My take on Pat Hill
Malamute, 29 November 2009

Over on Molly Yanity's blog (Seattle P-I) this morning she's calling these fun days (or hours) for Husky fans.

“Pretty fun last few hours in college football," she writes.

Huh, Molly? What you say?

Admittedly, these are fun days for Dawg fans who are awaiting the opening of their holiday surprise package. Will the package hold a gold ring (Mora), a diamond in the rough (Kiffin) or a lump of coal (Hill)?

However, getting into this scenario every several years or so is not fun. Think 12-46 over the last five years, along with Gilby, Ty and now Mr. Mystery guy, who could turn out to be a serious mistake in hiring by Woodmert which, if that happens, we're back to "Groundhog" day and Molly's "fun" scenario in another few years.

Oh, yes, 61-10, thank you Mr. Petersen, with an "e."

We don't need to hire a coach who will have the same chance of succeeding as Eddington would have had by photographing a solar eclipse in Seattle in an attempt to prove Einstein's gravitational theory.

Anyway, watching Hill fiddling with his Fu Manchu at a news conference might drive Molly bananas after awhile.

Her colleague, columnist Art Thiel, has the air about him of a theoretical physicist describing "M" theory at a Mensa meeting. 

Thiel could never come to terms with Hill, who is brunt and painfully to the point, lacking the opacity of a Fresno Tule Fog, along with the cleverness of Art's metaphors. 

After the Boise State fiasco, they asked Hill if he'd been contacted about the UW job, and he firmly said, "no." Try writing a column around that.

I hope UW took a serious look at Kiffin and did interview him. I’m conjecturing about Petros’s sighting at Sea/Tac. Was Kiffin, the unemployed head coach Papadakis mentioned? Both worked the same sidelines together and readily know each other by sight.

Orgeron and the two Kiffins (Monte and Lane) would have turned UW football around in a New York second, speaking relatively. I know what they are saying about Orgeron when he was at Mississippi. I’m going with Feldman’s version of the guy in his book “Meat Market.”

And don’t believe everything Al Davis tells the world, except “scoreboard, baby.”

The aging Hill, 56, won't get much respect or be cut much slack.

Hill is 92-60 (64-31 in WAC) in 12 seasons at Fresno State. Under Hill, the Bulldogs have played in eight bowl games, winning 4 and losing 4. FSU (7-5; 4-4) is bowl eligible this season. His team tied for the WAC title in 1999, his best finish in the conference. He was 4-8 in 2006 in his only losing season with the Bulldogs. UW is 1-1 against him, winning in 2006 and losing in 2004.

Rebuilding the UW football team could take several years. The biggest problem with Hill's hiring, if it should take place, is that it won't unite a Husky nation that is almost irreparably torn apart. As the losses continue during the reparation period, a whole segment of fans will continue to grumble about his hire, ad infinitum, much like it did during Ty Willingham's last two years. The Internet message boards, which are already growling about Hill, attest to that notion.

Such negativity affects attendance and donations to the athletic fund, the latter category needing its coffers filled for the Husky Stadium remodel.
 
I'll support Hill, but that doesn't mean I'll like the choice. I think the Huskies can do better than him.

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Reference: Pat Hill, Lane Kiffin, Monte Kiffin, Petros Papadakis, Ed Orgeron, Bruce Feldman, Arthur Stanley Eddington, Albert Einstein, Chris Petersen, Jim L. Mora, Keith "Gilby" Gilbertson, Tyrone "Ty" Willingham, Woodmert (AD Scott Woodward and school president Mark Emmert in one shebang).