Inside The Huskies

UW Expected to Announce New Coach Soon — All Signs Point to DeBoer

The Fresno State leader's name surfaces to the top as Husky search nears an end.
Dan Raley|
UW Expected to Announce New Coach Soon — All Signs Point to DeBoer
UW Expected to Announce New Coach Soon — All Signs Point to DeBoer

All indications are the University of Washington is close to naming a new football coach.

A players meeting will be held first to reveal the replacement for Jimmy Lake, according to Anthony Edwards of the UW Daily, then the public will hear about it. 

This whole thing could come rushing down Tuesday or Wednesday. 

Yet the big question remains: If it's not Iowa State's Matt Campbell, will Husky fans be hugely disappointed? 

Sources close to the football program say Fresno State's Kalen DeBoer, a head coach for all of two seasons, will be the new Husky leader. 

DeBoer just completed a 9-3 regular season with a high-powered offense run by former Husky quarterback Jake Haener. 

If DeBoer is the guy, will everyone be satisfied?

With both football and men's basketball programs not performing well, UW athletic director Jen Cohen lately hasn't inspired a lot of confidence in her donors, season-ticket holders and other team followers that she'll make a big splash with this hire. 

Add to their angst the insider disclosure being passed around that Cohen actually floated the idea of retaining interim coach Bob Gregory at one point, impressed by the manner in which the long-time assistant coach handled the team during the three-week crisis period following Jimmy Lake's in-season firing.

That wasn't going to happen, though.

Those same big-money donors, already wintering from Arizona to Hawaii, were in a phone-line outrage after watching Gregory's 3-8 defensive scheme fail to slow or adjust in any way to Washington State's well-planned offensive effort that brought a decisive 40-13 victory at Husky Stadium.

It was felt all along that Gregory didn't have a successful season, let alone in the Apple Cup, as the defensive-coordinator replacement for Pete Kwiatkowski, who left for Texas a year ago. His defense, even with nonstop personnel changes and scheme alterations, never stopped the run at all. 

Well before the sudden Husky coaching change following the Arizona State game, alums were adamant that Lake would need to replace both of his coordinators, John Donovan and Gregory, to proceed as coach into a third season. 

Donovan, the offensive leader, was fired immediately following the Oregon game on November 6, a week before Lake was dismissed.

Gregory, a former defensive coordinator at California and Boise State, likely already is job-hunting knowing he won't be back.

USC and Washington State didn't waste any time in settling on a new football coach, revealing their selections within 24 hours of what is normally the final weekend of the regular season. 

The Trojans lured Lincoln Riley away from Oklahoma while the Cougars rewarded Jake Dickert with a promotion from interim to permanent coach for doing what Gregory didn't do, which was win games and win the Apple Cup.

Will Kalen DeBoer be the UW response?

A step behind, the Huskies will unveil a new leader very soon. The mystery is not so much who it is, but what will be the reaction to this coach?

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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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