Inside The Huskies

UCLA Needs Defensive Coordinator and Lake's Name Gets Tossed Around

It's unclear whether the former UW head coach would have any interest in joining the Bruins.
Dan Raley|
UCLA Needs Defensive Coordinator and Lake's Name Gets Tossed Around
UCLA Needs Defensive Coordinator and Lake's Name Gets Tossed Around

Jimmy Lake's name has been mentioned as UCLA begins the search for a new defensive coordinator following the resignation of Jerry Azzinaro, a longtime Chip Kelly associate.

While it's unclear whether Lake would have any interest in joining the Bruins, any discussion of the former University of Washington coach ending up in Westwood, at a conference rival highly receptive to Husky coaches and players, is nothing short of mind-boggling.

Kelly only recently hired Lake's outside linebacker coach Ikaika Malloe in the same role and shortly thereafter welcomed former UW outside linebacker Laiatu Latu, forced to medically retire in Seattle, to his roster. Previously, he added former Husky quarterbacks Ethan Garbers and Colson Yankoff, plus one-time linebacker signee Ale Kaho.

Lake has kept a low profile after he was fired as the UW football coach a month following a 24-17 loss to Kelly and UCLA in Seattle for what athletic director Jen Cohen described as a number of shortcomings.

Yet that week, Lake was as complimentary of Kelly as any opposing coach, which lends to possibility of them joining forces.

"I have a lot respect for Chip," Lake said in his regular Monday press briefing before facing the Bruins. "I think he changed football, and not just college football, with all the schemes he was running."

Lake's name is bound to come up whenever there's a defensive coaching vacancy  from here on. He previously was mentioned as someone Arizona should pursue when it was seeking a defensive coordinator, a job that eventually went to Johnny Nansen, then at USC and a former Husky assistant coach during Steve Sarkisian's tenure.

Lake has not spoken publicly about his next move or moves, though it's been suggested that he's leaning to working in the NFL again. He's been out of work not quite two months, fired on Nov. 14 at the UW.

Coming off an 8-4 season, Azzinaro is the fifth coach to leave Kelly's staff, and third coordinator, after he was under fire for his generous defenses finishing 104, 116, 103 and 73 nationally in his four years at UCLA.

The idea of Lake going to work for Kelly would continue to flummox a Husky fan base that has seen the competitive lines with league rivals blurred like never before, with coaches and/or players recently winding up at UCLA, USC, Stanford, California and Oregon.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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