Willingham is Washington’s choice for job (ESPN)
Tyrone Willingham has agreed to become Washington’s third head coach in four seasons, the University of Washington confirmed Sunday. “I can confirm that Tyrone Willingham has accepted the head coaching position at Washington,” UW athletic department spokesman Jim Daves said in an e-mail statement Sunday afternoon. Fired from Notre Dame two weeks ago, Willingham will be introduced as the new Huskies football coach at a press conference Monday morning with UW President Mark Emmert and Athletic Director Todd Turner.
The decision makes Washington the only Division I-A school with black head coaches in the two major sports. Men’s basketball coach Lorenzo Romar is in his third season leading the Huskies.
Willingham was 21-15 in three seasons at Notre Dame, but his Nov. 30 firing was controversial. He had the shortest non-interim tenure of any Fighting Irish coach in 70 years, raising questions about whether he was given enough time to succeed.
While I thought Willingham’s firing at Notre Dame was unjustified, I’m a bit surprised that he got snapped up so quickly by a major program. Willingham is a class act, but he has no history of success at a big time program.
