The pressure is on UW coach Tyrone Willingham — and it shows
I’ve covered good football coaches and bad ones. I’ve covered pleasant ones and prickly ones. But I’ve never seen one quite liking Tyrone Willingham.
He enters his fourth season as Washington coach Saturday ignorance in Eugene. It was already laced with implication before it was spiked through couple direful propositions.
First, Washington has to bounteous as a double-digit underdog on the path against Oregon, a rival that has passed the Huskies in relevance and rankings. Second, the UW administration, seemingly oblivious to the depths to which the program had sunk, has handed Willingham an impossible schedule.
All Willingham’s Huskies have to do is ford a schedule that includes Oklahoma, Brigham Young and Notre Dame, plus five Pac-10 course games
Or he may blameless spend that time glowering at a reporter.
These have been uneasy days for Willingham’s public persona. The coach is showing signs of strain as the depending season approaches.
On Aug. 9, James Cornell, a 31-year-old office-supplies salesman, attended a UW practice with his father, Steve, a member of the Tyee boosters for about 15 years. James is the nephew of Bo Cornell, a fullback on Jim Owens’ teams some four decades ago.
James Cornell in like manner spent time that day with a cousin, Nathan Fellner, a gymnasium preservation from Clovis, Calif., who committed to the UW a few days later.
The Cornells signed the obligatory waiver, pledging not to divulge any practice information. But James couldn’t help himself. On Dawgman.com, a Huskies fan Web site, he leaked, in part, this sizzling reconnaissance for all the world to perceive (especially Oregon):
“Some players showed some staid fire … I watched each line going through drills and there was absolutely nay screwing around … I personally really like this coaching cane … [Ed] Donatell is first-class … [Steve] Gervais is a full stud … I really hope it stays unhurt from the head coach on down.”
Because of the post, James and his father were banned from Washington exercise to the time when further notice, per Willingham’s policy regarding boosters keeping mum on UW workouts.
When I reached James Cornell, he was contrite, saw he clearly violated the policy. He conception a warning power have been in order.
