The UW coaching search is not off to a great start

Fig Jam

So far, I have been fairly nonplussed with Scott Woodward’s stint as the University of Washington Athletic Director.  He doesn’t seem to get it sometimes.  Now in the process of hiring the new football coach and making his biggest decision to date, that trend seems to be continuing.  That is my reaction to the news that the first candidate that Woodward interviewed for the job was Michael Haywood, the Offensive Coordinator at Notre Dame.

This interview, while potentially meaningless in the overall scheme of things, tells me a lot about Scott Woodward as an Athletic Director.  First, it tells me that Woodward remains out of touch with the Alumni.  Unless Notre Dame had the hottest coordinator on the planet right now, destined for head coaching greatness, the next UW head coach should not come from Notre Dame.  Sorry.  He just shouldn’t.  UW hired Willingham after he had been fired by Notre Dame and the Huskies have been badly beaten by  mediocre Notre Dame teams several times in the last few seasons.  Notre Dame alumni were right about Willingham and have no doubt enjoyed seeing the Huskies free fall under Ty, reaffirming their decision to let him go after 3 seasons.  As a UW alumni and fan, I am sick and tired of hearing about Notre Dame, and getting beaten by Notre Dame.  Now, as UW looks for a new coach, I find out that the first candidate we interview is Notre Dame’s Offensive Coordinator.  A guy who nobody at Washington has ever really heard of before.  What?

Also, as I mentioned in my previous paragraph, the only way this Haywood interview would be acceptable/make sensewas if he was a really hot commodity on the coaching market right now.  A rising star in the profession.  At least then, we all would have heard of him and he’d be on the national radar.  But guess what?  That’s not the case.  Haywood has recently had his play calling duties revoked by head coach Charlie Weis (under suspicious circumstances, as Jason Whitlock points out), and even before that, the Notre Dame offense was not a powerhouse.  The Irish’s win over Navy last weekend was their first over a team with a winning record this season.   Stated bluntly, there is no positive hype around Haywood.  As a coordinator or a coach. UW is a program that desperately needs to make a positive hire here and this isn’t it.

In addition to all that, Haywood has zero head coaching experience.  He was a finalist last year for the University of Houston job, but he was ultimately passed over for that position.  Now, less than a season later and for no reason whatsoever, he is getting an interview at a PAC-10 school.  What gives?

Here is what gives.  Haywood was at LSU for a longtime with UW President Mark Emmert and, of course, current UW athletic director Scott Woodward.  As SeattleTimes writer Bob Condotta put’s it in his UW football blog, “The news is a little of a surprise as Haywood has not been on the general lists of coaches. But considering his ties to Woodward it makes sense that he would at least get an interview.”   So there’s the rub.  Woodward is interviewing his friends.  Likely trying to give Haywood a lift towards a head coaching position at another university.  While that may seem harmless to Woodward, I would argue that it is not.  It takes time and resources away from the UW search and is a blatant violation of the trust of the UW Alumni who are counting on Woodward to get this hire right.

Honestly, aside from the facts that Haywood is currently employed by Notre Dame, is not a hot commodity in the coaching community, and has never been a head coach before, the idea that he may have gotten an interview because he was buddies with Scott Woodward is just unbelievable to me.  Is this what Woodward considers leadership as the University of Washington athletic director?  Does Woodward not understand the importance of this hire?  Does he not understand that this may not be the time to give your cronies an interview to boost their future prospects at head coaching positions?  What is he doing?

So here is my request:

Scott – please focus on hiring the next football coach at Washington.  Do not focus on putting together any more committee’s or advisory boards about the hire.  Do not focus on making sure your friends all raise their profile a little bit in connection with the hire.  Just focus on the hire.  Just focus on actually doing the job for which you were borught in to do because after I read news like I did about Haywood, and end up poking around the internet in attempts to figure out who the guy is and why he was interviewed, only to discover that he was likely interviewed because you two are buddies, I find that I don’t have any confidence in you as the Athletic Director of the University of Washington.   Try and prove me wrong.