A crimson and grey look at Huskies’ coaching changes

By Jim Moore

What’s it been, three weeks since the Alamo Bowl and that glorious 67-56 loss that caused everything to go haywire with the Huskies?

I’ve had a hard time keeping up with the comings and goings at Washington since that Baylor butt-kicking, but thanks to Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times, I think I’m up to speed. The details as I see them:

• Fairly maligned and vastly overpaid defensive coordinator Nick Holt was fired and replaced by vastly overpaid Justin Wilcox, who turned Tennessee into a 5-7 SEC powerhouse this season. Never mind that Wilcox played for the Ducks, the Huskies’ most hated rival.

If I were a Duck fan, I’d be bothered by this. If I were a Husky fan, I’d be bothered by this too. But I’m a Coug fan, and I’m not bothered by this because I don’t care where Wilcox played or where he came from or what his pedigree is because whoever the Huskies’ defensive coordinator is, he’s not going to be able to stop Mike Leach’s Air Coug attack.

And if I’m Wilcox, I’m hanging my head in shame because I’m a Duck who has sold his soul to the Dawgs.

Raise your hand if you’re a former Duck who’s selling his soul to Washington? Thank you, Peter Sirmon. (AP)

• Along with Holt, linebackers coach Mike Cox and safeties coach Jeff Mills were fired by Steve Sarkisian. Cox was replaced by another defecting Duck, Peter Sirmon, who also played for Oregon. Mills was replaced by Keith Heyward, who was poached from the Beavers.

• Then Dawg fans were all atwitter when it was announced that Tosh Lupoi was joining Coach Sark’s staff because everyone knows that he might be the best recruiter in the history of mankind. Lupoi will apparently coach the defensive line as well, but his true value lies in making clueless 18-year-olds believe that Washington is the place for them.

• Somehow, the only defensive coach that survived the Coach Sark purge is Johnny Nansen, a Coug who should be really, really ashamed of himself. Somewhere between Pullman and Seattle, he lost his conscience but kept his job. If you buy what the Huskies are selling, Nansen was said to be the best recruiter in the history of mankind until Lupoi arrived. Now he’s apparently second-best.

• Then offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier left the Montlake circus to take the same job at Alabama, prompting another Cal poaching of passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach Eric Kiesau. As is the case with anyone hired by Washington, Kiesau is said to be one of the best assistant coaches in the history of college football, if not mankind.

And I, for one, don’t doubt that for a second. I was at Husky Stadium when the Bears had a first-and-goal at the U-Dub 1-yard line with a chance to win the game with a touchdown and two-point conversion. Against that Husky defense, it would more than likely happen, and so would a victory in overtime. Baylor would have waltzed into the end zone on the first play, but not that Kiesau-driven Cal offense; the Bears were stuffed on four plays.

Some more random thoughts:

I understand that coaches come and go, but shouldn’t there be some sort of moratorium on the hiring of new assistants in January? Letter-of-intent day for signing recruits is on Feb. 1 this year, and there are huge ramifications when coaches change jobs.

When Lupoi left Cal, Ellis McCarthy did too. Who’s Ellis McCarthy? A five-star defensive tackle who will now sign a letter of intent with UCLA.

Wide receiver and defensive back prospect Kenny Walker verbally committed to Cal but might bail on the Bears now that Lupoi’s gone. Where is he apt to end up? Washington, of course, because Lupoi’s here.

The same thing could happen with Lakes wide receiver Cedric Dozier, who verbally committed to Cal but is apparently mesmerized by Lupoi’s hypnotic powers too.

Recruiting is sleazy as it is, and when coaches switch schools, recruits switch schools. End result: everyone’s dirty and no one wins. It’s ugly stuff. If I’m Jeff Tedford and I’m in the position to run up the score on Washington next year, I’m so mad at Coach Sark that I’m calling one deep pass after another.

Here’s the thing: Kiesau and Lupoi were each making $164,000 at Cal. Kiesau will make between $700,000 and $800,000 at Washington while Lupoi will make $500,000. Money doesn’t talk; it screams.

From almost everything I’ve read about Lupoi, I think his arrival at Washington should be accompanied by the playing of “Stars and Stripes Forever” while we all put our hands over our hearts in his honor.

But let’s not forget that this guy was suspended for one game this year for telling nose tackle Aaron Tipoti to fake an injury in an attempt to slow down the Ducks. How about slowing down the Ducks by simply having a better defense?

This tells me something about Lupoi that I like a lot — he’s willing to do anything to win. Heck, he hates to lose so much that he cried in his dorm room when Cal lost. So I’m guessing he’ll do whatever it takes to win at Washington, and sometimes when you do whatever it takes, you operate in gray areas, and when you operate in gray areas, it gives me hope that Washington could restore its proud tradition of Probation Nation, complete with NCAA violations and reprimands.

I’m amused when I hear this stuff about Lupoi being such a great recruiter. At Cal, I’ll bet he was. He grew up in Berkeley. He’s a Cal alum. According to a story I read by Mitch Sherman of ESPN.com, Lupoi bled blue and gold. And all of a sudden he’s supposed to bleed purple and gold?

Listen, I don’t know much about football. But I’ll tell you this: I would be a good recruiter at Washington State. No one would be a better salesman for all things Pullman and WSU than me. But if Cal hired me as its recruiting coordinator, I’d suck. So I doubt that Lupoi will be as magical here as he was at Cal.

The Go 2 Guy also writes daily posts for his website, www.jimmoorethegoguy.com, and Monday columns for the Kitsap Sun. You can reach Jim at jimmoorethego2guy@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @cougsgo.