Huskies Cross Paths with Gregory, Once Their Interim Coach, DC

PALO ALTO, California — All Bob Gregory really wanted to do in Seattle was coach the University of Washington linebackers, not much more than that.

Yet he agreed to become the Husky defensive coordinator for the 2021 season when Pete Kwiatkowski left for a higher-paying job at Texas and coach Jimmy Lake couldn't readily find a ready replacement.

Gregory later would add interim coach to his responsibilities for the final three games once Lake was suspended and eventually fired, always the good soldier and in the end entrusted with getting a teetering UW football program to the end of the season.

The last time people in Seattle saw this man in an official capacity for the Huskies, he was trying to explain away a disastrous 40-13 Apple Cup loss to Washington State, maintaining his even-keel demeanor all along while a month of college football misery in Montlake mercifully came to an end.

On Saturday afternoon at Stanford, Gregory will be on the other side as the Cardinal's safeties coach and special-teams coordinator for Troy Taylor's first-year coaching staff.

Kalen DeBoer's staff, make that everybody, knows Bob Gregory, who's a 35-year college football coach, including 22 seasons in the Pac-12.

"Yeah, I met him before, you bet, you bet," UW co-defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell said. "They do a great job. Those are veterans dudes, man. Those guys are good football coaches and they're working with a lot of smart guys."

Between Stanford and the UW, Gregory spent a gap year in 2022 in which he worked at Oregon as a defensive analyst for Dan Lanning's new staff. He took on the low-paying and far less demanding coaching position simply to stay in the game.

Gregory was in Seattle for eight seasons, arriving as part of Chris Petersen's first UW staff. When things were coming apart with Lake's abrupt in-season ouster, he kept things light-hearted and tried to turn everyone's attention away from all the negativity.

He started then-true freshman Sam Huard at quarterback in the Apple Cup just to see how the young player would do because the Huskies had absolutely nothing to lose. He put Troy Fautanu in the starting lineup on the offensive line at the end of that season and Fautanu has never come out since. He made linebacker Carson Bruener one of his defensive leaders. He was even tearful when embracing in the postgame with Arizona State coach Herm Edwards, who would get fired himself, following a 35-30 loss to the Sun Devils.

"It'll be good to see him," Husky edge rusher Bralen Trice said. "BG's awesome. I loved him as a coach."

No doubt Gregory has tried similar motivational moves with his guys at Stanford to keep them positive and help distract from a 2-5 season. On their record, the Cardinal have a huge comeback win over Colorado, 46-43 in double overtime, yet one-sided losses to USC and Oregon, plus an upset defeat to Sacramento State.

When Saturday's game is over, Gregory, forever the loyal one, likely will come looking for his guys who remain at the UW, just to wish them well.

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