How All Husky Football Coaches Fared in Their Coaching Debuts
Next up, Kalen DeBoer.
As the University of Washington's 30th football coach, it's time for the new leader to take his team out for a test drive against Kent State on Saturday night at Husky Stadium and see what he's got.
Fans are eager to get a glimpse of a much-advertised, high-powered offense that should be fun to watch and a vast improvement over the Lake/Donovan pro-style attack that never functioned properly for long.
While new to the Power 5 football level, DeBoer brings a reputation for success wherever he's been, including Fresno State, which finished 10-3 and won a bowl game last season.
The coach's approach to his first outing in Montlake that begins with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff is fairly simple and straightforward.
"Honestly, the No. 1 thing is just find a way to win," DeBoer said. "This is the most important thing, is to find a way."
Counting transfers who came in and holdover players who have moved up, DeBoer and his staff will field a team with new starters in 13 of the 22 positions. He has a group picked for the middle of the pack of the Pac-12 Conference. He should have a much better lineup than the one that stumbled to a dismal 4-8 showing that helped force a coaching change and bring this guy to Seattle. An 8- or 9-win season is not out of the question.
Of all the UW coaches who have come before him, 19 of them won their debut games, eight lost theirs and two guys settled for ties. Just four of the past dozen coaches have emerged with an opening win.
Don James has been the most successful Husky coach.
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It doesn't matter who it's against, this first outing typically is never easy. Don James lost by more than three touchdowns his initial time out. Chris Petersen won by a point over a far lesser opponent. Jim Owens was left with a tie.
A matchup of the UW and Kent State presents a nostalgic pairing of the two schools where James, who died in 2013 at 79, was employed as a college head coach. No doubt he'll be remembered somehow during the course of the evening. His statue remains a classy hood ornament outside Husky Stadium.
History says the Huskies should fare well against a Mid-American Conference team after winning big in each of their three previous outings against league members: Miami of Ohio in 1984 (53-7), Bowling Green in 1986 (48-0) and Toledo in 1991 (48-0). Kent State, however was a bowl team a year ago.
"Respect all, fear none," DeBoer said of his message to his team.
On the coaching ladder, the UW has had its fair share of showman coaches such as Rick Neuheisel, Steve Sarkisian and Jimmy Lake, all guys who liked to have a camera lens in their face and enjoyed the Husky limelight, which is the not the case for the more laidback DeBoer.
Darrell Royal, Owens, James and Petersen were far more conservative types, either winning with toughness or an unfailing attention to detail, though Royal didn't stick around long before he became Texas' coaching giant. DeBoer leans more in that direction.
Jim Owens tied his first game as Husky coach in 1957.
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If there's a prior Husky coach who DeBoer might resemble some it's the great Gil Dobie. That's not to mean that this new guy will go unbeaten at the UW, such as Dobie did (58-0-3) before World War I broke out, though DeBoer did compile a 67-3 record in his first head-coaching job at NAIA Sioux Falls .
No, DeBoer and Dobie, more than a 100 years apart as Husky football leaders, share the same geographic roots. DeBoer is from South Dakota, born and raised. Dobie was brought up in neighboring Minnesota and came to the Huskies as a coach from the other Dakota, from a school now known as North Dakota State.
DeBoer and his coaching staff, following a month of spring practice and another month of fall camp, are ready to see how these players respond after being asked to get into better shape and be disciplined in practice.
"I think it's time to play a game to see where we're at," he said, "so we can keep taking those steps."
HUSKY COACHING DEBUTS
1892, W.B. Goodwin — After the UW team was coach-less for two seasons, Goodwin took over as the school's first official sideline leader and got off to a rough start, losing to Seattle Athletic Club 28-0 at home. (W)
1894, C. Cobb — Coaching for just one season, Cobb opened against Port Townsend Athletic Club in Seattle and the teams battled to a 14-14 standoff. (T)
1895, Ralph Nichols — After playing guard for the UW the previous three seasons, Nichols took over as coach and beat Seattle Athletic Club 12-0 at home in his first game. (W)
1897, Carl "Clem" Clemans — A former Stanford team captain, Clemans won his first game as the UW coach, 10-0 over Seattle YMCA at home. (W)
1899, A.S. Jeffs — Spending one season with the UW as the century came to a close, Jeffs directed his team to a 16-0 home victory over Port Townsend High School. (W)
1900, J.S. Dodge — A former Indiana team captain, he coached the UW for a season and captured his debut game, 5-0 over Seattle High School at home. (W)
1901, Charles "Jack" Wright — A one-time Columbia player, Wright coached the UW for a lone season and became the first to lose his debut, dropping a 10-0 decision to Whitman at home. (L)
1902, James Knight — A former Princeton and Michigan player, he was a busy man at the UW, coaching football, rowing and track. He topped an All-Seattle team 12-0 at home in his grid debut. (W)
1905, Oliver Cutts — He came from Purdue to coach the UW for a season and he was victorious in his debut outing, blanking a USS Chicago team 11-0 at home. (W)
1906, Victor Place — A former Dartmouth tackle and team captain, Place beat a USS Philadelphia team 5-0 at home in his first Husky outing, stayed two seasons and became the Notre Dame coach. (W)
1908, Gil Dobie — Of course, Dobie won his opener at home, beating nearby Lincoln High School 22-0. He never lost at the UW, going 58-0-3. He came to the school from what is now North Dakota State. (W)
1917, Claude Hunt — A former DePauw player, same as current receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard, Hunt opened with a 14-6 victory over Whitman in Seattle as the U.S. was drawn into World War I. (W)
1918, Tony Savage — With Hunt now fighting overseas, Savage, a coach from Lincoln High, filled in for a two-game season and won his debut, beating Oregon State 6-0 at home. (W)
1920, Leonard "Stub" Allison — Coaching the final UW team known as the Sun Dodgers, Allison won his debut 33-14 over Whitman, seven weeks before Husky Stadium opened. (W)
1921, Enoch Bagshaw — A former UW back, Bagshaw went from Everett High to the Huskies and won his first game, 24-7 over the Ninth Army Corps at home. (W)
1930, Jimmy Phelan — Phelan, a former Notre Dame QB, became the second Purdue coach, matching Cutts, to take over at the UW. He won his debut, 48-0 over Whitman at home. (W)
1942, Ralph "Pest" Welch — He came to the UW as part of Phelan's staff and replaced him, winning his first game 27-0 at home over College of the Pacific as World War II began to escalate. (W)
1948, Howie Odell — He arrived from Yale and embraced the Heinrich-McElhenny era, but lost his debut to Minnesota 20-0 at home before the superstars became available. (L)
1953, John Cherberg — Another former Husky player, he moved up from Odell assistant to become coach and lost his first game, 21-20 to Colorado at home. (L)
1956, Darrell Royal — A short-timer, the Hall of Fame coach came from Mississippi State to coach one season, beat Idaho 53-21 at home in his debut game and then left for Texas. (W)
1957, Jim Owens — The youngest Husky coach in the past century, just 30, had his first game against Colorado end with a thud, a 6-6 tie at home. The coach liked to say a tie was like kissing your sister. (T)
1975, Don James — This unknown coach from Kent State, before he became the all-time winningest UW football leader, got off to a rocky start with a 35-12 loss to Arizona State in Tempe, Arizona. This was the first debut for a Husky coach on the road. (L)
1993, Jim Lambright — After one of the toughest times in program history, conference sanctions capped by James' resignation, Lambright gave everyone a momentary respite with a 31-14 win over Stanford at home. (W)
Former Husky coaches Steve Sarkisian and Rick Neuheisel went head to head.
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1999, Rick Neuheisel — Promising a new and exciting era of Husky football, Neuheisel escorted his team to BYU and suffered a 35-28 loss at the base of the Wasatch Mountains. (L)
2003, Keith Gilbertson — Talk about a tough first outing. After reluctantly taking the job following Neuheisel's firing, Gilbertson brought the Huskies to Ohio State and lost 28-9 in front of 105,078 Buckeyes fans. (L)
2005, Tyrone Willingham — At a neutral downtown site, the then-Qwest Field, Willingham got off to a slow start when the UW fell to Air Force 20-17 before a smallish Seattle crowd of 26,482. (L)
2009, Steve Sarkisian — Sarkisian had a tough opening-night assignment as the new coach: host vaunted LSU. His Huskies lost 31-23 to the SEC team in Husky Stadium. (L)
Jimmy Lake and Chris Petersen each took their turn as Husky head coaches.
2014, Chris Petersen — With a lot of anticipation awaiting this debut, Petersen and the Huskies traveled to Hawaii and barely eked out a 17-16 victory in the islands. (W)
2020, Jimmy Lake — Inside a virtually empty Husky Stadium devoid of fans because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lake directed the Huskies to a first-night 27-21 win over Oregon State. (W)
2022, Kalen DeBoer — The new coach opens his Husky tenure against Kent State at home on Saturday night. (?)
Accumulative record: 19-8-2
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