The Tyrone Willingham era at Washington will continue for five more games.

But the school announced today that Willingham has resigned as coach beyond this season, agreeing to coach the final five games of this year before moving on.

"It is my desire to complete and finish the football season and do that in the manner that I have done it, unwavering in my approach and commitment to my young men," he said.

Willingham is 11-32 as UW's coach and 0-7 this season, suffering a 33-7 loss to Notre Dame Saturday.

UW athletic director Scott Woodward said the move was made now to get a head start on finding a replacement and remove all the speculation swirling around the program.

"Now we can focus on the five games in front of us,'' Woodward said.

He said he wanted Willingham to remain in the job the rest of the year to keep continuity in the program.

"I thought it would be in the best interest of the student-athlete to have coach Willingham continue to lead us,'' he said. "We are as concerned about the student-athlete, what they do off the field, as well as what they do on the field, and we felt coach Willingham was best suited to deal with the team off the field as well as on the field.''

Willingham said he agreed to the decision to lift the uncertainty he admitted was hovering over the program.

"It just kinds of clears some of the minds and doubts," he said. "It eliminates some of that and we should hopefully be able to move forward a little bit better."

The Huskies play Saturday at USC, where they have been listed as 43-point underdogs.
UW's season ends Dec. 6 at Cal.

The Huskies are in the midst of a nine-game losing streak dating to last season that is the longest in 39 years.

Asked what went wrong at UW, Willingham said simply, "We didn't win enough games. That's it. But I do believe we put the program in a position where it will be able to win football games [in the future]."

Woodward said the reason for the move was simple -- the team's record on the field.

"It became quite obvious with the performance on the football field that it wasn't what we talked about at the beginning of the season and previous to the season, and it became more obvious as time wore on this season," he said.

Woodward said discussions on a resignation began last Sunday after a 33-14 loss to Oregon State.
He said they concluded last night, after Willingham held his usual Sunday meeting with the team.

The school made the announcement at Willingham's regular Monday press conference, and he said he had not had the chance to speak with players. A few were in the offices Monday and found out shortly before the announcement, including quarterback Ronnie Fouch, who said he was disappointed at the news. "I came here to play for coach Willingham,'' he said.

Woodward said Willingham will receive his contractual obligations, which apparently means he will get a $1 million buyout that is called for in his contract.

Attention will now shift to who will be the next coach.

Woodward said the search will begin immediately and he would not rule out a hiring at any point from here on out.

Speculation will initially center on the likes of former Husky player Jim Mora, who is in line to be the next coach of the Seahawks but who has also previously expressed interest in the UW job; Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel, an assistant at UW from 1979-90; Fresno State coach Pat Hill; and former Raiders coach Lane Kiffin.