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The new coach must build from the front four on up By Richard Linde, 9 November 2004 Because offensive coordinator Norm Chow has installed a West Coast Offense at USC, those Husky fans unhappy with Keith Gilbertson’s offense of 2002 would definitely not be happy with the 58-year-old Chow should he assume the leadership role at the UW. Chow’s résumé looks much like Gilbertson’s did 15 months ago, sans any head coaching experience. Of course, the media is trying to whip up fan interest in Chow, just as they did with Gilbertson. Even Pete Carroll is singing Chow’s praises, which makes one wonder what’s wrong with Chow, who seems to be performing admirably at USC. Does Carroll want to get rid of him? The only media person right about Gilbertson was Bay area writer Glenn Dickey who said that Gilbertson was not head-coaching material. Dickey was on Gilbertson’s watch when Gilby coached at Cal, and had plenty to say about him. AD Todd Turner says he wants a new coach with a "Ph.D in coaching," a coach of high integrity who can add "some pizzazz." The dictionary says that a person with "pizzazz" has charm, glamour, vigor and vitality. Adding that to a moribund program means the coach must possess some pizzazz (charisma?) himself. If that's true, then Don James didn’t have much pizzazz about him, being a bland sort of guy. The Dawgfather was the right man at the right time. NCAA rules' changes limiting scholarships helped James compete with the California juggernauts, whereas, former coach Jim Owens had been in an untenable situation. James definitely added pizzazz to the program. The Huskies’ milieu is much different now than it was in the early Don James era. James took over for Owens in 1975 and coached through the 1992 season. This time, the focus will partially be on football graduation rates, which should affect all of college football in years to come. In this new environment, the UW has a jump on its competitors thanks to former AD Barbara Hedges and, oops, to former coach Rick Neuheisel. Well, they did do something right, didn’t they? However, the UW has fallen too far to be experimenting with the pizzazz-less Chow, who was turned down by the likes of Arizona when it was searching for a new coach. I know it won’t happen, but I’d rather see assistant coach Scott Pelleur promoted to head coach rather than bring Chow on board. Pelleur is personable and has some pizzazz about him. On a side note, Pelleur handled the Casey Bulyca snafu with the NCAA admirably, comforting his parents as they stood next to us while we were in Olympia. Obviously, he’s a player’s coach. At Evergreen, I told sportswriters Bob Condotta and Ted Miller that Pelleur would make someone a good head coach some day, not necessarily Washington, because of his charisma, experience and his apparent attention to detail. They didn’t throw their voice recorders at me, so I guess he gets their tacit approval. I mean these are tough guys. Both of them figuratively threw their recorders at me when I mentioned Gary Pinkel as a possible replacement for Gilbertson, both saying that he really hasn’t done that much at Missouri, which is true. However, I pointed out that Pete Carroll hadn’t been that successful before he took over at USC. Writers at the Los Angeles Times thought Carroll was a horrible choice, one reason being that he would be too soft on his players. The bottom line with Chow is that sportswriters shouldn’t be picking our next head coach. We alums can do a much better job of it. Urban Meyer (Utah) and Jeff Tedford (Cal) are obvious choices. Both of them are successful coaches who have exceeded expectations in the college ranks. Short of them, the UW should look for a charismatic coach who can convince potential recruits that he can prepare them for a career in the NFL. The profile: a coach in his forties or early fifties, one with plenty of pizzazz, and one who has a résumé that includes these words, “former defensive and/or offensive coordinator in the NFL.” The 29-year old Jim Owens had plenty of personal pizzazz, and so did Rick. Adding pizzazz to the program, both of them led the UW to victories in the Rose Bowl (the Slickster one, the Big Fella two) and both beat USC, not an easy accomplishment in Owens’ days either. How about Scott Linehan, who was a former assistant coach at the University of Washington from 1994 to 1998 and who is currently the offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings? Like Meyer, Linehan is creative and innovative and would bring a fresh approach to Husky football, which is still mired in the transition from the Don James era to the twenty-first century. Whoever takes the helm must start at the hold and continue retrofitting the ship on up to the mainsail. Building a seaworthy ship means concentrating on its most important positional group; that is, on defense. Building a solid defense starts with the front four. There is no way Washington will ever return to football excellence without a dominating front four. Think, Steve Emtman. Once that happens, recruiting will fall into place. The prospects all know the importance of defense, as do Husky fans Richard Linde (a.k.a., Malamute) can be reached at malamute@4malamute.com |
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