UW Huskies football coach Jimmy Lake suspended 1 game by school
Nov 8, 2021, 11:06 AM | Updated: 4:11 pm
UW Huskies coach Jimmy Lake jogs off the field after a loss to Montana on Sept. 4. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
(Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
UW Huskies head football coach Jimmy Lake has been suspended by the university for one game due to a sideline altercation with a Husky player during Saturday’s 26-16 loss to the Oregon Ducks.
In the first half of Saturday’s game, Lake’s right hand appeared to hit the facemask of Ruperake Fuavai after Fuavai and Oregon players had an exchange on Washington’s sideline. Lake also followed after Fuavai and appeared to give him a push to his back.
Huskies defensive coordinator Bob Gregory will be acting head coach while Lake serves his suspension this Saturday in UW’s 4 p.m. home game against Arizona State.
“Our staff has spent the last 24-plus hours reviewing video of the incident, as well as speaking with Coach Lake, the involved student-athlete and several other student-athletes and members of the staff,” Washington Director of Athletics Jen Cohen said in a statement Monday, “and I have made the decision to suspend Coach Lake for next Saturday’s game against Arizona State.
“President (Ana Mari) Cauce, our Faculty Athletics Representative, Alexes Harris, and members of our executive staff are in agreement that while we do not believe his actions were intentional or deliberate, we can have no tolerance for a coach interacting with a student in the manner Coach Lake did. We have high expectations of conduct for our coaches, and we will not shy away from those expectations.”
Lake, who will be able to return from suspension to coach Washington’s Nov. 20 game at Colorado, released a statement Monday afternoon apologizing to Fuavai for his actions Saturday night and for putting the school “in this position.”
— Jimmy Lake (@CoachLakeUDUB) November 8, 2021
The school had announced after Saturday’s game that it was looking into the incident involving Lake.
The Huskies, who are 4-5 this season, also made news Sunday with the firing of offensive coordinator John Donovan.
According to Jake Heaps, co-host of 710 ESPN Seattle’s Jake and Stacy, Lake’s standing with the university may have taken a big hit with Saturday’s incident.
This morning I’ve heard from multiple sources things are deteriorating fast on Montlake for Jimmy Lake.
An announcement of some kind could be coming later today.
— Jake Heaps (@jtheaps9) November 7, 2021
This was in line with what I was hearing yesterday and this is just the beginning regarding Lake. https://t.co/TVEXQvw3SJ
— Jake Heaps (@jtheaps9) November 8, 2021
