Tyrone Willingham's stint on the Pac-10 coaches conference call today was highlighted by a look into some of his motivational tactics.

A question about how he keeps his the spirits of his players up during tough times led to Willingham stating that he attaches a motivational quote on the team's schedule each week.

Asked for a favorite one, Willingham recalled one by Martin Luther King that "If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.''

The point, Willingham said, is for the players to understand to do their job as well as they can, whatever that job is.

"There is an opportunity, no matter what you are called on to do, do it well, be the very best at it, and there is a good chance you will be successful (in life),'' he said.

Willingham reiterated that he thinks his team is abiding to that philosphy, saying he doesn't think his players are quitting.

"There's always opportunities for defections (when teams are losing) but for the most part, I think our team is trying to stay strong,'' he said. "They are still believing that good things can happen and if we can maintain that, then it will.''

Asked if there are any similarities between the struggles of UW and WSU, Willingham said that "it is probably a coincidence'' that both teams are struggling at once. Asked if lack of talent was an issue, he said "we are building the team back in our talent level and hopefully the next coach will be able to tap into the talent level in the state and get the best players out here and get them to play and perform very well.''

Willingham said the basic reason for UW's struggles this year is that "we are just struggling right now with the execution it takes to get things done. ... You almost feel like you have to be perfect both as players and coaches and when that happens, it's a very difficult position to operate in.''

Willingham also spoke about the team's young WRs, saying Devin Aguilar and Jermaine Kearse he "expects to see some big things out of'' in the future.

He also said that he was happier with the way the running game performed in the second half last week at USC while admitting it wasn't good enough.