Slick Rick may be making a comeback to the Pac-10.

According to the LA Daily News Neuheisel interviewed for the head coach opening at UCLA last Friday. For those that haven't been keeping up with the former Husky coach, he is currently the offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. Although, as the report states, Brian Billick has told Neuheisel that he can leave before the end of the NFL season for a college coaching job.

A lot of the national reports I've seen on this refer to Neuheisel's success at Colorado and Washington as past qualifications for this position. Neuheisel is a UCLA alum and also was a graduate assistant coach during his time in law school at USC on a NCAA postgraduate scholarship. So, he clearly has roots there and would give the "big name" appeal to a hire for UCLA. However, to our fellow Bruins fans, we'll have you know that "Newweasel" is trouble. Our program is still crawling out of the crater that his firing created. He has had NCAA violations at both programs he's run, and you'd probably just be better off staying away from the guy. On the other hand, it could make for a great opportunity to finally stick to old Rick on the field.

Other candidates for the UCLA job are Norm Chow (Tennessee Titans OC), John Harbaugh (Philadelphia Eagles Assistant), and DeWayne Walker (currently UCLA interim coach). This hire could also have reprcussions for how recruting ends up shaping out as UW has their eyes on a couple players who have made it known they are waiting to see who is hired and could possibly reconsider their choice of UCLA.

Update [2007-12-18 11:35:52 by andrewjh]:
According to the latest reports on the UCLA coaching job, Neuheisel is expected to get a second interview. But, as some have speculated, UW is expected to make an "intense push" to hire DeWayne Walker as the Defensive Coordinator to replace Baer. As I said yesterday, this could impact recruiting as some might want to follow Walker to UW.

Entry Link :: Comment

Are you surprised?

Defensive Coordinator Kent Baer was let go today in a move that really isn't going to shock anyone. Baer oversaw one of the worst defenses in the country this past season. All of us who watched this team implode after the 2-0 start had to be frustrated with the defense. You could focus on any given loss and come up with a short coming of the defense. Baer's defense couldn't stop the run and it definitely couldn't defend the pass either time and time again.

I could go into the details of so many games this season, but at this point I'd just rather put it all behind. Instead, here's a look final overall line for the Huskies defense in 2007:

Per Game Averages:
Points: 31.6 (94th)
Rushing Yards: 185.0 (89th)
Passing Yards: 261.4 (99th)

All very bad indicators, and that doesn't even begin to touch on some of the details that went into those aggregate numbers. But, like I said, none of us really want to go there. We know how bad it was. Let's hope the new DC can bring some change to the defensive philosophy and put some better numbers on the board.

Tyrone Willingham has been hesitant to make changes to his coaching staff over the years. He has kept a lot of his core coaching group together as he has moved from school to school. Today, by all accounts, his hand was forced to let go of a coach who had been with him for 13 seasons. In my opinion, this program is no longer completely under Willingham's control. President Emmert has promised necessary changes will be made despite bringing back the head coach. In the last week we've watched Todd Turner go by the wayside and now today a major shift in the football coaching staff. You can definitely assume that Willingham is on a short leash here. We'll see what else will be changed, but this is a nice start.

Entry Link :: Comment

LET'S GO HUSKIES!

Entry Link :: Comment

Got this in my e-mail yesterday. Gopher Nation, a U of Minnesota blog, has invented the College Football NIT . Our Huskies were seeded #7 as the Automatic Pac-10 Qualifier and faced off against #2 Notre Dame.

So, we took on the Fighting Irish in the "Fridge72.com Refrigerator Bowl" in the First Round. Here's Gopher Nation's outcome of the game:

Entry Link :: Comment

Huge news on the newest Husky tonight. Chris Polk of Redlands East Valley High has revoked his previous commitment to USC and now reportedly committed to UW. Polk is a legitimate 4 star recruit. A definitely play maker and has even been referred to as "Baby Bush". He's a receiver / running back who is most likely the type of player who can be used as a back, but is a threat in the receiving game as well. All reports I've read on him say that he's fast, elusive, and plays the game with toughness. Even better, the fact that USC went for this guy early speaks volumes about how a top-tier program viewed him. He's the real deal. Most definitely a huge addition for a class that is shaping up quite well. For more on Polk, here's a look at his recruiting profiles:

Polk on Rivals.com (Rated #4 All-Purpose Back Nationally)
Polk on Scout.com (Rated #9 RB Nationally)

Entry Link :: 2 Comments

"It just was enlightening about where our society, culture and support group has gone in their expectations of what constitutes a quality program on a campus of higher education." - Todd Turner

Yesterday I scoffed at that comment a little bit at first reaction. Turner started talking about larger entities like society and culture in general. I have to say that I was looking at this pretty narrowly. This morning I read that quote again and it hit me. This is really the core reason why Todd Turner decided to resign from the program. For Turner, wins were not the number one priority of the program. Turner is more worried about developing quality individuals and building a culture of success. Sure, winning is part of that, but it wasn't the only objective.

Obviously, this leads us very quickly to a philosophical debate. What should the purpose of collegiate athletics be? Is it purely to win in sport? Are there larger objectives that athletics such as developing quality individuals?

In fact, these are questions that Turner himself struggled with:
"And I have to look at that after 32 years of doing this and say, 'Wow, is that really what we are all about? Have I been that naive all this period of time? I have been spending all my time on the student-athlete experience and trying to create better lives for people and the proper place in higher education when all I should have been worrying about is how many games we've won.'"

I'm sure some of you are banging your head against the wall by this point, but those are questions worth thinking about. It's the old "win games at all costs" versus "it matters how you win" debate.

I'm not one to discount values and the importance of sport in instilling those values. However, as a fan dedicated to a team, you care about the bottom line: winning games. I'd even go a step further to claim that from that point it is where all those other things like building quality individuals can take place. If you're a losing program, chances are you aren't going to be able to care about that as much nor will you attract the type of talent that will make your program competitive to begin with.

Yeah, there is more to all of this, but I really do think that you cannot discount the importance of winning. You play the game to win. You want to win the right way with dignity, but nevertheless the point is winning. Todd Turner is a nice guy. Maybe he was the right guy when he first came here. I'm not really sure. But I do know that it is clear his focus was not as much on winning as it should have been.

Entry Link :: Comment

I am sure many of you out there are pleased to know that this afternoon Athletic Director Todd Turner submitted his resignation. We sure know that those over at FireToddTurner.com are very pleased.  Effective the end of January, Turner will step down from his post of AD.  Personally, I am not going to make too much of this at the moment.  President Emmert claims that "there wasn't any one thing" leading to the resignation and that it was more that Turner was no longer the "right fit" or the Huskies program.

So how much should we read into this?  Does this mean that last week's decision to keep Coach Willingham no longer stands?  And what does this mean for the long term picture of Husky athletics?

I'd say that right now it is just too early to read into any potential answers for those questions.  Obviously, this shakes things up considerably.  Willingham was Turner's guy and a new AD may want to remake the program with his new vision.  It really is too early to tell what will happen.

However, Bob Condotta has done some speculating on his blog about how this impacts Husky football:

And what's all this about "our society, culture, and support group"? What an odd thing to say. I've never been much of a fan of Turner's and his comments at times have really raised eyebrows and even been upsetting at times, so how fitting for him to go out with something like that.

The search for a new AD begins. Who will be Turner's replacement and lead the program in a new direction? We'll know soon enough.

Entry Link :: Comment

This past week while the blog was down the Huskies dropped games to Oklahoma State (71-96) and Pittsburgh (74-75).  Despite playing a close game against the #12 Panthers and nearly pulling off a win on a last second shot by Justin Dentmon that didn't get off in time, the Huskies now find themselves at 4-4 a month into the season.

While it's early to do too much statistical analysis of the season thus far, let's take a look at how the Huskies stack up according to Ken Pomeroy's indicators.   Note: For those that aren't familiar, Pomeroy is considered one of the leaders in statistical analysis for college hoops.

As a team, the Huskies have an RPI of 178 and Pomeroy ranks the team at 104.  Not too impressive considering that the reason for the tougher schedule against non-conference opponents was to boost those numbers.  But you have to win some of these games for it to work out.  So far, the Huskies just haven't.  Now, I do have to say that I do not think we are as bad as some might say based off of those basic figures at face value.

There is some encouraging news if you look at little closer.  The up-tempo style of offense is back this season ranking 34 in the nation (with 74.2 possessions per game), which has translated into an efficient offensive attack (as Pomeroy measures us at 48th in the nation).  So what does all of that mean?  It means that we can win games that are up and down the court battles.  We an out hustle teams.  It means that this team has been built for speed and it can use its athleticism as a threat.

There is also a "but" though, right?  And there are definitely some factors for why this up-tempo approach hasn't translated into success just yet.  I've been saying it from the beginning of the season, but this team's nucleus is very young.  Inexperience usually shows up somewhere in the stats and I'll point to a few that we should monitor as the Huskies progress.  Free throws have been a huge problem.  We have shot 59.5% from the line good for 318 of 341 teams.  Even worse, with a FT Rate of 19.3 (essentially the number of FT Attempts per 100 FG) ranks us at 286th in the country.  So it isn't just that we aren't making free throws, but we aren't shooting enough of them either.  Good teams take advantage of the mistakes their opponents make.  In basketball, you can turn those mistakes directly into points, but right now the Huskies just aren't cashing in.

The other reason I'd say that the offensive efficiency hasn't translated into wins is that this team turns over the ball too much.  High tempo offenses do tend to commit more turnovers due to the desire to force the ball up court quickly and run the fast break.  Right now the Huskies are at a Turnover Percentage of 21.4, which places them at 138th in the country.  If they can get that number down a little bit and make a few less mistakes a game, I think eventually that will translate into wins.

Overall, if I had to grade this team after a month, I'd say that they get a C+.  There are some glaring problems, but I think a lot of it has to do with the need to develop chemistry among players and some individual problems (like poor free throw shooting).  There have been some things to be pleased with as well though.  Overton's ability as a freshman gives me a lot of hope for what is to come over the next few seasons.  Brockman continues to be a low post threat.  We've even seen glimpses of what Dentmon and Pondexter are capable of when they are on their game.  And yes, having Ryan Appleby back as a shooting threat off the bench helps this team.  They just haven't put it all together yet.

I'm not going to get into too much individual analysis just yet at this point in the season.  Brockman is clearly the leader of this team and can carry them when his game on the post is working.  But there is still a lot yet to be seen and so I'll hold off comment until the end of the month before we head into Pac-10 play.

Entry Link :: Comment

This past week I was locked out of the blog.  For some reason it took SB Nation's admin a good part of the week to get my account back up online, so my apologies for the lack of posting.  A lot has happened in the past week with the biggest story being Willingham getting backing from Emmert and Turner to be the football coach next year.  More on this story and others today.  I have some posts prepared that I was not able to get up this past week, but now that we are back online I'll be getting that stuff up this afternoon.

Entry Link :: Comment

I have to say that it was a great feeling after the first quarter. We were up, absolutely cruising, and all the breaks were going our way. And then, just like that, we started to fall apart. Brennan got on track and picked apart the secondary as predicted. Sure enough, the offense didn't show up once again the second half. Though the defense was able to hold the Warriors in the 3rd Quarter, they eventually put two TDs together in the 4th to win. Then to make it even more heart breaking, we put together a strong and promising last minute drive only to fall short. Two long passed to Gotlieb and Reece for 25 and 49 yard gains respectively. Ball on the Hawaii 4 with 1st and goal. And, as many comeback drives have ended this season, Jake Locker threw another interception to end the game. I absolutely love Locker and what he brings to the team, but the one shortcoming in his game right now is his pass accuracy. That's his number one priority this off season to work on if he wants to be a top tier QB. We all have faith and know he has the talent, but he has yet to put it all together.

To me, that last drive really summed up where this program is right now. We've come a ways from where we were a few years ago, but we still have a long way to go. All in all, it's just another Husky loss to a season with a lot of promise that just was never delivered upon.

More final season analysis coming tomorrow and the rest of the week. There is a lot of decisions to be made on the direction of this team for next season. So, for better or worse, we'll start to focus more on basketball now (which was also a let down yesterday).

Entry Link :: Comment

Two games today for the Huskies. We've got football at Hawaii and basketball at Oklahoma State.

I won't be be around this afternoon, so I'm putting this up early here in case anyone wants to comment as the day goes on. Nothing too involved with this game thread today. A win for Husky basketball would be nice. It's all about building our team's case for the tournament and a win here against a major conference team helps. A football win, like I said in the game preview, really doesn't do much for me at this point. But, we'd be all for that too.

And, as usual...
BOW DOWN TO WASHINGTON! LET'S GO HUSKIES!

Entry Link :: 12 Comments

Per NCAA rules, teams that visit Hawaii for a game are allowed to play 13 games in their season. It's a way to give some incentive for a team to make the long trip. The Huskies were actually supposed to play against the Rainbow Warriors (*snicker*) last season, but instead scheduled it for this year (as Oregon State played there at the end of last season instead). Oh, and I should say that technically Hawaii's football team dropped the "Rainbow" part of their nickname a few seasons ago. Probably had to do with creating an image of toughness or something along those lines. Just maybe, right?!?!?!

Prediction: Hawaii 35, Washington 28

Yes, I think we will lose by a touchdown. Colt Brennan will throw against our poor secondary all day long. We can't stope that, so five TDs for Hawaii. I do think Locker can assemble four scoring drives for points. But, it won't be enough and I do predict the "Rainbow Warriors" will finish the regular season with a perfect record. But you know, look at their schedule and to be honest we are the best team they will have faced all year. So what is that worth to you? For me, it isn't that much. They have an undersized QB with a great arm who will kill us but isn't near top quality. Great for the WAC, and yeah you can beat the low end of the PAC-10, but you're still not a top program.

So, what I see happening in this one is quite simple. Brennan will pass all day long in Hawaii's pass spread offense. The Huskies secondary will continue to disappoint. Our offense will put together some drives and score occasionally, but it won't be enough to catch up with what our defense will allow.

Entry Link :: Comment