What UW Football Needs Do to Keep the Great Ones Home — It's Really Simple
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They have ready access to the supposed "Greatest Setting in College Football," which is a remodeled double-deck stadium that looks out on Lake Washington and stares up at different mountain ranges.
No question, it is nice.
They can choose to stay in Seattle, which in spite of its traffic, homeless issues and housing prices still is considered one of the nation's most livable cities. When was the last time this amiable Puget Sound seaport took on a tornado, a hurricane, a drought or a forest fire?
They can play in front of a sizable fan base with deep ties to Microsoft, Amazon, Google and all sorts of tech companies and post-football opportunities.
Yet for the past couple of years, nearly every elite college football recruit groomed in this region (Sam Huard is the exception) has shunned the University of Washington and gone elsewhere to play the game and make himself a name.
What gives?
While you can argue that it's tough to compete against Oregon's Disneyland football approach or that USC football now seems to be a nonstop Hollywood movie opening or that social media has erased state lines, the truth is the UW grew stagnant.
It quit winning.
The Husky program became blase', not cool, an afterthought.
Damaged even.
How else do you explain Lake Stevens High School running back Jayden Limar choosing a top nine schools as he pares down his college pursuers — and the one closest to his house is nowhere to be found?
Or that offensive lineman Josh Conerly Jr., from Seattle's Rainier Beach High and widely considered the nation's top recruit in his position area, will make his decision on April 8 and is expected to choose either USC or Oregon?
The Huskies?
Not a chance.
Or that Todd Beamer offensive lineman Malik Agbo is headed to Texas, Graham-Kapowsin offensive lineman Vega Ioane to Penn State, Camas Union wide receiver Tobias Merriweather to Notre Dame and O'Dea offensive lineman Mark Nabou to Texas A&M, while Eastside Catholic edge rusher JT Tuimoloau and Steilacoom wide receiver Emeka Egbuka already are at Ohio State?
The UW, which not so long ago played in the Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and College Football Playoff, quit winning.
Changed coaches at midseason.
Started losing momentum when Chris Petersen lost interest in coaching.
Bottomed out with Jimmy Lake's program implosion.
Consider that new coach Kalen DeBoer has to sidestep considerable college football wreckage and work long into the night convincing elite players that he can fix things.
The Huskies went 4-8 in 2021.
Of those four victories, one came in overtime, another with 21 seconds remaining and a third with just over six minutes to play.
The UW wasn't competitive for the first time going back to the Ty Willingham regime.
That was overly embarrassing considering the talent that Lake had to work with and squandered (see Trent McDuffie and Kyler Gordon, as examples).
Entering the coming football season, the Huskies still hold a four-game losing streak.
It's hard to ignore that, no matter what sort of grand promises are being made going forward.
Lake let the brand slip. He didn't take recruiting as serious as he should. He bought into a bad offensive plan. He shoved a kid in a moment of frustration.
It cost him his dream job.
Compare this to DeBoer handing out 130-plus offers in four months in what boils down to a grand marketing ploy, just to let recruits everywhere know the UW exists and is serious about returning to power.
Don James went through this dilemma nearly a half century ago.
As the new UW coach, he had to overcome a program turned stale under Jim Owens, who had rescued it 15 years earlier but couldn't maintain momentum.
The Huskies quit winning under Owens.
When James took over, he watched as elite Shorecrest quarterback Marc Wilson went to BYU, Wilson running back Phil Carter to Notre Dame and Fort Vancouver quarterback Steve Dils to Stanford because of the downturn.
James had to win to stem the flow of Northwest talent going elsewhere — and he did.
Rather than worry about Conerly, who should be considered collateral damage from the Lake fiasco, as is Limar, DeBoer should be working more long term. Those two recruits have stars in their eyes and rightly so. DeBoer still needs to create something cosmic in Montlake.
The new coach must make a big splash on the football field this coming season to win over the likes of Lincoln High edge rusher Jayden Wayne, who already has his pick of colleges.
Wayne will take an unofficial visit to the UW this weekend. He's been to every major college campus over the past year. He seems to enjoy the bright lights. He could end up anywhere.
The only way Wayne or others such as elite cornerbacks Caleb Presley of Rainier Beach and Josiah Wagoner of Spanaway Lake will wear purple and gold uniforms is if the Huskies resume winning again this season, and do it decisively.
DeBoer said he wasn't rebuilding, rather reloading. He'll have to make good on that promise to keep the local talent from heading to college football outposts going all points out of Seattle.
He'll have to show success, which leads to NFL careers, which creates historic football eras.
It's how James, Sarkisian and Petersen made it work in getting talented players to stay home and play.
There's nothing more attractive to a teenaged kid than an overflow Husky Stadium in a total uproar, treated to a full-throttle victory.
The late Raiders icon Al Davis always made it simple when he said, "Just win, baby."
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