best interests that Coach Willingham coach the rest of the season out,” he said, “that they continue to go to class, do the right things off the field and also end the speculation of what is going to happen to Coach Willingham.”

Yes, he’ll wield quite the hammer on academics and behavior now. He can threaten to burn the redshirts of any freshmen who have one left.

No, the timing of this was settled on simply so Emmert and Woodward could keep their consciences clear while they made “discreet inquiries” of potential replacements without Willingham still handing out business cards listing him as head football coach.

“Scott and I are really committed to not doing things behind people’s backs,” Emmert said. “If we were going to explore opportunities with coaches, we sure didn’t want to do that without Tyrone being aware of his status.”

Well, huzzah. Firings are all about degrees of dignity, and never is there enough to go around.

Dignity was supposed to be Willingham’s prized quality, and in fact his highest marks as a football CEO were reserved for the improved comportment of the Huskies off the field. So desperate was the school for his commitment in this arena that it ignored the warnings – summed up by White’s famed Sunday-through-Friday comment – that Willingham was deficient in the arena which, after all the kumbaya has faded, truly counts.

Likewise, his other sins – his buzzkill stoicism, keeping alums and former players at a frosty arm’s length, his retroactive denial of redshirt years promised by his predecessors and a media approach that ranged from restrictive to coy to just plain childish – wouldn’t have much mattered if there had been a bowl game or two in the picture. And even if he’d lightened up a little, it likely wouldn’t have bought him more time – not with an 11-32 record.

As he said, he didn’t win enough.

That was because he didn’t recruit well enough, didn’t develop players well enough and didn’t have his teams organized enough on game day. He also wasn’t lucky enough, especially with the injuries to quarterbacks Isaiah Stanback and Jake Locker, nor was he scheduled realistically enough – the Huskies still swimming in hubris in that respect.

The fact is, UW’s place in the football food chain has changed and the tiresome references to “tradition” won’t reverse that. For all the talk of Willingham not being the right fit, there has been no such thing since Don James quit on his players in 1993. Good soldiers and loyal Huskies (Jim Lambright, Keith Gilbertson) haven’t worked out. Slick and pretty (Rick Neuheisel) became a scandal. Now sober-and-steely has whiffed.

Now there is some question whether the Huskies can get any of the names they might want – Jim Mora, Gary Pinkel, Chris Petersen – no matter how deft they are with a checkbook. But much as it’s tempting to say Emmert and Woodward need to make a home-run hire, they really just need The Guy Who Can Get It Done. This one has to be about results.

Willingham’s wasn’t, not really. His was a “character” hire, though that character was not always what it seemed. While it’s admirable to stay true to what you are, sometimes what you are needs to change.

Two examples – one oh-so minor, one major.

Every year before the season, Willingham hosted a golf outing with the media – a friendly, let-your-hair-down scramble. Only Ty’s group always had to play best ball, so he could keep his own score – leaving just about everyone with the feeling of, “What’s the point?”

And when asked on Monday why he hadn’t considered resigning, Willingham simply said, “It’s just not in my makeup.”

Even if it’s best for the program – which it so obviously is.