After 7 Days of Upheaval, What Comes Next for Husky Football? - CalBearsMaven

The University of Washington football team enters the final three weeks of the regular season likely needing a sweep of Arizona State, Colorado and Washington State to keep Jimmy Lake safely in his job.

Unless minds already have been made up that he's not salvageable. 

As it showed with offensive coordinator John Donovan's Sunday dismissal, the UW is not above any other Power 5 program that has triggered an in-season termination and sought change for the sake of change, a disturbing trend in recent years. 

That sort of action once was reserved for the day or two following the season's end. Cutdown Sundays and Mondays. 

Now it happens as soon as a university feels its carefully crafted football brand and donor potential have been irrevocably harmed.

Lake could be as good as gone right now and know it, yet finishing out the season out of a sense of loyalty to his players.

While Husky fans have debated whether or not he actually struck reserve linebacker Ruperake Fuavai during the Oregon game, and whether or not he had the right to be a fearsome disciplinarian in that moment, they have to be reminded that image is everything for a school such as the UW.

In this case, Lake appeared out of control, crashing into people on the sideline, including some sort of official, as he tried to intervene with Fuavai, who was engaged in a dust-up with Ducks receiver Jaylon Redd. While he stressed poise from his players for this rivalry game, the coach seemed to lose it in that one fateful TV clip.

Opponents would be foolish not to make video copies of that moment and use it against Lake in future head-to-head recruiting. They might raise questions about his reputation as a players' coach.

Five days before the game, the Husky coach did himself no favors either with his employers by disparaging Oregon's academic standing in a media briefing, drawing a public rebuke from that other school's president, Michael Schill. 

Only the UW upper-campus administrators know exactly what they intend to do with Lake or where their talks about the football program are headed. 

However, it would be fair to assume that discussion is ongoing concerning a buyout of the coach's salary, which runs upwards of $10 million, according to a source. 

Former Husky coach Chris Petersen's name understandably so has emerged, though it's not clear if he's being sought for advisory or if the school actually thinks it could convince him to come out of retirement for a second stint as football coach. Consultation is more likely. 

Since stepping away at the end of 2019, Petersen has been involved with the UW business school, FS1 college football TV analysis and more recently with a name, likeness and image group formed to facilitate Husky athlete agreements. He has had little interaction with Lake or the UW football team since he walked away two years ago.

As for Donovan, he always treated the Husky offensive coordinator job as a temporary work assignment, whether that was by design or not. He never brought his family members to Seattle to join him, leaving them two time zones away.

On the payroll for 22-plus months, Donovan came off as a likable guy on the coaching staff, known to his peers as "J.D.," but he was considered a little quirky and folksy as he explained himself.

For sure, Donovan never received an open-arms welcome from the fan base. When he was announced as the new offensive coordinator, replacing Petersen's unpopular guy, Bush Hamdan, a collective grown was heard throughout the Husky following.

There was no hiding the fact that Donovan had been fired by Penn State in 2015 after two seasons because his offense didn't work.

His schemes were assailed nonstop over 13 Husky games and the offense regularly floundered, leading to an increasing call for his removal. In the accompanying video, Donovan good-naturedly acknowledged his lack of connection with the UW fans by mentioning that he was a New York Mets diehard and presumably capable of booing something he didn't like, as well.

On Sunday, the UW bid him farewell. 

Will Donovan be the only one on the coaching staff forced to leave? Will Lake survive?

The next three weeks should go a long way in determining whether the teetering Husky program levels out with Lake in charge or if the school chooses to find someone else to start building all over again.

Image is everything here, and the greatest setting in college football hasn't been all that great as of late.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Husky Maven stories as soon as they’re published. Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

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Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven

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After 7 Days of Upheaval, What Comes Next for Husky Football? - CalBearsMaven
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