Washington’s season ended today. And no, this had nothing to do with Ty Willingham or the Pac-10 schedule or anything like that.
Today, Jake Locker’s injury was confirmed by the school. He’s gone for what amounts to the duration of the season. That’s it. We’re done. It’s WAMU on Montlake with no bailout on the horizon.
So what’s the sense in keeping a lame duck head coach around? It’s fairly apparent to all involved that Ty Willingham, despite all of his positive characteristics, is out the door. I don’t think anyone argues this point.
As we turn our thoughts to the future, it’s clear we need to cut ties and start over. As depressing as that is, the timing couldn’t be better. Scott Linehan was cut loose by the St. Louis Lambs after an 0-4 start. (Free tip to STL GM: Maybe $14 million for a kicker wasn’t the wisest choice.)
Linehan, who grew up in Sunnyside, Washington (God’s Country), has Northwest ties all over the place. He played and coached at Idaho and served with distinction under Jimmy Lambright. He’s also worked with noted college coaches Nick Saban and John L. Smith.
Why Linehan? Because he brings the Jesus. Linehan’s brother-in-law is Jim Caviezel, a noted Jesus and former Husky hoops great. If you can think of a better recruiting tandem then Linehan and Jesus (possibly with a suitcase full of booster money) I’d love to hear it.
What do you think?
This year in Seattle sports has convinced me that God hates Seattle, so maybe bringing in His son as a booster/recruiter is a brilliant way to suck up.
I can’t find any holes in this plan. Nobody f*cks with the Jesus.
I’m not sold on Linehan. He killed the Rams pretty good. I’d prefer Kiffin.
I’d be happy with either Linehan or Kiffin. However, since both may be too smart to take on a rebuilding project such as this, I’d be ok with Pinkel. Best case scenario is J. Mora Jr. is convinced to take his real dream job and order is restored in the Northwest with the Huskies taking top billing and the Seahawks accelerating their descent into mediocrity.
Since Mora is already committed to the Seahawks, what about Holmgren? In any event, we should stay away from coaches with any historical connection to the program, they simply don’t work out (i.e. Lambright and Gilbertson).
We gotta do something quick – we just lost our best recruit today.
http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/uwsports/2008/09/29/uh_oh_key_uw_recruit_de_commits
So far, the two names that have stood out are Linehan and Lane Kiffin, who is reportedly already being sought by Clemson.
Kiffin would be an obvious choice, given his Pac-10 credentials, but could Linehan be the next Pete Carroll, Mike Riley, or June Jones?