UW president Mark Emmert just concluded a conference call with reporters. Here are some highlights:

--- Emmert said the decision was essentially made following the Oregon State game last week and was finalized after what happened this weekend. "To state the obvious, the season has not developed the way anyone hoped or wanted or anticipated,'' he said.

--- Emmert said there was no truth to a rumor that coach Tyrone Willingham tried to resign after the Hawaii game last year and it was not accepted.

--- He said the school wanted to keep Willingham on board "to keep the student-athlete focused on all that they have to do, their athletic commitment, their academic commitment, keeping them focused through the remainer of the year. It struck both Scott [Woodward] and I and coach Willingham as clearly in the best interest of the team to keep them in place rather than make a change right now that would be yet another disruption to an already struggling program.''

--- Emmert said the search for a new coach has already begun and now can pick up steam with Willingham's fate decided. "One of the advantages of making this official today is that it gives us the liberty to begin those conversations with potential candidates and their representatives. Scott and I are really committed to not doing things behind people's backs. If we were going to explore coaches, we sure didn't want to do that without Tyrone knowing his situation.''

--- Emmert said the school has "already begun some discrete inquiries [about candidates] through other individuals and we'll be very aggressive in the coming weeks trying to find the best coaches possible to be candidates.''

--- He said the final decision will be his and Woodward's, though it appears Woodward will make the ultimate call.

--- Asked what he would like to see in a new coach, Emmert said: "It's not a 'who' so much as a 'what.' I want to make sure that we have a coach who continues what coach Willingham did very well and that is to restore the integrity to our program and bring the kind of positive character and quality that we have seen. ... But [there's been] a lack of competitiveness on the field, so we need someone who is going to do both of those things for us.''

--- Emmert would not comment on Jim Mora and said the school would not comment on specific candidates.

--- He said it "is obviously easier'' to know what a sitting head coach will bring, but that he won't rule out assistants or coordinators. "Every head coach was a coordinator at some point and then they made that transition,'' he said. "We shouldn't be closing off those kinds of [candidates].''

--- Emmert said he didn't regret bringing Willingham back after last season: "Given the information we had available and what I saw in front of me last year, we made the right choice.''

--- He said he thought the team would do much better this year and is surprised it turned out the way it did, though he said he wouldn't speculate what has gone wrong.

--- Emmert said the school will pay competitively, and "I'm fairly optimistic about the attractiveness of this job,'' pointing to the city, the large fan base and the history of success here.

--- He said he thinks the team could regain respectability fairly quickly. "But will he [the next coach] have some rebuilding to do? You bet he will. Obviously the program is at its lowest ebb in its history right now this season and that doesn't turn around instantly.''