Ty Willingham lands in Washington

[Mojambo]

http://tinyurl.com/6zb7k

There are more than a few unhappy Husky fans out here. Despite what the UW officials are saying he was not at the top of their list.

I think he's an okay coach. Should be interesting to see if he can turn around the program.

[autorank]

1. How was Willingham supposed to win if he couldn't recruit felons?

That's how Nebraska finally hit #1. Notre Dame's sports program is what's called "crazy making": get out there and win but don't go over the top with the cheating, now. There should be a rule: every BCS team gets to recruit two felons either out of high school or from a maximum security prison. Not three, not four, just two. That's called parity.

[Mojambo]

2. Well, historically

Washington hasn't been the cleanest program out there.

So maybe he's got a shot.

[eridani]

3. Let's face it--UW is not a premiere job, either

He was very good at Stanford with much tougher recruiting rules, so I say give the guy a chance. Was anyone surprised when Tedford decided his present position was better?

Romar has done very well with basketball. To add to the Chris Rock joke about the world upside down--the world's best rapper is white, the world's best golfer is black, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, and Husky basketball is way better than Husky football.

[LisaM]

4. I think he's more about cleaning up the program than winning right now

the athletic department is in an absolute shambles. I'm not a huge fan of Ty Willingham (well, actually, I just don't like that he put the Notre Dame fans in green and he's a friend of Condi Rice - that's really all I have against him, other than his sourpuss demeanor) but he will be a refreshing change around here.

[ThorsHammer]

5. As an ND fan, I think UW is a better fit for him

Ty is a great guy and I really wanted him to succeed, even moreso because I think it would be very significant for a minority to succeed at the most famous school in the country. Unfortunately, he was unwilling to make staff changes, which sealed his fate. While he is a good guy and runs a clean program, he is not a good Xs and Os coach, as he was never a coordinator at any level. This makes it even more important for him to have a good staff, as he can't step in and fix things himself like a Spurrier, Stoops, or Carroll can. I have heard that UW did not want certain staff members to come, which should help him some. At the very least he'll run a clean program, and should be able to do much better than Gilbertson. He's also back in the Pac-10, which should be more comfortable for his style. He left ND on much better terms than Davie, and I wish him well at UW.