Huskies Have Strong Big Ten Influence on Roster, Staff

The Big Ten used to be the big bully, an overly confident and physical league that regularly beat up on what began as the Pacific Coast Conference and has now come apart at the seams as the Pac-12.

In fact, these Midwest monsters absolutely shamed their West Coast counterparts in 12 of the first 13 Rose Bowl games in which they were paired until a Jim Owens-coached University of Washington team destroyed Wisconsin 44-8 on New Year's Day in 1960 and upset No. 1-ranked Minnesota 17-7 the following year in Pasadena.

The win over the Gophers was payback in a sense for them stealing hotshot quarterback Bobby Cox out from under the UW in 1955. Cox, who was from Walla Walla and ultimately a Heisman Trophy candidate and a All-Big Ten selection, was getting paid under the table by the Huskies, but Minnesota paid him more.

Eight months ago, Ohio State took another quarterback away from the Huskies in South Dakota native Lincoln Kienholz, flipping and signing him at a late hour in December. Name, imaging and likeness deals made everything by the book this time.

Now everyone belongs to the same club beginning in 2024, sharing the conference standings, TV media rights and recruiting territory.

The Huskies come to the Big Ten with a 45-41-1 record against everyone else when those teams were official conference members, including 7-4 in the Rose Bowl.

HUSKIES AGAINST BIG TEN

Purdue, 7-2-1 — lost last meeting

Illinois, 7-4 — won last four games

Minnesota, 7-10 — lost last meeting

Michigan, 5-8 — lost last two games

Wisconsin, 4-0 — won all four match-ups

Northwestern, 3-0 — won all three games

Michigan State, 3-1 — won last three games

Iowa, 3-3 — lost last meeting

Ohio State, 3-9 — lost last four games

Rutgers, 2-0 — won both games

Indiana, 1-2 — won last meeting

Nebraska, 0-1 — lost last game; 4-5-1 in multiple leagues

Penn State, 0-1 — lost only matchup; 0-3 in multiple leagues

Maryland, 0-0 — UW has 1-0 mark against ACC team

The UW has a strong Big Ten influence on the player roster, coaching staff and even in the recruiting department.

It begins with Husky coach Kalen DeBoer, who spent the 2019 season as Indiana's offensive coordinator, where he turned Michael Penix Jr. into more of a finished product and last year brought the quarterback with him to Montlake where he's a serious Heisman Trophy candidate.

DeBoer ultimately brought a pair of former Indiana assistant coaches with him to Seattle in co-defensive coordinator William Inge and tight-ends coach Nick Sheridan, both former Big Ten players, as well.

Inge spent seven seasons (2013-19), five as the linebackers coach, for the Hoosiers before first following DeBoer to Fresno State and then to the UW.

Inge also played linebacker for the Iowa Hawkeyes (1993-96), was an All-Big-Ten honorable-mention selection and a co-captain as a senior, and was a starter as a junior for a team that drubbed the Huskies 38-18 in the 1995 Sun Bowl, leading by as many as 31-6 in one of the UW's worst postseason showings ever.

Sheridan coached for five seasons at Indiana (2017-21), the last two as the Hoosiers offensive coordinator and DeBoer's replacement, before getting fired and rebounding with his current job in the Northwest.

He walked on at Michigan (2006-10), earned a scholarship and started for most of a season.

Yet two more coaches with Big Ten backgrounds are wide-receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard, who came to Seattle after five seasons on the Purdue staff, four as co-offensive coordinator; and defensive-line coach Inoke Breckterfield, who held the same job for six seasons at Wisconsin (2015-20), his longest coaching stop.

Add to that director of player personnel Courtney Morgan, who came to the Huskies after a lone season (2021) recruiting for Michigan and five others as an offensive lineman for the Wolverines (1999-2003).

Besides Penix, the UW has former Michigan wide receiver and kick returner Giles Jackson, who spent two seasons in Ann Arbor (2019-20) and broke 95- and 97-yard kickoff returns for scores; Will Nixon, who was a little-used wide receiver for a pair of seasons at Nebraska (2019-20) before switching to running back at the UW and drawing a bigger role; and wide receiver Germie Bernard, who spent his freshman season at Michigan State.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3

Have a question, direct message me on Facebook or Twitter.