The 'cleanest' ship
Rich Linde, 17 June 2009

In my last article, I wrote that Jim Owens is the only rose-bowl-winning coach at Washington who avoided major NCAA/conference sanctions during his coaching reign. I didn’t mean to denigrate the other two coaches in this category, Don James and Rick Neuheisel, but, instead, wanted to give Owens credit for what I thought was a remarkable accomplishment, considering his 18-year stint with the Huskies from 1957 until 1974.

One fan wrote me that Owens’ era was different from the others, that the NCAA rules were more lax in those days and that the eras are not comparable for that reason.

Actually, the eras weren’t that much different if you look at them from the standpoint of booster violations. When Owens assumed the coaching reigns in 1957, the Huskies were on probation for booster violations. Paying athletes under the table has always troubled the NCAA, as it did the old Pacific Coast Conference.

To wit: In 1956, after he was fired from Washington, Coach John Cherberg took to the air and revealed that Washington football players were being paid by a downtown “slush fund," called the Washington Advertising Association.  Cherberg's revelation led to a 2-year probation for Washington in 1956. It was determined that 27 Washington players received an average of $135 per month, instead of the allowable $75. The PCC banned post-season competition for all of its athletic teams. A domino effect followed in Los Angeles, when UCLA and USC were placed on probation for slush fund irregularities. 

The point is that Owens, thereafter, ran a clean ship at Washington and his stewardship didn’t incur any major NCAA violations. Of course, the racial unrest that occurred at Washington tarnished Owens' image, but that's a whole other matter that can be put up for discussion.

In 1993, Don James’ boat was scuttled by booster violations, the most serious violation involving the Los Angeles jobs program, where certain athletes claimed they were being paid for little or no work done on the job. The NCAA cited Washington for a Lack of Institutional Control, stating that, “Had the athletics department and, in particular, the members of the football coaching staff made even the most cursory examination of that jobs program during the 10 years of its operation, they would have discovered the violations.”

In October 2002, Colorado was placed on NCAA probation because of infractions incurred during Rick Neuheisel’s coaching stint. Eight charges alleged that Neuheisel and his assistants improperly used the jet and pilots of a booster for recruiting and personal use. Proper documentation of its use was not provided to the NCAA. The NCAA cited flights to California, Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Washington, D.C., among others. Apparently, former coach Bill McCartney used the jet as well. Neuheisel believed the university was aware of this practice.

In October 2004, the NCAA extended Washington’s probationary period -- incurred as a result of its basketball violations -- for violations involving internal gambling activities and its failure to charge enough money for transporting potential student athletes by boat to Neuheisel’s home across the lake. The boat rides were also cited for the fact they were skippered by a booster, who allegedly made improper contact with the recruits.

You probably can make a case that having booster contact with a potential student athlete was laxer in Owens’ time than it was during the Neuheisel era and that documenting jet transportation wasn’t a requirement during the Owens’ era. However, the LA summer jobs program seems to me to be as an egregious violation as was the downtown slush fund in the fifties.

As far as I know none of Owens’ players made the police blotter during their playing days with the Huskies. Of course, back then, you didn’t have reporters perusing records at the police station, using the Freedom of Information Act.

The George Jugum incident occurred after Jugum left school. Jugum was a linebacker who played for Owens in 1966, ‘67 and ‘68. Effectively arguing that Jugum was the victim of a “football mentality” taught by Owens would need similar incidents cited as proof, and there are none, as of now. 

Darrell Royal coached the Huskies to a breakeven year in 1956, his only year with the Huskies, before bolting to Texas. The 1957 class, which was corralled mostly by Owens, who was hired in January 1957, has to be the finest transition class in Husky history. Everyone in town raved about it when it was brought in. That class was a significant part of the 1960 team voted national champions by the Helms Foundation.

Although the racial unrest at Washington stains Owens' tenure, there is no other reason not to give  him credit for his many accomplishments, where credit is due.