Oregon Began UW Coaching Purge — Here's How These Guys Landed
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Three hundred and seventy-one days between games, the University of Washington football team will play Oregon once more in Eugene on Saturday afternoon with a new coaching staff, starting quarterback, offense and attitude.
Change was necessary because the Huskies last year put on their all-purple uniforms hoping to pull off an upset of the Ducks at home in the rain, following a pair of close road victories, and over a matter of hours they watched the program blow up.
TV replays repeatedly showed then-coach Jimmy Lake shove special-teams player Ruperake Fuavai on the sideline in a fit of anger, which he later denied in his postgame news conference held shortly after the 26-16 defeat.
In rapid-fire succession, Lake was suspended the following day and later fired, offensive coordinator John Donovan was dismissed immediately for performance and in the next few weeks ahead all coaches but offensive-line coach Scott Huff were gone from the program.
Thirteen players would head for the transfer portal. Another nine arrived from other schools looking for something new, notably quarterback Michael Penix Jr. from Indiana.
November 6, 2021, will forever be a dark day in Husky program annals, where everything came apart in a disturbing manner, with another loss to Oregon the least of anyone's concerns.
As these teams line up again in the Willamette Valley, UW players have moved on. It's a football anniversary nobody cares about outside of a media observer or two who typically keep track of these sort of historical milestones, good or bad.
"There's been really no discussion," new coach Kalen DeBoer said, now on the job for 20 days shy of a full year. "This is literally about our team right now. We're far enough into the season, and we have our own identity of who we are, and we're trying to be the best we can be. I don't think anything from the past is affecting us right now."
That said, the Huskies will face two of their former coaches in Junior Adams and Bob Gregory and a one-time teammate in defensive tackle Taki Taimani, once they enter Autzen Stadium. We updated the departed players a week ago on how they were doing. Today, we look at the former UW coaches, starting at the top. Just six of the 10 have full-time coaching jobs on the college level.
Jimmy Lake
The 13-game Husky head coach largely has disappeared from public view, only seen sitting in the first row of a Mariners game with friends and heard talking to a Chicago sports talk show about Kyler Gordon after the cornerback was drafted by the Bears. Otherwise, he's kept out of sight and seems content to sit out an entire football season before possibly resurrecting his career, most likely on the NFL level. Of course, he left the UW with a reported $10 million buyout, which means he might be in no hurry to return to work.
John Donovan
Donovan was a likable character, but what he had to sell didn't work. Simple as that. When push came to shove, the offensive coordinator's hiring was the second-worst move by Lake. He'd been fired before while overseeing Penn State's offense. Donovan is now a senior analyst for the Green Bay Packers — on defense. The Packers currently rank 21st among the 32 teams in both rushing and passing defense.
Bob Gregory
The former Husky defensive coordinator turned folksy and calming interim leader found out there wasn't a huge market out there for a 59-year-old coach with 35 years of experience coming off a 4-8 team so he took a defensive analyst job with Oregon. It's his second stint in Eugene after serving as a defensive-backs coach in 1998-2000. As good as they've been, the Ducks rank 76th in the nation in total defense (384 yards per game), compared to the Huskies, who are tied for 38th (355.3 ypg).
Junior Adams
He accepted an opportunity to remain at the UW and join DeBoer, but the Ducks in filling out a new staff came at him late with a job promotion to co-offensive coordinator so he left. He's been responsible along with Kenny Dillingham for Oregon currently ranking No. 2 nationally in total offense (520.6) while the Huskies aren't too far behind at No. 10 (495.6).
Ikaika Malloe
The former Husky edge-rusher coach landed nicely with a comparable job at UCLA, taking medically retired Husky outside linebacker Laiatu Latu with him to Westwood. Both have flourished for an 8-1 team. With Latu second in the conference with 8 sacks, the Bruins are tied for 45th nationally in this categorically (2.44 per game), while the Huskies are tied for 19th (2.89).
Will Harris
A UW defensive-backs coach, Harris has had somewhat of a rough go as the Georgia Southern defensive coordinator for Clay Helton — his guys rank 129th out of 131 FBS teams in total defense, giving up a whopping 484.6 yards per game. Only South Florida (502.9) and Charlotte (515.5) are worse. At least the Eagles are 5-4.
Rip Rowan
After one season as the UW defensive-line coach, he moved to Georgia Southern with Harris and took the same job. His D-line hasn't been that fearsome and the Eagles rank near the bottom nationally in rushing defense at 127th, giving up 223 yards rushing a game, which surpasses only Tulsa, Hawaii, Colorado and Louisiana Tech. His 2021 Husky line was part of a defense that permitted a generous 193 yards rushing per game.
Keith Bhonapha
Bhonapha returned to Boise State as its running-back coach for a second stint and it's been a little unsettling. He survived an early season purge that led to the firing of offensive coordinator Tim Plough and abrupt transfer of starting quarterback Hank Bachmeier after the Broncos split their first four games and couldn't generate much offense at all. After winning four of its past games, Boise State now ranks 51st (171.2) in the nation in rushing, compared to the pass-oriented Huskies coming in at 99th (125.3) as a rushing team.
Terrance Brown
Brown joined Justin Wilcox's Cal staff as a defensive-backs coach, the same role he held at the UW. He and his secondary staff recently were on the receiving end of Michael Penix Jr.'s 374-yard, 2-TD outing in Berkeley in the Huskies' 28-21 victory. The Golden Bears rank last in the Pac-12 in passing defense (299.78 ypg), compared to the Huskies, who are third (237.7).
Derham Cato
The former Husky tight-ends coach chose to leave the coaching profession and his business profile lists him as an account sales executive for Carta, which describes itself as a data collection and internet portals company.
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