Bummer... well ... hopefully it is still a possibility... It sounds like the UW will be offering a highly competitive deal to a top notch dc like Tenuta... such as multiple years and over 400k... which is what he made at GT... so say two years 500k might be pretty competitive...

Shows the quality of posters we have here. Listen up people and get your facts straight before making an ass out of yourself.

To Mr. Big(shot?) nobody made a fool of themself as much as you just did. All was acknowledged to be rumor, and the hope was clearly expressed that the rumor might be true.
Is that too hard for you to grasp?

Fe Fi Fo Fum - don't we feel dumb!! Felt good while it lasted - Thanks Brad

I'm sure I speak for the majority of us in saying that I'm tired of hearing all about the "could-be's"! The UW NEEDS to announce the hiring of a DC VERY soon! UW: Please make a smart and impactful decision with that $500k/yr type of money!!

Everett fan - ease up on calling out Mr. Big. I posted Brad's post for you to read - that doesn't sound like he was reporting a "Rumor" to me.

"Hey guys,

I live here in ATlanta and I just heard here on 790 the sports radio station here that Jon Tenuta has been hired as the new DC at the University of Washington. I graduated from Washington but live in ATL. So I've seen his defense up front. I think this is a great hire."

onewood--

Indeed.

Question to all:

I was on Dawgman reading the Projected Graduation numbers. They say we lose "36" players this year (2007), "15" for 2008, "16" for 2009 and "0" for 2010.

How is this possible? That means in 2010 we won't have one senior on the roster? Hard to imagine that. Anyone have any info on this? Thanks - Onewood

onewoodwacker-

WOW, if what you are saying about the graduation numbers is true, it will be a huge swing in creating quality depth after this year. As most football fans would know, depth is CRUCIAL in having consistent Rose Bowl competitive teams. Plus, it allows for the coaches to red-shirt additional players, which is valuable in building your depth. I really do hope your discovery is true... it would also be a testament as to why 2009 is the year to look forward too as we continue to develop the young pups.

Thought you all might enjoy reading a little about Jon Tenuta - Onewood

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jon Tenuta is the former Associate Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets college football team.

In the wake of the November 26, 2007 firing of Georgia Tech head coach Chan Gailey, Tenuta was named Interim Head Coach, but was not retained by incoming head coach Paul Johnson.

He also coached the Yellow Jackets' defensive backs and was one of the highest paid coordinators in college football.

According to the several sources including the Detroit News, Jon Tenuta was believed to be a candidate, among many, for the head coaching job at Michigan State. Michigan State University eventually hired former Cincinnati head coach Mark Dantonio.

According to several sources on ESPN News and ESPN College Gameday, Jon Tenuta was rumored to be joining current LSU head coach Les Miles as the defensive coordinator at the University of Michigan.

However, Les Miles has since signed an extension with LSU, leading to rumors that Tenuta will now join Miles at LSU to replace Bo Pelini, who has been named head coach for the University of Nebraska.

Rumors were circulating that Tenuta may join Steve Spurrier at USC, to replace former defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix (who left for Ole Miss), but South Carolina decided to hire former University of Georgia defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder for the job.

Onewood- The 0 for a graduation number is due to that being the year where all athletes were shifted to academic year instead of athletic year. So anybody who in most programs would be listed as a redshirt freshman was listed as a sophomore in our holier than thou's "no fifth year is guaranteed" policy.

Bob Condotta is the man.

To have someone who will follow up on these 'rumors' to substantiate or refute them, and for no extra charge, is just simply great.

Personal Thanks,
Ballard Amino Acid

Regarding a comment someone made about the 'quality of posters', insinuating that the quality is low...

Spend even 16 seconds on any Fox Sports Forum and witness the demise of civil civilization.

For whatever cracks we have around here, this is by far one of the more civil public forums around.

Just wanted to say that given some stuff I've seen lately elsewhere. Just atrocious.

Five Words....Ed Donatelli

Why are Dawg fans so jacked up about the possibility of Jon Tenuta being DC? Here's a snippet from a story about Ga.Tech's loss to Fresno St. in the Humanitarian Bowl in which Tenuta was interim head coach.

"Fresno State scored 27 consecutive points after Tech jumped ahead 7-0, and rolled up 571 yards of total offense, the most allowed by the Yellow Jackets this season. Georgia Tech, which led the country in sacks with 47, never got to Brandstater.

"It's tough, it really is," Tenuta said. "We just didn't play well. We started out pretty good, but we didn't tackle well and gave up too many big plays."

Sounds like the reincarnation of Kent Baer.

...it wasn't Jon Tenuta that tw was interested in...it was Judy Tenuta...one more comic on his staff...

Rich Z. -

Name the greatest defensive coordinators on the planet and I will show you an example of when they got terrible numbers put up on them. And to be honest... he was the head coach and defensive coordinator in that game... clearly the head coaching duties overwhelmed his ability to effectivly call the defensive side of the ball.

Just admit it people. A good DC is not going to come here. They all know Ty is gone after next year. The writing is on the wall. Turner is gone, Emmert is going to hand pick the AD, and then the AD will handle the coaching. Sounds like a reincarnation of Emmert taking control at LSU with the firing of DiNardo and hiring of Saban.

In early-mid december it was rumored that Tenuta was going to LSU to replace Pellini, who was leaving for Nebraska.

The LSU discussion boards I have seen were ecstatic. They are probably no brighter than we are, but seemed pretty familiar with Tenuta's body of work given his long history in the South. And to say the least, they have a right to have higher standards than we do right now.

It sounds like this guy would be a great addition.

debatepro-
I agree with you completely. The point is that it's the execution and performance of the players that is most important in winning or losing. The greatest coaches in the world won't change the outcome if the players don't block & tackle, or throw, catch or hold onto the ball. The general overall lack of talent, experience and depth of the Husky players is mostly to blame for the losses over the last several years. There isn't a coach in the world that could have done much better given the situation at UW.
To repeat "It's the players stupid!"
Not that anybody on this blog is stupid...it's just a saying.

Onewood,

I wouldn't go to Dawgman for info on the scholarship chart. They are way off. 2010 is Jake Locker's last year of eligibilty. We will graduate 16 players in 2010. According to this spring's projected roster and scholarship chart, UW graduates 17 players in 2008, 11 players in 2009 and 16 players in 2010.

I'm betting Tenuta ends up at South Carolina after all. A number of reports are saying Van Gorder is leaving S.C. to become DC for Atlanta Falcons. Spurrier will go after Tenuta.

But wouldn't it be nice if Tenuta thumbed his nose at Spurrier and said he'd rather join Willingham's staff.

On the scholi chart thing, I hate to keep posting variations on "we can't know" but on this one, well, we can't know. It is folly to try to predict exactly how many scholi's will be available for any class beyond next year's because too much stuff can happen over a two year period. Guys could quit, transfer out, or get run off for lack of comportment. On the other hand, JC guys or guys from other D1 schools could transfer in which would put them in a different class than the other recruits of that year. Or, kids who are already in the program could take an unexpected redshirt year, go on a mission (Kava), sit out a year and train for the Olympics (Ja'Warren Hooker, Danielle Lawrie), or be granted a 6th year due to multiple injuries (Juan Garcia), any of which would have them around for a year longer than we currently project.

...left out the most obvious one of all, a guy could turn pro after three years in the program, or four, instead of five.

Rich Z and debatepro, do you guys really think coaching has nothing to do with the poor results of the past three seasons?

No other coach could have figured out how to beat Air Force or WSU in 2005? Or Cal, ASU, or Stanford in 2006? What about Arizona, WSU, or Hawaii in 2007?

And if it is the players, stupid, who is responsible for recruiting and putting those players out there? A lot of the "it is the players, stupid" are guys that TW brought here.

huskiesjv,

your scenario is silly, sounds nothing like a reincarnation of Emmert's situation at LSU, and if true, would make Emmert look like a complete idiot. not gonna happen.

Disgruntled Dawg - what are you talking about we are talking about a new DC... stay focused... if you want to hate on ty... go ahead... it's not relevant to the discussion of Jon Tenuta's qualifications to be defensive coordinator.

Yeah right, the coaches having the defense so confused against Arizona and WSU was the players fault.
It was the players fault that half of them were in a blitz and the other half in a zone on WSU's last touchdown. Yeah, right, miscommunication by the coaches had nothing to do with it.

Posted by Rich Z.: "There isn't a coach in the world that could have done much better given the situation at UW.
To repeat "It's the players stupid!"

That's what I'm talking about debatepro. It was already brought up on this thread. So why don't you focus on what people are talking about here.

By the way I'm not hating on Ty. I'm just challenging the assertion that any coach would have had such a bad record over the past three seasons. I think good coaching could have gotten us at least a few more victories.

Jeffrey,

I don't think anyone was saying the performance of our previous-but-now-fired DC had nothing to do with the players' performance. Please have mercy on that dead horse. How 'bout we focus on Tenuta and other DC candidates?

I think if it wasn't for good coaching you would of been blown out by USC, Hawaii, CAL, Boise State, etc.....

Greg in LA,

Now there's a thought. In fact the Cal game more than any highlights just how effective Willingham's coaching was against a supposed genius. And with a backup QB. By the way, how did Bellotti look after his star QB went down?

Be careful with that argument, Spoke; Tedford is still 2-1 vs. Ty at their current schools, and while last year's Cal team (7-6) does take some of the shine off Tedford, his worst season at Cal is still better than Ty's best season at UW. And like Ty here, Tedford took over a 1-10 program at Cal.

Disgruntled Dawg-
I didn't say coaching had "nothing" to do with wins and losses. But it's primarily the performance of the players that is key.

Let's take a look at the three 2007 losses to Arizona, WSU, and Hawaii.
Arizona- Granted UW defense couldn't stop anybody but Locker and Rankin can't execute a simple handoff late in the game which AU recovers and sets up their winning drive.
WSU- UW donminates the game early and could have put it away but stops executing, overthrowing and dropping passes, fumbling, blocking (Kirton), commits penalties, etc. A late fumble by a receiver took away UW's potential game winning drive and set up the Cougs to drive for the game winning score. That drive was helped considerably by a critical penalty (def.holding across the field from where Brink was sacked) as well a major miscommunication (players and coaches share that blame).
Hawaii- Hawaii started staking the line of scrimmage to take away the running game and the Dawgs receivers still couldn't get open consistently and Locker usually couldn't connect with them when they did. The final nail was Reece mishandling the pass in the endzone.

The point is that coaching and players share the blame but when you look at most of the losses in recent years the players haven't executed when they were in position to win. You have to give credit to the opponents also who by and large were the more talented team and executed when the game was on the line.

Finally, ask yourself how many Husky players have been drafted in recent years or will be drafted off the current roster and convince yourself it's primarily not the players. It's so easy to blame the coaching.

Dave,

Not backing down on that one. Tedford looked like a jerk in that game. He had more talent than Willingham, but his players made stupid mistakes (kicking off to start both halfs) and flat out quit on him.

I'm not giving anybody up here, but it shouldn't come as a surprise to any regular posters on this blog to hear that a few coaches showed up on UW staff recently and privately expressed flat out shock over the lack of talent. Happily we are seeing that deficiency turn around.

Yes, yes, how dare we ask the coaches to actually develop the players to the point where they can be drafted by NFL teams.

Blame players all you want, I do agree with you to an extent, but they're not the ones who boosters and administration hold accountable for 11-25, 1-8, and 6-20 (Overall, NW, Pac-10 records).

It's the reality of college sports that the coach is accountable....even if we have one now at UW who never holds himself as such.

Mello,

The coaches are responsible for recruiting talent. And should be held accountable when they don't. Just as they should be credited for recruiting successes. Wouldn't you agree?

I would love to see Tenuta as DC. I think it is a pipe dream though. Why would a top notch DC want to come for a one year gig with Lame Duck Ty.

I expect Tormey, JD Williams, or some out of work position coach hack from the NFL to be named within the next week.

2009- The real return of the DAWGS. Not Tyrone's pillow fight version.

Gordon,

The same reason Bill Young initiated contact about the Huskies DC opening.

A little reality check. For more fun, look at 2004, 2005, and 2006. UGLY, ugly, ugly. Man, we really are the joke of the Pac10 at this point.

2007 FOOTBALL
Team Conf. Overall
USC 7-2 11-2
Arizona State 7-2 10-3
Oregon State 6-3 9-4
Oregon 5-4 9-4
UCLA 5-4 6-7
Arizona 4-5 5-7
California 3-6 7-6
Washington State 3-6 5-7
Stanford 3-6 4-8
Washington 2-7 4-9

Ty Willingham actually gets a lot more respect from his coaching peers than he does on this message board. He will not have a problem finding a good DC candidate. I don't think he will promote Tormey or JD Williams because he would have done that by now. And Williams is highly unlikely because to my knowledge, he has no previous DC experience.

Bob reported that Bill Young thought that Willingham already has a candidate. Maybe it is someone on the staff of the Patriots, Giants, Chargers or Packers, which would explain why there has been no announcement.

Spoke @ 1:21

we may be talking apples and oranges, if you want to say TW outcoached JT in that one game I might go along with you (incidentally even Dennis Erickson has had his players make the two kick offs brain lapse, in the "Whammy") but if you're honest you have to admit that JT has done a much better total job at Cal than TW has at UW.

One game doesn't tell the whole story: for e.g. Mike Stoops badly outcoached TW in the Arizona game this year, and I presume you wouldn't trade TW for him (as I wouldn't either)

Spokane,

Sure, I agree with that. I've noted a bunch of times that the staff as a whole (not just Willingham) should get credit for the recruiting successes.

I was just making a brief point, albeit probably nit-picking as the Typologists are concerned, that the number of NFL-caliber players we have could have been increased via better player development.

Of course, I'm no expert, have no idea what goes on in practices, nor do I really evaluate talent particularly well. I do have a feeling that some of these kids could have played in the NFL, however.

Thank God this thread finally turned back into a pro-Ty, anti-Ty discussion. Seems like hours since we were last there.

Ellis Johnson just left Arkansas to go to South Carolina

phinneyridge,

I constantly ask folks outside of our program what they think about Ty and where he is leading the team. Almost all say the same thing: he is moving the program in the right direction, and that if he gets enough time, the Huskies will be at the top of the pac. It seems that its south benders and few nasty husky fans, that are convinced that he is a terrible coach. Hi coaching peers, analysts and the players he recruits all seem to be pretty up on him. That works for me. If he fails in year 5, then I'll be happy to reassess, but for now I'm happy to give him a fair amount of time.

Iowa, to take UW to the top of the Pac any time in the near future, TW will have to simultaneously outdo all of the following over the course of one whole season:

Riley at OSU
Bellotti at UO
Tedford at Cal
Erickson at ASU (!)
Neuheisel (with Norm Chow) at UCLA (!)
Carroll at USC (!!!)

I sure hope that can happen.

Which players, specifically, were NFL-caliber but weren't developed properly by the UW coaches? NFL scouts do a VERY thorough job of checking out players with potential regardless of how well they perform in college. Joe Toledo is a perfect example. He never really performed up to expectations in college (partly due to injury) but was a 4th round pick based on his potential. If a player has potential, they will find him.

Meanwhile back to Tenuta....if you throw out a high or two, and a couple of lows, the overwhelming body of work makes him very good at his job. Check out his resume on the Georgia Tech site. The UW would be lucky to get him.

I wonder if Ty has received any unsolicited applications for his openings. Anybody have any good rumors there?