Texas Recruiting Notes 2022 - Idiotic Slapfights Unrelated To 2022 Recruiting

[Jimbob 420]

20 minutes ago, Tex Pete said:

Ash was ok, not great. He had good measurables, but even in HS he was not dominant and he spent a fair amount of time injured. It surprised me that we wanted him so badly.
 

Mack had to be fired. He was stealing from us at the end. And his exit proved that he cared much more about taking care of Mack Brown than doing what was best for Texas Football, Inc. His petulance may have finished off this program for good. 

Somewhere in an alternate timeline UT is coming off it’s 4th MNC in the past decade, the B12 took LSU and Pig instead of TCU and WVU, and we just concluded a deal to bring in Bama, UGA and UF to round up to 16.   Of course aggy still left to a dying and gutted SEC.  

[SydneyCarton 48076]

11 hours ago, gmr548 said:

If a prospect of any importance commits after visiting on Saturday I think we know the bag game is up and running

Its not. Stop it. 

[IDIOTsavant 8483]

9 hours ago, Coelenterate Fuccboi said:

We’ve always known of your low expectations and pending liver problems.

This should most definitely be on the Surly landing page.

[Red Five 40852]

21 minutes ago, Jimbob said:

Somewhere in an alternate timeline UT is coming off it’s 4th MNC in the past decade, the B12 took LSU and Pig instead of TCU and WVU, and we just concluded a deal to bring in Bama, UGA and UF to round up to 16.   Of course aggy still left to a dying and gutted SEC.  

Even in a multiverse with an infinite number of possible outcomes, I doubt that one exists. 

Edited November 16, 2021 by Red Five

[Sgt Hulk 13714]

If dewberry commits here. Future man will fist his own ass in surly zoom meeting

[Masshole Horn 769]

If dewberry commits here. Future man will fist his own ass in surly zoom meeting

I sure hope his camera is off.

[gmr548 16576]

Its not. Stop it. 

lol I’m aware, it was more of a dig on the product on the field

[The Beast 585]

10 hours ago, texasstrong12 said:

Gary Patterson makes a lot of sense if PK is gone. 

Aren't CDC and Patterson close? Seems like there's at least a connection there that might have some pull. Also, Patterson is one of the best at playing the transfer portal game and that's what this roster is going to need. 

Please stop with this stupid shit. Fat Pat negatively recruited and shit all over this university to every recruit who would listen. He isn’t going to put on the burnt orange and say hookem ever. 

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

The game has passed fatterson up....his defenses have been bad. 

[The Beast 585]

23 minutes ago, Masshole Horn said:

I sure hope his camera is off.

Username checks out.

[Thiefery 4995]

4 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

The game has passed fatterson up....his defenses have been bad. 

while his defenses have struggled.. how much more improved would it be at a place where he could get better talent "on paper", than what he had to settle for in ftw?

[NoName 16351]

Athletic: Inside the end of the Jimmy Lake era at Washington

some key quotes:
 

Quote

Lake relied upon input from NFL associates who recommended Donovan and believed his four seasons at the pro level would be beneficial. A former assistant with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions, Lake has long been enamored with the NFL and regularly visits pro franchises in the offseason to glean tips and strategies to implement in his own program; he admits his favored mantra, “practice execution becomes game reality,” was cribbed from one of his many visits to the New England Patriots.

As such, Lake looks down upon offenses such as the Air Raid, believing a one-dimensional attack won’t cut it against elite defenses. He played a central role in supporting that notion during UW’s last six victories over the rival Washington State Cougars, all with Mike Leach at the helm. First, as defensive backs coach and then as coordinator, Lake was part of a staff that stifled WSU’s otherwise potent passing attack, and he wasn’t shy about tweaking Leach’s scheme. He once referred to WSU’s offense as “basketball on grass,” and said after the 2018 Apple Cup, a 28-15 victory that clinched the Pac-12 North title, that he hoped Leach would stay at WSU “for a long time” because “it makes it real easy to game plan when an offense does the same thing every year.”

 

he has a little Tom Herman in him:
 

Quote

 

It also didn’t seem as if coaches knew who their best players were. Many were surprised when Sean McGrew, who returned for a sixth year after leading the team in rushing in 2020, did not play a single snap in either of UW’s first two games, especially as the running game was mostly non-functional. Kamari Pleasant, another sixth-year senior, also didn’t have a carry in either of those games.

Lake insisted that Richard Newton and Cam Davis had earned the right to split carries through their performance in spring and preseason camp and that UW would focus its efforts on getting those two in a rhythm. That wasn’t illogical: Davis is a promising young player, and Newton is a tough, bruising runner in the style Lake favors. But nobody expected McGrew and Pleasant to sit on the bench, especially as the running game stalled the first two weeks.

As one source with knowledge of the situation put it: “Sean and Kamari had no shot at playing, no matter how good of a fall camp they had.”

McGrew and Pleasant finally saw their first carries in Week 3 against Arkansas State. McGrew has had at least 15 carries in every game since, save for Saturday, which he missed due to injury. He is the team’s leading rusher with 408 yards (4.0 per rush) and eight touchdowns; Pleasant leads the team in per-carry average at 6.19 on 43 attempts. On a team that ranks 11th in the Pac-12 in yards per rush — and running behind an offensive line that has massively underperformed — McGrew and Pleasant have been the steadiest runners.

They averaged 32.0 in Hamdan’s final season.

Some of Lake’s other hires also were met with skepticism. When respected defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski left after the 2020 season for Texas, Lake shuffled the staff by promoting linebackers coach Bob Gregory to coordinator, and he moved defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe to coach outside linebackers and promoted quality control analyst Rip Rowan to D-line coach. Rowan was the second analyst to be promoted in as many seasons: Lake elevated Derham Cato, an offensive analyst, to tight ends coach after firing Paopao.

Cato and Rowan are bright, young coaches who are respected within UW’s building, but the promotion of two analysts by a first-time coach raised concerns about Lake’s network and willingness to seek new ideas from outsiders.

 

recruiting:
 

Quote

 

Within his first few months as head coach, though, Lake fired a key recruiting staffer, Cooper Petagna, who had been director of player personnel under Petersen since February 2018. Petagna had worked at Michigan, Alabama and LSU, and brought with him an eye for the kind of talent UW would need to compete nationally with those kinds of programs. Lake replaced him by promoting to recruiting director Justin Glenn, a former UW defensive back who had been on staff in various personnel roles. Josh Murphy, another important recruiting staffer, chose to leave the program around the same time.

Lake also shelved Petersen’s messaging strategy of referring to ideal prospects as “OKGs,” or “Our Kinda Guys.” Instead, Lake wanted UW to simply pursue “Dawgs.” It’s a minor distinction, in the big picture — and some believed “OKG” had become problematic and worried that it implied a certain degree of elitism — but it’s another example of Lake wanting to run things his way.

 

and

Quote

“If that’s (recruiting) not your priority, you don’t have a chance,” said another source with extensive knowledge of the Pac-12 recruiting landscape. “Recruiting at Washington is a nuisance. Recruiting at Oregon is second nature. It’s part of the job. You don’t have a job if you can’t do that well. I don’t even know how good of a coach Mario Cristobal is, but he’s figured out the one thing nobody else in the conference is willing to do.”

 

Full Text

 

Spoiler

Inside the end of the Jimmy Lake era at Washington: It wasn’t any one thing — it was everything

Christian Caple Nov 14, 2021 157

SEATTLE — It was a standard introduction for a recent football coaching hire: Bring him out during a basketball game, let him briefly address the crowd, bask in the ovation and get everyone feeling good about the new guy.

It was the kind of task Jimmy Lake — confident, brash, optimistic — would knock out of the park. Indeed, as he stood at midcourt and held a microphone in his right hand at halftime of Washington’s men’s basketball game against Oregon on Jan. 18, 2020, Lake offered not only his most rousing assessment of the state of the program but did so with an energy and panache that stood in stark contrast to his predecessor, Chris Petersen, the future Hall of Famer he replaced a month prior.

“This is why we will continue to dominate the West Coast, because of fans like you,” Lake told the adoring crowd. “I want to give you a couple of updates: In December, we just signed the No. 1 recruiting class in the Pac-12, and what’s really exciting is, we are currently working on the 2021 class, and in the state of Washington, we have some of the best players in the country, and we need those guys to stay right here, at home, in Seattle.

“On April 25, we are trying to have the highest-attended spring game in the country, right here, April 25. And on Sept. 5, there’s this team from the Big Ten that’s coming across here, and we need to send them back to Ann Arbor with a big L.”

It was Lake as fans came to know him through six seasons as an assistant. First as defensive backs coach and then as coordinator, Lake always talked big and backed it up. When Petersen decided to leave coaching, he did so, he said, because he knew the program needed new energy, and he strongly believed Lake had the juice necessary to carry the torch — and, in fact, to elevate the program beyond its 2019 malaise.

Lake would inject passion and toughness into all phases of the program, the thinking went. He was an ace recruiter of future pro defensive backs, and as head coach, he would replicate that success across the entire team. He had strong opinions on UW’s offensive struggles in Petersen’s final seasons, and he would apply his love of X’s and O’s to that side of the ball in order to get it humming on the same level as UW’s vaunted defense. Other programs had tried to poach Lake over the years. UW kept promoting him, kept bumping his pay, made him the highest-paid assistant in the Pac-12. He was a logical replacement for Petersen, and UW was the kind of job he’d been waiting for.

It’s been less than two years since that basketball game. UW has not dominated the West Coast. It missed on most of the touted in-state recruits who Lake referred to and has otherwise slipped from its Petersen-era recruiting peak. The Huskies didn’t get to play Michigan in 2020, one of myriad pandemic consequences, but visited the Big House earlier this season and didn’t score a touchdown until the fourth quarter.

In the end, that may be what defines the Lake era: big talk unsupported by performance, big expectations unrealized, supreme confidence in the face of skepticism — and, ultimately, too many gaffes for the school to ignore.

Washington fired Lake on Sunday, one week after suspending him for a sideline altercation with a player during a Nov. 6 loss to Oregon. The school terminated his contract without cause and will owe his full buyout of $9.9 million over the next three years, reduced by the amount of any new compensation he earns during that time.

UW didn’t want to fire Lake or any coach after just 13 games, particularly considering the circumstances of the pandemic. His record alone didn’t do him in. His inept offense alone didn’t do him in. Neither did his comments about recruiting against Oregon, or even the sideline incident.

It wasn’t any one thing.

It was everything.

A critical hire, a critical error

Lake didn’t think much of former offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan.

That much was obvious based on the way Lake has spoken publicly about UW’s offense in the final seasons under Petersen, but multiple sources also confirmed the two never saw eye to eye. From Hamdan’s play calling to his demeanor, Lake — from his perch as defensive coordinator — didn’t believe Hamdan was confident or aggressive enough to lead an offense that embodied those traits. Lake fired Hamdan and tight ends coach Jordan Paopao on his first official day on the job and wanted to hire a replacement who would install the kind of “bruising” and “attacking” offensive scheme Lake preferred.

He targeted Kellen Moore, the Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator and former star quarterback under Petersen at Boise State. But Moore eventually made the obvious decision to remain in Dallas with new coach Mike McCarthy, thwarting what would have been a major coup for a first-year coach seeking to make a big splash with his first critical hire.

Three days later, UW announced its new OC: John Donovan, an offensive assistant with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

It seemed an odd fit from the start; Donovan had never played or coached west of Tennessee. He had spent the previous four seasons as an offensive assistant — not a position coach — with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and his most recent stint as a coordinator, at Penn State from 2014-15, had not gone well.

 

 

John Donovan was a questionable hire that didn’t work out. (Jacob Snow / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Donovan followed coach James Franklin to Penn State from Vanderbilt, where they enjoyed unprecedented success at a program unaccustomed to competing in the cutthroat SEC. Vanderbilt players spoke highly of Donovan, a straight-shooting, no-nonsense native of River Edge, N.J. Ralph Friedgen, his boss for 13 seasons at Georgia Tech and Maryland, described him as “a very, very intelligent person” who learned quickly. “Good, hard worker,” Friedgen said. “Didn’t say a whole lot. Just worked real hard.”

Likewise, Wesley Johnson, a former Vanderbilt offensive lineman, said: “He wants to be a coach. He’s not trying to be famous or anything like that.”

Franklin fired Donovan after two seasons at Penn State, though, as the Nittany Lions averaged 20.6 and then 23.2 points per game, allowing 83 sacks combined — 20 more than any Big Ten team — during Donovan’s two years calling plays. Scholarship reductions in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal had decimated Penn State’s offensive line, but the Nittany Lions also were criticized for a predictable scheme lacking creativity. And it didn’t help that Donovan’s replacement, Joe Moorhead, immediately oversaw dramatic improvement the following season (nor did it help all these years later that Oregon, in the market for a coordinator at the same time as Lake, hired Moorhead to replace Marcus Arroyo).

Lake relied upon input from NFL associates who recommended Donovan and believed his four seasons at the pro level would be beneficial. A former assistant with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions, Lake has long been enamored with the NFL and regularly visits pro franchises in the offseason to glean tips and strategies to implement in his own program; he admits his favored mantra, “practice execution becomes game reality,” was cribbed from one of his many visits to the New England Patriots.

As such, Lake looks down upon offenses such as the Air Raid, believing a one-dimensional attack won’t cut it against elite defenses. He played a central role in supporting that notion during UW’s last six victories over the rival Washington State Cougars, all with Mike Leach at the helm. First, as defensive backs coach and then as coordinator, Lake was part of a staff that stifled WSU’s otherwise potent passing attack, and he wasn’t shy about tweaking Leach’s scheme. He once referred to WSU’s offense as “basketball on grass,” and said after the 2018 Apple Cup, a 28-15 victory that clinched the Pac-12 North title, that he hoped Leach would stay at WSU “for a long time” because “it makes it real easy to game plan when an offense does the same thing every year.”

Those comments may have endeared him to UW fans who relished an annual victory over their in-state rivals, but offensive execution was the foremost matter on which Lake never backed up his tough talk as head coach.

The 2020 season was fine enough: The Huskies went 3-1 and technically won the North Division thanks to multiple cancellations and some funky tiebreakers. They averaged 30.1 points per game, good for fourth in the conference, though 44 of those came against winless Arizona, and UW failed to score a touchdown in the first half of its final two games, against Utah and Stanford. That was cause for concern, but with nearly every starter returning in 2021 — including the entire offensive line, anchored by all-conference left tackle Jaxson Kirkland — there was reason to expect better.

Lake certainly did. He spent the month of August hyping his team in several different ways: He described the offensive line as the best in the Pac-12, “bar none.” He disparaged past wide receivers by saying that position group prevented UW from winning its New Year’s Six bowl matchups in recent years and that UW’s current wideouts represented a significant upgrade. Asked his definition of fair annual expectations for the program, Lake was unequivocal: UW was to compete for the Pac-12 title and play in a major bowl game. Anything less was “unacceptable.” And when asked what he thought it would take for UW to get to the point of annual College Football Playoff contention, Lake replied that he thought the Huskies were “already there.”

Then, in their first game played in front of fans at Husky Stadium since 2019, Washington lost to FCS Montana. The Huskies scored seven points. They couldn’t run the ball. It was among the most embarrassing defeats in program history.

Then they lost at Michigan, 31-10, Lake vowing “everything is on the table” regarding the Huskies’ inert offense.

But it never really improved, at least not to any degree acceptable for a program of UW’s caliber. The Huskies hadn’t scored more than 24 points in regulation against a Power 5 team until Saturday’s 35-30 loss to Arizona State. The open week preceding an Oct. 16 game against UCLA was seen as an important one for Lake’s future, and UW came out and scored 17 points in an ugly loss. The final straw for Donovan came in UW’s 26-16 loss to Oregon on Nov. 6, in which the Huskies managed only seven first downs and 166 total yards. Lake fired him the next day.

Lake always put the blame on himself, always said it came down to coaching, always said the staff needed to figure out ways to put their players in better positions. It just never happened.

Dylan Morris, who debuted as the starting quarterback in 2020 and acquitted himself relatively well, has clearly regressed. Coaches have inserted five-star freshman Sam Huard into three games, but with minimal pass attempts. Morris’ struggles have made it difficult to involve UW’s talented group of receivers — Terrell Bynum, Jalen McMillan and Rome Odunze, in particular — or tight end Cade Otton, an all-conference performer last season. The Huskies continued trying to run the ball up the middle, even as opposing defenses stacked the box to force Morris to beat them.

It also didn’t seem as if coaches knew who their best players were. Many were surprised when Sean McGrew, who returned for a sixth year after leading the team in rushing in 2020, did not play a single snap in either of UW’s first two games, especially as the running game was mostly non-functional. Kamari Pleasant, another sixth-year senior, also didn’t have a carry in either of those games.

Lake insisted that Richard Newton and Cam Davis had earned the right to split carries through their performance in spring and preseason camp and that UW would focus its efforts on getting those two in a rhythm. That wasn’t illogical: Davis is a promising young player, and Newton is a tough, bruising runner in the style Lake favors. But nobody expected McGrew and Pleasant to sit on the bench, especially as the running game stalled the first two weeks.

As one source with knowledge of the situation put it: “Sean and Kamari had no shot at playing, no matter how good of a fall camp they had.”

McGrew and Pleasant finally saw their first carries in Week 3 against Arkansas State. McGrew has had at least 15 carries in every game since, save for Saturday, which he missed due to injury. He is the team’s leading rusher with 408 yards (4.0 per rush) and eight touchdowns; Pleasant leads the team in per-carry average at 6.19 on 43 attempts. On a team that ranks 11th in the Pac-12 in yards per rush — and running behind an offensive line that has massively underperformed — McGrew and Pleasant have been the steadiest runners.

In 13 games with Donovan as coordinator, the Huskies averaged 24.5 points per game.

They averaged 32.0 in Hamdan’s final season.

Some of Lake’s other hires also were met with skepticism. When respected defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski left after the 2020 season for Texas, Lake shuffled the staff by promoting linebackers coach Bob Gregory to coordinator, and he moved defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe to coach outside linebackers and promoted quality control analyst Rip Rowan to D-line coach. Rowan was the second analyst to be promoted in as many seasons: Lake elevated Derham Cato, an offensive analyst, to tight ends coach after firing Paopao.

Cato and Rowan are bright, young coaches who are respected within UW’s building, but the promotion of two analysts by a first-time coach raised concerns about Lake’s network and willingness to seek new ideas from outsiders.

Asked during the bye week if Lake had sought counsel from Petersen, who remains on campus as a special adviser, UW athletic director Jen Cohen replied, in part: “I’m not sure how much dialogue those two have. … I can’t speak to what kind of conversations they may or may not be having.”

A recruiting restructure with lacking results

In each of Petersen’s final three seasons, the Huskies signed recruiting classes ranked in the national top 16 — unprecedented for UW in the internet era. The talent in those classes boosted UW’s blue-chip ratio above 50 percent, and the Huskies won battles for several prospects with offers from Oregon and USC, and even some recruited by Alabama, Oklahoma and Clemson.

Petersen took great pride in his evaluation process, favoring a selective approach that prioritized program fit above all else. UW earned a reputation as detailed and thorough, only extending scholarship offers once it had conducted extensive research on a prospect’s background. Lake thrived within this structure as an assistant, successfully recruiting future stars such as Budda Baker, Sidney Jones, Byron Murphy, Taylor Rapp and Trent McDuffie.

 

 

Jimmy Lake was fired without cause after coaching only 13 games at UW. (Joe Nicholson / USA Today)

Within his first few months as head coach, though, Lake fired a key recruiting staffer, Cooper Petagna, who had been director of player personnel under Petersen since February 2018. Petagna had worked at Michigan, Alabama and LSU, and brought with him an eye for the kind of talent UW would need to compete nationally with those kinds of programs. Lake replaced him by promoting to recruiting director Justin Glenn, a former UW defensive back who had been on staff in various personnel roles. Josh Murphy, another important recruiting staffer, chose to leave the program around the same time.

Lake also shelved Petersen’s messaging strategy of referring to ideal prospects as “OKGs,” or “Our Kinda Guys.” Instead, Lake wanted UW to simply pursue “Dawgs.” It’s a minor distinction, in the big picture — and some believed “OKG” had become problematic and worried that it implied a certain degree of elitism — but it’s another example of Lake wanting to run things his way.

The combination of a new recruiting staff and vision mixed with unprecedented circumstances wrought by the pandemic made it difficult for UW to find its footing.

“There was changeover in that recruiting staff room. They lost some good evaluators and people who were very organized,” said a recruiting staffer at another Pac-12 school. “But at the same time, maybe there just was not a lot of belief in Jimmy yet, just because he hadn’t coached a game with a lot of those guys.”

UW’s 16-player, 2021 recruiting class ranked No. 36 nationally and No. 6 in the Pac-12. The Huskies’ top two targets, five-star Sammamish (Wash.) Eastside Catholic defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau and five-star Steilacoom (Wash.) receiver Emeka Egbuka, each signed with Ohio State. Receiver Troy Franklin and tight end Moliki Matavao, both heavily pursued by UW, signed with Oregon. Julien Simon, a four-star linebacker down the road at Tacoma (Wash.) Lincoln, was offered but not prioritized by UW and instead signed with USC. And four-star receiver Lonyatta “Junior” Alexander, a teammate of Huard at Burien (Wash.) Kennedy Catholic, signed with Arizona State when it was believed UW could have landed him.

The Huskies signed just four blue-chip recruits in 2021, and none from out of state. Three blue-chip prospects are currently committed in UW’s 2022 class, which currently ranks No. 54 nationally and No. 8 in the Pac-12. Lake was more aggressive recruiting the transfer portal than Petersen ever was and upgraded UW’s roster with a few veteran additions, particularly former Oklahoma defensive back Brendan Radley-Hiles. But by touting development and brushing off UW’s lagging recruiting rankings, Lake gave rise to a narrative that UW didn’t prioritize recruiting like some other schools and believed it could turn raw prospects into pro draft picks.

That stood in stark contrast to Oregon, which is en route to signing another top-10 class under Cristobal.

“If that’s not your priority, you don’t have a chance,” said another source with extensive knowledge of the Pac-12 recruiting landscape. “Recruiting at Washington is a nuisance. Recruiting at Oregon is second nature. It’s part of the job. You don’t have a job if you can’t do that well. I don’t even know how good of a coach Mario Cristobal is, but he’s figured out the one thing nobody else in the conference is willing to do.”

A very bad week, an inevitable conclusion

It seemed like a softball question: Is it fair to say coaches from Washington and Oregon have a rivalry off the field, in recruiting?

No, Lake said the Monday before UW’s game against the rival Ducks. The Huskies, he said, recruit against teams that have “academic prowess” like UW, such as Stanford, Notre Dame and USC.

The comment garnered national attention, both for Lake’s grammatical flub of “academically prowess,” and because it simply wasn’t true. UW and Oregon recruit the same players all the time, and the past two classes illustrate that more than any. The Huskies lost two priority prospects to the Ducks in 2021 (Franklin and Matavao), and two defensive tackles, Sir Mells and Ben Roberts, have flipped their commitments from UW to Oregon in 2022.

The remark provided fodder for the Ducks to mock the Huskies following their 26-16 victory. Oregon coach Mario Cristobal was sure to work the word “prowess” into his postgame comments. Lake was savaged on Twitter, particularly after choosing to punt, trailing by eight points, with fewer than two minutes remaining.

There is no program or coaching staff Lake dislikes more than Oregon’s, so his comments, combined with the outcome, provided a particularly bitter defeat.

It only got worse. In the first half of the game, ABC cameras captured Lake swinging his right hand into the facemask of Ruperake Fuavai and then shoving him in the back as he walked away. Afterward, Lake denied striking Fuavai and said he was merely trying to separate him from an Oregon player to avoid drawing a personal foul penalty. But UW began an internal investigation into the matter and announced Monday it was suspending Lake for one week without pay. Lake later tweeted a statement of apology for the incident.

As detailed in a recent “Seattle Times” report, Lake also is accused of shoving former receiver Quinten Pounds in the visitor’s locker room during halftime of UW’s game at Arizona in 2019. Eyewitness accounts vary as to the severity of the incident. One eyewitness confirmed to The Athletic that the shove occurred, saying it “wasn’t anything over the top” and “kind of like the stuff you see in the team huddle or when guys hype each other up after a big play.”

But the same person said it was notable enough that one of Pounds’ teammates mentioned it to him the following week.

“It definitely lingered,” the person said. “A lot of us were surprised by it. … It clearly had an effect.”

Lake has denied any wrongdoing, and the alleged incident was not a factor in UW’s decision to fire him.

He had provided the school with enough reasons, anyway. One source with direct knowledge of the situation said Lake was more or less assured after the Montana defeat that UW would stick by him, so long as he went about his business the right way and didn’t embarrass the program. But with each frustrating comment after another frustrating loss, and with the offense seemingly getting worse as the season progressed, he put himself in a position in which the Oregon week would be too much to overcome.

One of Lake’s go-to phrases since taking over is “uncommon unity,” a rare trait he believes UW possesses as a team. A football locker room is a diverse place with 100-plus young men who come from various backgrounds and hold differing opinions, so current sentiment regarding Lake is mixed, one source said. Some players still support him and don’t understand why his conduct toward Fuavai merited punishment. Others would like to see a coaching change. Those differing opinions extend to the assistant staff, too, the source said, where support for Lake exists but is not unanimous.

A world exists in which Lake would have kept his job, even with a 4-6 record, even with an ineffective offense overseen by his hand-picked offensive coordinator. He could have reset this offseason. He could have tried to correct his mistakes and find somebody to install a more innovative, less predictable offensive scheme. But Lake’s struggles weren’t limited to UW’s play, and by the time he walked off the field after the Oregon game, he had committed too many unforced errors for his bosses to look past.

 

Edited November 16, 2021 by NoName

[NoName 16351]

7 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

The game has passed fatterson up....his defenses have been bad. 

i mean, you say that, but...DFEI rankings last few years certainly doesn't support that viewpoint.

• 12: 8
• 13: 6
• 14: 6
• 15: 28
• 16: 33
• 17: 22
• 18: 19
• 19: 17
• 20: 19
• 21 YTD: 114

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

Just now, NoName said:

i mean, you say that, but...DFEI rankings last few years certainly doesn't support that viewpoint.

• 12: 8
• 13: 6
• 14: 6
• 15: 28
• 16: 33
• 17: 22
• 18: 19
• 19: 17
• 20: 19
• 21 YTD: 114

Yeah and prior to the Kansas game we were 35 FEI this season on defense so I think I'm going to not look at FEI as the key metric for defenses any longer. After that game we dropped to where we currently are.

[Coelenterate Fuccboi 13091]

37 minutes ago, Masshole Horn said:

I sure hope his camera is off.

Plot twist, futureman is a woman.

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

Just now, Coelenterate Fuccboi said:

Plot twist, futureman is a woman.

I'd still prefer the camera off, she's hideous.

[NoName 16351]

3 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Yeah and prior to the Kansas game we were 35 FEI this season on defense so I think I'm going to not look at FEI as the key metric for defenses any longer. After that game we dropped to where we currently are.

i am guessing that this is the week (or last week) that preseason counts rolled completely out of the projections based on the drop over the last 3 weeks.

Texas is currently #60 DFEI and #41 OFEI - preseason was #31 DFEI and #12 OFEI

 

[Codaxx 5731]

10 minutes ago, NoName said:

i am guessing that this is the week (or last week) that preseason counts rolled completely out of the projections based on the drop over the last 3 weeks.

Texas is currently #60 DFEI and #41 OFEI - preseason was #31 DFEI and #12 OFEI

 

That is the issue with adjusted numbers. They are not very good until late in the season, once the data is collected. Its why people hate adjusted stats, because they see ridiculous rankings in the first 6 weeks of the season.  I think they are far and away the best stats to use pre-bowls and after a season, but they are generally poor to quote pre-November

[NoName 16351]

4 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

That is the issue with adjusted numbers. They are not very good until late in the season, once the data is collected. Its why people hate adjusted stats, because they see ridiculous rankings in the first 6 weeks of the season.  I think they are far and away the best stats to use pre-bowls and after a season, but they are generally poor to quote pre-November

all fair.

the idea that GP has had bad defenses and the game has passed him by is invalidated by looking at the actual results though...

[Fondren & Main 6710]

19 minutes ago, NoName said:

i am guessing that this is the week (or last week) that preseason counts rolled completely out of the projections based on the drop over the last 3 weeks.

Texas is currently #60 DFEI and #41 OFEI - preseason was #31 DFEI and #12 OFEI

 

So right now our rankings state that we are an average to below average team.  Is that incorrect?

[closetojumping 62604]

50 minutes ago, The Beast said:

Please stop with this stupid shit. Fat Pat negatively recruited and shit all over this university to every recruit who would listen. He isn’t going to put on the burnt orange and say hookem ever. 

I don't expect Patterson to be involved with the program, but are you really dumb/naive/both enough to believe that money and petty vengeance aren't sound motivators for egotists who have been wronged? Given your posting history and staunch support of Sarkisian irrespective of outcome, I guess you might actually be dumb enough.

35 minutes ago, Coelenterate Fuccboi said:

Plot twist, futureman is a woman.

The dude actually showed up to a tailgate this season. He looked like the aging child molester in pleated blue jeans that you'd expect. 

[NoName 16351]

17 minutes ago, Fondren & Main said:

So right now our rankings state that we are an average to below average team.  Is that incorrect?

Quote

FEI ratings (FEI) represent the per-possession scoring advantage each team would be expected to have on a neutral field against an average opponent. Offense ratings (OFEI) and defense ratings (DFEI) represent the per-possession scoring advantages for each team unit against an average opponent.

Texas actual OFEI score is 0.44 and DFEI is 0.05

the actual 0.00 OFEI team is #70 and and funny enough, Texas is the last positive DFEI team at #60 - #61 (Liberty) is actually closer to absolute 0 at -0.01.

so Defense is literally just above average and offense is better, which i think we all can agree with.

overall, Texas is the #42 FEI team in the country with a 0.33 score. they are getting a pretty decent adjustment due to quality of opponent (currently #21)

edit: here are the actual DFEI scores - https://www.bcftoys.com/2021-dfei

for all of our bitching OU actually has a worse DFEI score lol (#77 and -0.15)

Edited November 16, 2021 by NoName

[Codaxx 5731]

20 minutes ago, NoName said:

all fair.

the idea that GP has had bad defenses and the game has passed him by is invalidated by looking at the actual results though...

I dont think the game has completely passed him, but I would not want him as a DC. I think he is still a good coach, but the edge he had has been mitigated. HE was once a cutting edge DC, I just dont see that now. The plus side is he can teach and evaluate, but the negative is basically his personality. I cant see him thriving in the media bubble that is Texas football. He does not play well with others. I dont think at this point he will recruit. I personally I highly doubt he wants to be at a major university and be a DC. 

[NoName 16351]

5 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

I personally I highly doubt he wants to be at a major university and be a DC. 

I actually agree with this, I think he is going to ride into the sunset only to pop up to bitch about...SMU, TCU, OU, Texas, Baylor...anyone he thinks ever had anything bad to say about him.

At this point, I am hoping we get a Gary Patterson diss album.

Edited November 16, 2021 by NoName

[Codaxx 5731]

3 minutes ago, NoName said:

I actually agree with this, I think he is going to ride into the sunset only to pop up to bitch about...SMU, TCU, OU, Texas, Baylor...anyone he thinks ever had anything bad to say about him.

At this point, I am hoping we get a Gary Patterson diss album.

When he released his album, I think it was apparent he was on his way out. That and the fact that TCU gave him the opportunity to finish out the season and he passed. 

Edited November 16, 2021 by Codaxx

[956 Worldwide 34705]

Highly doubt that GP wants to coordinate at Texas. That said, for the recruiting and analysis alone it would be a brilliant hire could It be pulled off. 

[ClubWhatever 12129]

27 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

The dude actually showed up to a tailgate this season. He looked like the aging child molester in pleated blue jeans that you'd expect. 

Hi, I’m On Ignore. Nice to meet you. 

[Tex-19 2872]

1 hour ago, NoName said:

i am guessing that this is the week (or last week) that preseason counts rolled completely out of the projections based on the drop over the last 3 weeks.

Texas is currently #60 DFEI and #41 OFEI - preseason was #31 DFEI and #12 OFEI

 

I’m not sure I buy the whole FEI thing. Looking at the actual results, Texas is 13th in scoring offense, 108 in scoring defense. Big difference. 

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

42 minutes ago, NoName said:

so Defense is literally just above average and offense is better, which i think we all can agree with.

Idk if I can agree with that for the defense. They’re giving up 203 ypc and just gave up 50 points to Kansas and 200 yards rushing to Kansas. 

[futureman 22453]

1 hour ago, Coelenterate Fuccboi said:

Plot twist, futureman is a woman.

it’s 2021. women have penises now. 

[futureman 22453]

46 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

The dude actually showed up to a tailgate this season. He looked like the aging child molester in pleated blue jeans that you'd expect. 

I would really love to hear more about this. 

[cashman 20]

Why would Fat pat not just get a head coaching job somewhere if he wanted back in to coaching. No way he comes here for a coordinator job.

[The Beast 585]

56 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

I don't expect Patterson to be involved with the program, but are you really dumb/naive/both enough to believe that money and petty vengeance aren't sound motivators for egotists who have been wronged? Given your posting history and staunch support of Sarkisian irrespective of outcome, I guess you might actually be dumb enough.

The dude actually showed up to a tailgate this season. He looked like the aging child molester in pleated blue jeans that you'd expect. 

I was hoping you would type another 5 paragraphs with absolutely nothing of value in them. You’re still a pussy. 

[The Beast 585]

Just now, cashman said:

Why would Fat pat not just get a head coaching job somewhere if he wanted back in to coaching. No way he comes here for a coordinator job.

There’s a dipshit on here that would love to type a manual on it for you.

[BurntOrange&White 39931]

[UncleBuck 6453]

[Vertigo 20276]

41 minutes ago, NoName said:

I actually agree with this, I think he is going to ride into the sunset only to pop up to bitch about...SMU, TCU, OU, Texas, Baylor...anyone he thinks ever had anything bad to say about him.

At this point, I am hoping we get a Gary Patterson diss album.

Can you imagine the songs on GP's Jagged Little Pill Album?

All I really want (is to fuck Texas)
You oughta know (that Texas sucks)
Perfect (Playing Charlie Strong)
Hand in TCU Pom's pocket
Right Through You (CDC)
Forgiven (Nah fuck that shit CDC)
You Learn (That Texas can't stop the run)
Head Over Feet (That Case McCoy scramble)
Mary Jane (Ode to Ricky)
Ironic (The Brennan Eagles Song)
Not The Doctor (Tom Herman lol)
Wake Up (Texas Fans)
 

[MonkeyDoughnut 10232]

10 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

https://texassports.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/torre-becton/2952

[elguapo 4586]

2 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

https://texassports.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/torre-becton/2952

[closetojumping 62604]

21 minutes ago, The Beast said:

I was hoping you would type another 5 paragraphs with absolutely nothing of value in them. You’re still a pussy. 

All of that would be a first. Everything I've ever typed is super valuable. As to calling someone a pussy on the Internet, there have been memes about the Internet tough guy act for 2 decades. Is your next move to offer to meet me and fight in real life? Or maybe tell us how defending the honor of this great man, September Wins Steve, makes you some sort of bad ass? I don't know, but I can't wait to find out. 

[Barbacoa 1934]

I get the Fat Pat Allure but from what Ive heard he's a bigger dickhead now than he ever has been. He wasnt able to play nice with his own staff, let alone another coach's. Don't get me wrong, I'd trade him straight up for Sark, but he's a guy that sounds like he needs a break from coaching for a bit. 

[RaysBoomBoomRoom 5742]

27 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

it seems unlikely that Sark would can PK, so that means its Gideon or Joseph.. and obviously Andre Coleman. firing Gideon after one year is probably unrealistic so that means its Joseph. he can go to LSU now

[Davis Lane 5581]

1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

I don't expect Patterson to be involved with the program, but are you really dumb/naive/both enough to believe that money and petty vengeance aren't sound motivators for egotists who have been wronged? Given your posting history and staunch support of Sarkisian irrespective of outcome, I guess you might actually be dumb enough.

The dude actually showed up to a tailgate this season. He looked like the aging child molester in pleated blue jeans that you'd expect. 

Surly fashionistas at our finest.

Remind me not to wear pleated jeans nor cargo shorts at the next Burnt Ends tailgate funeral.

Thank you in advance.

[Herbie Hancock 7345]

Holy fuck we just went consecutive pages without someone suggesting we money-whip Muschamp. Hot damn some of you might actually be getting smarterer!

[UncleBuck 6453]

Wonder what Muschamp'$ up to right now...

[Viper 12108]

1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

I don't expect Patterson to be involved with the program, but are you really dumb/naive/both enough to believe that money and petty vengeance aren't sound motivators for egotists who have been wronged? Given your posting history and staunch support of Sarkisian irrespective of outcome, I guess you might actually be dumb enough.

The dude actually showed up to a tailgate this season. He looked like the aging child molester in pleated blue jeans that you'd expect. 

More or less awkward than Icono stopping in at a happy hour on his way to the flop house?

[SydneyCarton 48076]

1 minute ago, Viper said:

More or less awkward than Icono stopping in at a happy hour on his way to the flop house?

As someone who was at both...that's tough. 

[Schulz2.0 28951]

2 hours ago, NoName said:

Athletic: Inside the end of the Jimmy Lake era at Washington

some key quotes:
 

he has a little Tom Herman in him:
 

recruiting:
 

and

 

Full Text

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Inside the end of the Jimmy Lake era at Washington: It wasn’t any one thing — it was everything

Christian Caple Nov 14, 2021 157

SEATTLE — It was a standard introduction for a recent football coaching hire: Bring him out during a basketball game, let him briefly address the crowd, bask in the ovation and get everyone feeling good about the new guy.

It was the kind of task Jimmy Lake — confident, brash, optimistic — would knock out of the park. Indeed, as he stood at midcourt and held a microphone in his right hand at halftime of Washington’s men’s basketball game against Oregon on Jan. 18, 2020, Lake offered not only his most rousing assessment of the state of the program but did so with an energy and panache that stood in stark contrast to his predecessor, Chris Petersen, the future Hall of Famer he replaced a month prior.

“This is why we will continue to dominate the West Coast, because of fans like you,” Lake told the adoring crowd. “I want to give you a couple of updates: In December, we just signed the No. 1 recruiting class in the Pac-12, and what’s really exciting is, we are currently working on the 2021 class, and in the state of Washington, we have some of the best players in the country, and we need those guys to stay right here, at home, in Seattle.

“On April 25, we are trying to have the highest-attended spring game in the country, right here, April 25. And on Sept. 5, there’s this team from the Big Ten that’s coming across here, and we need to send them back to Ann Arbor with a big L.”

It was Lake as fans came to know him through six seasons as an assistant. First as defensive backs coach and then as coordinator, Lake always talked big and backed it up. When Petersen decided to leave coaching, he did so, he said, because he knew the program needed new energy, and he strongly believed Lake had the juice necessary to carry the torch — and, in fact, to elevate the program beyond its 2019 malaise.

Lake would inject passion and toughness into all phases of the program, the thinking went. He was an ace recruiter of future pro defensive backs, and as head coach, he would replicate that success across the entire team. He had strong opinions on UW’s offensive struggles in Petersen’s final seasons, and he would apply his love of X’s and O’s to that side of the ball in order to get it humming on the same level as UW’s vaunted defense. Other programs had tried to poach Lake over the years. UW kept promoting him, kept bumping his pay, made him the highest-paid assistant in the Pac-12. He was a logical replacement for Petersen, and UW was the kind of job he’d been waiting for.

It’s been less than two years since that basketball game. UW has not dominated the West Coast. It missed on most of the touted in-state recruits who Lake referred to and has otherwise slipped from its Petersen-era recruiting peak. The Huskies didn’t get to play Michigan in 2020, one of myriad pandemic consequences, but visited the Big House earlier this season and didn’t score a touchdown until the fourth quarter.

In the end, that may be what defines the Lake era: big talk unsupported by performance, big expectations unrealized, supreme confidence in the face of skepticism — and, ultimately, too many gaffes for the school to ignore.

Washington fired Lake on Sunday, one week after suspending him for a sideline altercation with a player during a Nov. 6 loss to Oregon. The school terminated his contract without cause and will owe his full buyout of $9.9 million over the next three years, reduced by the amount of any new compensation he earns during that time.

UW didn’t want to fire Lake or any coach after just 13 games, particularly considering the circumstances of the pandemic. His record alone didn’t do him in. His inept offense alone didn’t do him in. Neither did his comments about recruiting against Oregon, or even the sideline incident.

It wasn’t any one thing.

It was everything.

A critical hire, a critical error

Lake didn’t think much of former offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan.

That much was obvious based on the way Lake has spoken publicly about UW’s offense in the final seasons under Petersen, but multiple sources also confirmed the two never saw eye to eye. From Hamdan’s play calling to his demeanor, Lake — from his perch as defensive coordinator — didn’t believe Hamdan was confident or aggressive enough to lead an offense that embodied those traits. Lake fired Hamdan and tight ends coach Jordan Paopao on his first official day on the job and wanted to hire a replacement who would install the kind of “bruising” and “attacking” offensive scheme Lake preferred.

He targeted Kellen Moore, the Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator and former star quarterback under Petersen at Boise State. But Moore eventually made the obvious decision to remain in Dallas with new coach Mike McCarthy, thwarting what would have been a major coup for a first-year coach seeking to make a big splash with his first critical hire.

Three days later, UW announced its new OC: John Donovan, an offensive assistant with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

It seemed an odd fit from the start; Donovan had never played or coached west of Tennessee. He had spent the previous four seasons as an offensive assistant — not a position coach — with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and his most recent stint as a coordinator, at Penn State from 2014-15, had not gone well.

 

 

John Donovan was a questionable hire that didn’t work out. (Jacob Snow / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Donovan followed coach James Franklin to Penn State from Vanderbilt, where they enjoyed unprecedented success at a program unaccustomed to competing in the cutthroat SEC. Vanderbilt players spoke highly of Donovan, a straight-shooting, no-nonsense native of River Edge, N.J. Ralph Friedgen, his boss for 13 seasons at Georgia Tech and Maryland, described him as “a very, very intelligent person” who learned quickly. “Good, hard worker,” Friedgen said. “Didn’t say a whole lot. Just worked real hard.”

Likewise, Wesley Johnson, a former Vanderbilt offensive lineman, said: “He wants to be a coach. He’s not trying to be famous or anything like that.”

Franklin fired Donovan after two seasons at Penn State, though, as the Nittany Lions averaged 20.6 and then 23.2 points per game, allowing 83 sacks combined — 20 more than any Big Ten team — during Donovan’s two years calling plays. Scholarship reductions in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal had decimated Penn State’s offensive line, but the Nittany Lions also were criticized for a predictable scheme lacking creativity. And it didn’t help that Donovan’s replacement, Joe Moorhead, immediately oversaw dramatic improvement the following season (nor did it help all these years later that Oregon, in the market for a coordinator at the same time as Lake, hired Moorhead to replace Marcus Arroyo).

Lake relied upon input from NFL associates who recommended Donovan and believed his four seasons at the pro level would be beneficial. A former assistant with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions, Lake has long been enamored with the NFL and regularly visits pro franchises in the offseason to glean tips and strategies to implement in his own program; he admits his favored mantra, “practice execution becomes game reality,” was cribbed from one of his many visits to the New England Patriots.

As such, Lake looks down upon offenses such as the Air Raid, believing a one-dimensional attack won’t cut it against elite defenses. He played a central role in supporting that notion during UW’s last six victories over the rival Washington State Cougars, all with Mike Leach at the helm. First, as defensive backs coach and then as coordinator, Lake was part of a staff that stifled WSU’s otherwise potent passing attack, and he wasn’t shy about tweaking Leach’s scheme. He once referred to WSU’s offense as “basketball on grass,” and said after the 2018 Apple Cup, a 28-15 victory that clinched the Pac-12 North title, that he hoped Leach would stay at WSU “for a long time” because “it makes it real easy to game plan when an offense does the same thing every year.”

Those comments may have endeared him to UW fans who relished an annual victory over their in-state rivals, but offensive execution was the foremost matter on which Lake never backed up his tough talk as head coach.

The 2020 season was fine enough: The Huskies went 3-1 and technically won the North Division thanks to multiple cancellations and some funky tiebreakers. They averaged 30.1 points per game, good for fourth in the conference, though 44 of those came against winless Arizona, and UW failed to score a touchdown in the first half of its final two games, against Utah and Stanford. That was cause for concern, but with nearly every starter returning in 2021 — including the entire offensive line, anchored by all-conference left tackle Jaxson Kirkland — there was reason to expect better.

Lake certainly did. He spent the month of August hyping his team in several different ways: He described the offensive line as the best in the Pac-12, “bar none.” He disparaged past wide receivers by saying that position group prevented UW from winning its New Year’s Six bowl matchups in recent years and that UW’s current wideouts represented a significant upgrade. Asked his definition of fair annual expectations for the program, Lake was unequivocal: UW was to compete for the Pac-12 title and play in a major bowl game. Anything less was “unacceptable.” And when asked what he thought it would take for UW to get to the point of annual College Football Playoff contention, Lake replied that he thought the Huskies were “already there.”

Then, in their first game played in front of fans at Husky Stadium since 2019, Washington lost to FCS Montana. The Huskies scored seven points. They couldn’t run the ball. It was among the most embarrassing defeats in program history.

Then they lost at Michigan, 31-10, Lake vowing “everything is on the table” regarding the Huskies’ inert offense.

But it never really improved, at least not to any degree acceptable for a program of UW’s caliber. The Huskies hadn’t scored more than 24 points in regulation against a Power 5 team until Saturday’s 35-30 loss to Arizona State. The open week preceding an Oct. 16 game against UCLA was seen as an important one for Lake’s future, and UW came out and scored 17 points in an ugly loss. The final straw for Donovan came in UW’s 26-16 loss to Oregon on Nov. 6, in which the Huskies managed only seven first downs and 166 total yards. Lake fired him the next day.

Lake always put the blame on himself, always said it came down to coaching, always said the staff needed to figure out ways to put their players in better positions. It just never happened.

Dylan Morris, who debuted as the starting quarterback in 2020 and acquitted himself relatively well, has clearly regressed. Coaches have inserted five-star freshman Sam Huard into three games, but with minimal pass attempts. Morris’ struggles have made it difficult to involve UW’s talented group of receivers — Terrell Bynum, Jalen McMillan and Rome Odunze, in particular — or tight end Cade Otton, an all-conference performer last season. The Huskies continued trying to run the ball up the middle, even as opposing defenses stacked the box to force Morris to beat them.

It also didn’t seem as if coaches knew who their best players were. Many were surprised when Sean McGrew, who returned for a sixth year after leading the team in rushing in 2020, did not play a single snap in either of UW’s first two games, especially as the running game was mostly non-functional. Kamari Pleasant, another sixth-year senior, also didn’t have a carry in either of those games.

Lake insisted that Richard Newton and Cam Davis had earned the right to split carries through their performance in spring and preseason camp and that UW would focus its efforts on getting those two in a rhythm. That wasn’t illogical: Davis is a promising young player, and Newton is a tough, bruising runner in the style Lake favors. But nobody expected McGrew and Pleasant to sit on the bench, especially as the running game stalled the first two weeks.

As one source with knowledge of the situation put it: “Sean and Kamari had no shot at playing, no matter how good of a fall camp they had.”

McGrew and Pleasant finally saw their first carries in Week 3 against Arkansas State. McGrew has had at least 15 carries in every game since, save for Saturday, which he missed due to injury. He is the team’s leading rusher with 408 yards (4.0 per rush) and eight touchdowns; Pleasant leads the team in per-carry average at 6.19 on 43 attempts. On a team that ranks 11th in the Pac-12 in yards per rush — and running behind an offensive line that has massively underperformed — McGrew and Pleasant have been the steadiest runners.

In 13 games with Donovan as coordinator, the Huskies averaged 24.5 points per game.

They averaged 32.0 in Hamdan’s final season.

Some of Lake’s other hires also were met with skepticism. When respected defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski left after the 2020 season for Texas, Lake shuffled the staff by promoting linebackers coach Bob Gregory to coordinator, and he moved defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe to coach outside linebackers and promoted quality control analyst Rip Rowan to D-line coach. Rowan was the second analyst to be promoted in as many seasons: Lake elevated Derham Cato, an offensive analyst, to tight ends coach after firing Paopao.

Cato and Rowan are bright, young coaches who are respected within UW’s building, but the promotion of two analysts by a first-time coach raised concerns about Lake’s network and willingness to seek new ideas from outsiders.

Asked during the bye week if Lake had sought counsel from Petersen, who remains on campus as a special adviser, UW athletic director Jen Cohen replied, in part: “I’m not sure how much dialogue those two have. … I can’t speak to what kind of conversations they may or may not be having.”

A recruiting restructure with lacking results

In each of Petersen’s final three seasons, the Huskies signed recruiting classes ranked in the national top 16 — unprecedented for UW in the internet era. The talent in those classes boosted UW’s blue-chip ratio above 50 percent, and the Huskies won battles for several prospects with offers from Oregon and USC, and even some recruited by Alabama, Oklahoma and Clemson.

Petersen took great pride in his evaluation process, favoring a selective approach that prioritized program fit above all else. UW earned a reputation as detailed and thorough, only extending scholarship offers once it had conducted extensive research on a prospect’s background. Lake thrived within this structure as an assistant, successfully recruiting future stars such as Budda Baker, Sidney Jones, Byron Murphy, Taylor Rapp and Trent McDuffie.

 

 

Jimmy Lake was fired without cause after coaching only 13 games at UW. (Joe Nicholson / USA Today)

Within his first few months as head coach, though, Lake fired a key recruiting staffer, Cooper Petagna, who had been director of player personnel under Petersen since February 2018. Petagna had worked at Michigan, Alabama and LSU, and brought with him an eye for the kind of talent UW would need to compete nationally with those kinds of programs. Lake replaced him by promoting to recruiting director Justin Glenn, a former UW defensive back who had been on staff in various personnel roles. Josh Murphy, another important recruiting staffer, chose to leave the program around the same time.

Lake also shelved Petersen’s messaging strategy of referring to ideal prospects as “OKGs,” or “Our Kinda Guys.” Instead, Lake wanted UW to simply pursue “Dawgs.” It’s a minor distinction, in the big picture — and some believed “OKG” had become problematic and worried that it implied a certain degree of elitism — but it’s another example of Lake wanting to run things his way.

The combination of a new recruiting staff and vision mixed with unprecedented circumstances wrought by the pandemic made it difficult for UW to find its footing.

“There was changeover in that recruiting staff room. They lost some good evaluators and people who were very organized,” said a recruiting staffer at another Pac-12 school. “But at the same time, maybe there just was not a lot of belief in Jimmy yet, just because he hadn’t coached a game with a lot of those guys.”

UW’s 16-player, 2021 recruiting class ranked No. 36 nationally and No. 6 in the Pac-12. The Huskies’ top two targets, five-star Sammamish (Wash.) Eastside Catholic defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau and five-star Steilacoom (Wash.) receiver Emeka Egbuka, each signed with Ohio State. Receiver Troy Franklin and tight end Moliki Matavao, both heavily pursued by UW, signed with Oregon. Julien Simon, a four-star linebacker down the road at Tacoma (Wash.) Lincoln, was offered but not prioritized by UW and instead signed with USC. And four-star receiver Lonyatta “Junior” Alexander, a teammate of Huard at Burien (Wash.) Kennedy Catholic, signed with Arizona State when it was believed UW could have landed him.

The Huskies signed just four blue-chip recruits in 2021, and none from out of state. Three blue-chip prospects are currently committed in UW’s 2022 class, which currently ranks No. 54 nationally and No. 8 in the Pac-12. Lake was more aggressive recruiting the transfer portal than Petersen ever was and upgraded UW’s roster with a few veteran additions, particularly former Oklahoma defensive back Brendan Radley-Hiles. But by touting development and brushing off UW’s lagging recruiting rankings, Lake gave rise to a narrative that UW didn’t prioritize recruiting like some other schools and believed it could turn raw prospects into pro draft picks.

That stood in stark contrast to Oregon, which is en route to signing another top-10 class under Cristobal.

“If that’s not your priority, you don’t have a chance,” said another source with extensive knowledge of the Pac-12 recruiting landscape. “Recruiting at Washington is a nuisance. Recruiting at Oregon is second nature. It’s part of the job. You don’t have a job if you can’t do that well. I don’t even know how good of a coach Mario Cristobal is, but he’s figured out the one thing nobody else in the conference is willing to do.”

A very bad week, an inevitable conclusion

It seemed like a softball question: Is it fair to say coaches from Washington and Oregon have a rivalry off the field, in recruiting?

No, Lake said the Monday before UW’s game against the rival Ducks. The Huskies, he said, recruit against teams that have “academic prowess” like UW, such as Stanford, Notre Dame and USC.

The comment garnered national attention, both for Lake’s grammatical flub of “academically prowess,” and because it simply wasn’t true. UW and Oregon recruit the same players all the time, and the past two classes illustrate that more than any. The Huskies lost two priority prospects to the Ducks in 2021 (Franklin and Matavao), and two defensive tackles, Sir Mells and Ben Roberts, have flipped their commitments from UW to Oregon in 2022.

The remark provided fodder for the Ducks to mock the Huskies following their 26-16 victory. Oregon coach Mario Cristobal was sure to work the word “prowess” into his postgame comments. Lake was savaged on Twitter, particularly after choosing to punt, trailing by eight points, with fewer than two minutes remaining.

There is no program or coaching staff Lake dislikes more than Oregon’s, so his comments, combined with the outcome, provided a particularly bitter defeat.

It only got worse. In the first half of the game, ABC cameras captured Lake swinging his right hand into the facemask of Ruperake Fuavai and then shoving him in the back as he walked away. Afterward, Lake denied striking Fuavai and said he was merely trying to separate him from an Oregon player to avoid drawing a personal foul penalty. But UW began an internal investigation into the matter and announced Monday it was suspending Lake for one week without pay. Lake later tweeted a statement of apology for the incident.

As detailed in a recent “Seattle Times” report, Lake also is accused of shoving former receiver Quinten Pounds in the visitor’s locker room during halftime of UW’s game at Arizona in 2019. Eyewitness accounts vary as to the severity of the incident. One eyewitness confirmed to The Athletic that the shove occurred, saying it “wasn’t anything over the top” and “kind of like the stuff you see in the team huddle or when guys hype each other up after a big play.”

But the same person said it was notable enough that one of Pounds’ teammates mentioned it to him the following week.

“It definitely lingered,” the person said. “A lot of us were surprised by it. … It clearly had an effect.”

Lake has denied any wrongdoing, and the alleged incident was not a factor in UW’s decision to fire him.

He had provided the school with enough reasons, anyway. One source with direct knowledge of the situation said Lake was more or less assured after the Montana defeat that UW would stick by him, so long as he went about his business the right way and didn’t embarrass the program. But with each frustrating comment after another frustrating loss, and with the offense seemingly getting worse as the season progressed, he put himself in a position in which the Oregon week would be too much to overcome.

One of Lake’s go-to phrases since taking over is “uncommon unity,” a rare trait he believes UW possesses as a team. A football locker room is a diverse place with 100-plus young men who come from various backgrounds and hold differing opinions, so current sentiment regarding Lake is mixed, one source said. Some players still support him and don’t understand why his conduct toward Fuavai merited punishment. Others would like to see a coaching change. Those differing opinions extend to the assistant staff, too, the source said, where support for Lake exists but is not unanimous.

A world exists in which Lake would have kept his job, even with a 4-6 record, even with an ineffective offense overseen by his hand-picked offensive coordinator. He could have reset this offseason. He could have tried to correct his mistakes and find somebody to install a more innovative, less predictable offensive scheme. But Lake’s struggles weren’t limited to UW’s play, and by the time he walked off the field after the Oregon game, he had committed too many unforced errors for his bosses to look past.

 

Lake has had a rep as a good recruiter for years. Most of the higher end talent on the Washington defense were DBs. 

[Mitch Cumsteen 18547]

26 minutes ago, RaysBoomBoomRoom said:

it seems unlikely that Sark would can PK, so that means its Gideon or Joseph.. and obviously Andre Coleman. firing Gideon after one year is probably unrealistic so that means its Joseph. he can go to LSU now

Why do we think Coleman is getting canned other than he's not our dream recruiting rainmaker? I'm not opposed to it but our highest rated recruit is in his position group and Worthy has been fantastic so far. It's not his fault Whittington and Omeire got hurt (again). Of all the problems on this team, especially from a coaching perspective, I have WR down the list after every position group on defense and the OL. 

[ioueleventybilliondollars 107]

16 hours ago, Michael Knight said:

that narrative quickly changes if theres no improvement in year 2

If Sark threads the needle just right, Texas can improve to 3-6 in conference play next year. Maybe that will earn him the chance to get the team back to .500 eventually.