Today was the first opportunity for media to talk with UW's assistants, whose jobs are now in limbo with the forced resignation of Tyrone Willingham.

The assistants have contracts taking them through June 30, and they will likely all stay in place until the next coach is hired. That coach could then retain one or two of them if he wishes, as has usually been the case here. Randy Hart and Chris Tormey each survived the Keith Gilbertson firing, for instance, and Hart also survived the Jim Lambright firing.

One of the most interesting cases is that of running backs coach Steve Gervais, who left the staggeringly successful Skyline High program to become running backs coach here last winter. With Skyline apparently headed to another state title, the obvious question is whether Gervais regrets his decision.

"Absolutely not,'' he said. "As I said last spring, it was a time of my life I was looking for something different in the area of football and coaching and I still look back on it as a great decision.''

Gervais said he understood all along the chance he was taking in coming to UW and said the announcement Monday wasn't a surprise.

Gervais said the coaching staff knew that "if we weren't sucessful to a certain point there was that potential for change. And at 0-7, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand there is a good potential for that.''

There has been speculation that Gervais could stay on due to his ties to coaches in the state as well as to Skyline QB Jake Heaps, who will be the top recruit in the state in 2010.

Asked if he hoped to stay on, Gervais said "I'm not really going to even go there right now with that because I want to finish out this and we'll see what happens down the road.''

Gervais also said that he was unsure how recruiting would now progress for the assistants. He said many were headed to L.A. a little early this week to do some recruiting but he was now unsure if they will be allowed to go. He said the coaching staff should get "a directive'' on how to proceed with recruiting now.

Offensive line coach Mike Denbrock also talked with the media and said he expected the coaching staff to handle the next five weeks as well as they can. Denbrock has been through this before, staying on to help coach Notre Dame after Willingham was fired in 2004 --- Kent Baer was named as interim coach for the team's bowl game that year.

"It was difficult situation we were in before and this is a difficult situation too,'' he said. "But you know there are professional people in that office over there and I know they are going to make sure they keep things in the proper perspective which right now is that Washington fields a competitive football team and we do our jobs the way we are supposed to be doing them and give our kids a chance.''

Denbrock said he would love to stay on with a new coach but that "I don't know that I will even have the opportunity to do that. We'll see what happens down the road.''

Offensive coordinator Tim Lappano also met the media today but said he wanted questions limited to this week's game against USC.