In Finding a New UW Football Coach, It's First-and-5 - CalBearsMaven

The University of Washington needs a new football coach for the eighth time in 28 years. 

OK, since Don James resigned prior to the 1993 season and considering the ensuing turnover, heading up Husky football has become a three and a half year job. 

The problem with that is Jimmy Lake didn't quite make it to full two years, falling 18 days short of his hiring anniversary.

The firing is the easy part. Find a replacement requires multiple committees and often a search firm. And luck.

All sorts of names will be bandied about in the newspapers, the websites and the talk shows. Practically all of them will come with baggage, such as too old, once fired or no head-coaching experience. 

The temptation always is to make an in-house hire, but Washington's current staff doesn't present any viable candidates who would be approved by the board or regents or the Husky fan base. 

Besides, the school hired five UW assistant coaches along the way and now has fired all of them, a group that includes Lake.

Athletic director Jen Cohen will oversee this process, which currently doesn't give her season-ticket holders and alums a great deal of confidence right now. After all, she fired Lake, who she hired, and probably should have terminated men's basketball coach Mike Hopkins.

This process would become overly simple and reassuring for everyone if Cohen could persuade Chris Petersen, Lake's well-proven predecessor, to reclaim the job he walked away from two years ago.

Respected coach. Lives in town. Still connected to the university. Too easy to be true. 

Figuring a new Husky coach will be hired sometime between Thanksgiving and December 1, here are five people who initially make sense as candidates, with likely a lot more to come:

Chris Petersen

This man does exactly what he wants. Choosing to leave Boise State, Petersen, 57, didn't want to coach at USC, but the UW was acceptable to him. But then, he came for only six seasons. He's brought the Huskies their greatest modern-day success with a College Football Playoff appearance and a chance to rub elbows — or get them skinned — by Alabama in the semifinals. He has a 147-38 record in 14 seasons at Boise State and the UW. Bet he still owns that boat that used to take him to work. 

Tom Herman

This guy badly wants back into a Power 5 job, after enjoying huge success at Houston and failing to satisfy Texas with modest results, though he went 4-0 in bowl games for the Longhorns. The postseason record says something about his teams staying even keel through an entire schedule. Herman, 46, also comes with something Lake was sorely lacking — an offensive plan. He was an Ohio State offensive coordinator with great success. Some might question his lack of West Coast coaching roots, but he did play his high school and college football in the Los Angeles area. 

Bob Stoops

Coaches think they want to retire and then they do and wonder why. Stoops, 61, might be having that late-life crisis. You can only lower your golf handicap so far. The one-time hard-hitting Iowa safety played against the Huskies and freshman sensation Jacque Robinson in the 1982 Rose Bowl; he had to be helped off the field. He compiled a 190-48 record in 18 seasons at Oklahoma, which includes 37-20 and 55-14 victories over Ty Willingham Husky teams. Think ex-Sooner and current UW nickelback Bookie Radley-Hiles might want to come back for another season to play for Stoops.

Joe Moorhead

The Oregon offensive coordinator and former Mississippi State coach, this guy's stock took off again when he game-planned a 35-28 Ducks' victory at Ohio State. Fans might cringe at someone coming directly from the assistant ranks again but they would get over it fast knowing this cuts into the momentum of their most hated rival. Moorhead, 48, has a 52-25 coaching record that includes Fordham and he went 14-12 in the SEC before leaving the keys on the desk for Mike Leach. He has a little baggage, getting fired after 10 players had tutors do their school work for them.

Kalen DeBoer

Need an up-and-coming coach? DeBoer, 47, fits that criteria at Fresno State, where he's cranked up a Jake Haener-led offense to average 328 yards per game this season and has led the Bulldogs to an 8-3 record in his second season. Before coming to the Mountain West school, he turned Indiana into a 443-yard offensive machine per outing. Way before that, he led Sioux Falls to three NAIA championships. No, Haener wouldn't have any eligibility left if DeBoer was hired.

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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