UW president Mark Emmert just concluded an interview with Dave Mahler and Hugh Millen on KJR-AM.

Unfortunately, our blog format here crashed and killed most of it, so this won't be as extensive a report as I had hoped. (I'm sure it will be up here soon if you want to listen to it).

But here are some highlights:

--- Emmert said he never talked with the NAACP and that was not a factor, nor was the $3 million payout, saying it would be "penny wise and pound foolish'' to worry about money when making a decision like this.

--- Said the ultimate decision was his.

--- Said everybody has to remember that he's a Husky and he hates to lose as much as anyone else but that after talking with a number of people (UW AD Todd Turner and other school officials, etc.) "I agreed with Todd that the correct choice was to let coach Willingham have another crack at this.''

--- Said the recruiting success this year was a factor in his decision as was the fact that things are going well off the field. Also said he was worried about causing more disruption to the program by making another change said that "the kids have been sort of in a foster child situation'' the last few years with so many changes.

--- Said ultimately "it was a decision I was comfortable with because I want to see Ty finish out this thing and see what he can do with mostly his players out on the field next season.''

--- Said he did talk with Willingham and that they agreed that some changes needed to be made to the defense. But Emmert said they didn't talk about specific coaching changes and that those would be Willingham's call. "He obviously recognizes that the performance on defense was inadequate so he is going to have to make some changes, but what those are are strictly up to him.''

--- Said "they've got to win more football games next year and that's an expectation he has of himself and of his team and I and everyone else has of the program, so he is going to have to do what it takes to get there.''

--- Said there has been no talk of an extension and that he's not worried about Willingham potentially being a lame duck coach next season, saying coaches are coaching for their jobs every day as a reality of their profession.

--- Said he doesn't know Jim Mora but has heard good things about him.