Huskies show doggedness
LOS ANGELES – Sitting at a table over lunch at Tuesday’s Pacific-10 Conference preseason gathering, Tyrone Willingham made it clear how confident he was.
“How many coaches in this room – and I think you would say there are some good coaches in this room – how many of them have won a national championship?” he asked. “So all of the sudden are all of the other guys bad coaches? I don’t think so.
“I have a clear idea of who I am, what I do, when I do it, why I do it and how I do it.”
The new head coach of Washington, recently deposed from the same role at Notre Dame, spoke to media members about this, his third head coaching job in college football. While the last one was challenging enough to earn an early – and some say unfair – dismissal after three seasons, the Washington job could be every bit as difficult.
The Huskies are coming off of a 1-10 season, worst in school history, and Willingham said there is no easy fix for Washington’s woes.
“It’s never really one thing,” he said. “There were a lot of things that seemed to come together to influence the position that they’re in. So therefore, it means there’s not just one thing … to cure to get our program healed and our program healthy.”
A number of other coaches predicted eventual success for Willingham in Seattle, and it appears that he made an immediate impression on at least one of his new players.
“Just looking on TV,” linebacker Joe Lobendahn recalled, “my first impression was, ‘This guy is serious.’ I was a little intimidated.”
But few teams in the Pac-10 figure to be intimidated by the Huskies, picked to finish last this year by the media. Washington still needs to pick a quarterback for the upcoming season, and the head coach said he has no timetable, indicating that one of the three candidates will separate himself in camp.
“I’ve won basically at every place and every thing I’ve done,” Willingham said. “That was no different at Notre Dame. There were two years of winning records, two bowl games in three years. I don’t know, that’s not bad.”
It’s playback time
The Pac-10 took advantage of the media day event to showcase its instant replay system, which will be in effect for the first time this season.
Verle Sorgen, the conference’s coordinator of football officiating, is in the midst of a three-day session to train the conference’s six two-man teams of former officials on how to use the TiVo-based replay system.
The Pac-10’s replay system will mirror that of the Big Ten, which last year became the first collegiate conference to use instant replay. That means that all replays will be initiated from the booth, not by coaches on the field, as is the case in the NFL.
A sign of instant replay’s apparent popularity in college – aside from the kudos given by a number of Pac-10 coaches – is the fact that every non-conference visiting team has given its assent to use replay this fall.
But Washington State may not have replay in use for every game. On Sept. 17, nine Pac-10 teams have home games and the conference can cover seven of them.
Sorgen said the current, though not definite, plan is to leave WSU’s matchup with Grambling State without replay. Stanford’s home game against UC Davis would also be without replay, he said.
Follow the rules
Sorgen also briefed coaches on rule changes for 2005.
The most significant update to the rulebook has clipping below the knee outlawed, even in the 10-yard wide and 6-yard deep rectangle around the center. Clipping – or blocking from behind – above the knee is still legal in that area.
The rules on intentional grounding were loosened, as quarterbacks must get outside the tackle instead of 5 yards outside the center to legally throw away the ball.
The conference also added specifics that will earn unsportsmanlike conduct flags: cupping a hand to the ear asking for crowd noise; pretending to fire a weapon; punching one’s chest; crossing arms while standing over an opponent; bowing at the waist in celebration; and going into the stands.
Notes
Jordan Kent, son of Oregon basketball coach Ernie Kent and a starter on the hardwood last year, plans to try out for the football team, presumably at wide receiver. That would make Kent, also a track competitor, a three-sport athlete. “It’s not going to be any immediate thing there, but it’s sort of exciting for a guy that’s 6-5 and runs about a 10.2 100 meters and I think can catch the ball,” Ducks head coach Mike Bellotti said. … Bellotti also said he has high hopes for a 1-2 punch of Terrence Whitehead, the conference’s top returning rusher, and freshman phenom Jonathan Stewart. Stewart, Cougars fans will recall, picked Oregon over WSU in February. … The Pac-10 may be a conference for quarterbacks, but a number of teams still have a decision to make on their Week 1 starter. Besides WSU and Washington, UCLA, Oregon State and California all have decisions to make in camp this fall.
“Arizona State’s running back situation is muddled, with Rudy Burgess getting the first chance at starting. But the 185-pounder’s ability to be an every-down back remains in question, and many other players lie in wait if Burgess can’t withstand the punishment. The quandary goes back to Loren Wade, once the team’s starter but now facing first-degree murder charges in a shooting death near campus this spring. “We’re never going to forget about that situation,” ASU head coach Dirk Koetter said, “but we have to be able to set it aside.” … Both Stanford coach Walt Harris and Cal coach Jeff Tedford spoke optimistically about efforts for new facilities. Stanford plans to build a new, smaller stadium inside the current one, while Cal hopes to do a major renovation on its dated facility.