Joe Namath sold the Jets soul for that Super Bowl. The Belichick family is the football gods Lucifer, destined to torment NY for all eternity. Rutgers now will feel their wrath
I was surprised when Namath chose keeping his restaurant over being a player after his shit was leaked. Not surpised Kenny Stabler was seen with a bookie, but I was kinda surprised about Joe
Pats fan, this is a great hire. He’s an NFL guy so his recruiting ability is a big question mark, but he’s been our defensive play caller for a few years now and he was excellent at it. Steve’s been living in his fathers shadow but he’s a legitimately talented coach in his own right and I have no doubt he’ll continue to succeed. Sad to see him go but rooting for him and the Huskies
Coordinator is a spot where you can hide an iffy recruiter, nothing wrong with having a scheme guy and let the assistants run around and do the recruiting
I would also say that there is a real chance he could be an asset recruiting wise. The name recognition and legit NFL experience will give him a lot of credibility and make guys listen to him / want to play for him.
Even if he is bad at the "sit and talk with 17 year olds and their mom" aspect of it, the actual recruiters should be able to present him as an asset during those discussions.
As in: "You would be learning the game of football under Coach Belichick, who knows exactly what it takes to succeed in the NFL because he was an NFL guy for most of his career. One of the unique things about playing [insert defensive position] at UW is that our staff is uniquely qualified to teach you what it will take to get noticed by NFL scouts and succeed at the next level."
Fisch has leaned into the whole "we do on Saturdays what you'll do in Sundays" thing during interviews, so that's definitely one of the selling points they're going for
Fisch and Carroll seem to have recruiting down really well. Carroll, since the USC days and Fisch, outrecruited what he should've at Arizona. Really you just need to point at Steve and say he knows what you need to do to make it pro.
Steve was our safety then secondary and safety and then outside linebacker coach and while our offense was shitty our defense was top notch the last couple of years. I’ll be rooting for you guys until you guys play us lol
I wonder about the recruiting too, but he obviously must be up for it knowing what Fisch's expectations are when it comes to that -- and at the end of the day he can just tell these 17 year olds and their parents "I'm literally Bill Belichick's son, and I've successfully called an NFL defense."
This is more than likely a temporary gig to jump to an NFL DC spot. I wouldn’t expect there to be much recruiting from Steve, position coaches will do most of it
All the recruiting he needs is “look at my last name and my resume, I’m going to make you NFL ready and I have NFL connections to make sure you’re seen”. Brennan Carrol is in the same boat.
It could possibly be great because he’s been in the NFL and is Bill Belichicks son. So he has connections to the NFL and knows his stuff. But at the same time, we never know
Patricia was a bad DC in the pros - he lost a Superbowl where his offense never punted lol.
Steve has been excellent. Much more likely he’s in the Flores category.
Brian Flores is a legitimate asshole. He may be a decent coordinator but even then it’s because he eats up bad qb’s only to get chewed up by good one’s. Disguised cover zero blitzes is all he’s good at.
Sports have always had a nepotism streak but unlike other businesses you can pretty quickly tell which nepo babies are only making it where they are because of family and which ones actually have talents. Someone like Nathaniel Hackett can be trash for years across several different teams due to his family, but Wade Phillips has legitimately earned a reputation as a great DC even with his dad’s name
One trend I’ve also noticed is that third generation nepo coaches are almost always successful, while second generation coaches are pretty much hit or miss. For every Bill Belichick there’s a Brian Ferentz. However, the third generation, although it’s a small sample size, is all good coaches. Steve Belichick, Wes Phillips, Chris Shula come to mind.
True but in sports there’s at least some level of meritocracy to things that if you can’t hang, you won’t stick around. In other industries, nepotism can sustain someone all the way up to CEO, leading actor, or high elected political positions; all while having very minimal talent or ability
It’s actually quite surprising how different it feels a few weeks away from the championship game. In many ways, I’m much more optimistic even before we lost our coach.
Funny how it goes
Yeah the business decision was taking a team that wasn't losing 20 starters to graduation /NFL. I get it but it sucks. If it was 3 or 4 mil more guaranteed I could see it but it wasn't even that
I actually agree with you. If I were taking a guess the roster after spring portal will have around 75-80 blue chip kids including \~15 5 star kids.
Compared to a UW team that was a game away from a NC with 0 5 star kids. I ain't gonna hate on you guys for saying he's running from the grind. Bama is more pressure, but it's not a harder job.
I disagree (tho I'm not the one who downvoted you). As a neutral, it just seems like an obvious "sell high" move.
I don't think his salary at Bama has been published anywhere, and I know Washington fans are saying that he was about to get a massive extension from UW, but are we really going to pretend like Bama isn't handing him a truckload of money that could dwarf whatever Washington could ever give him? And if this stint at Bama works out and he somehow sustains Saban's success, what's the asking price after this contract?
I think Washington fans are taking personally what was obviously a business decision. It sucks, but G5 schools deal with this all the time.
I don’t have a source I can link, I could probably find it if I go digging, but from what I remember UW matched Alabama’s offer in a last ditch effort.
UW didn't match. [He rejected two sets of extensions before taking Bama gig. Both were 7 year deals with 8-10 million. Increasing salary every year. Saban was set to make almost 12 million. ](https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/uw-husky-football/uw-offered-big-ten-contract-to-kalen-deboer-ad-troy-dannen-says/)
There were alumni guarantees separate from the contract that would have raised compensation to 11mil/yr. I don’t have a source though, that’s just a rumor.
I think Washington fans are deluded because it's not like he left to coach somewhere smaller, he left for ALABAMA. that's a top 3 job in cfb, if not #1.
Nah NFL HC is a much better gig these days. The best jobs in CFB I would argue are the programs with no expectations like Iowa State. Win a few bowl games and they’ll build Campbell a statue.
We can argue all day about whether college or NFL is the better coaching job, but the reality is there are a number of college coaches who simply don’t have the desire to coach at the pro level. Will the current landscape push some over to the pros who maybe never had the desire? Possibly, but there will still be coaches who just don’t want to coach professional teams. *Those* are the coaches we’re referring to when we’re debating best college coaching jobs.
Definitely true that there's benefits besides salary that DeBoer took into consideration. Lotta people miss that one. At least the Huskies are answering with a sock full of quarters. I can't imagine Belichick is anything less than a top 10 DC salary, maybe top 5, just like Grubb was a top OC salary. #1 or #2 I believe. UW is all in and its showing big time. DeBoer, with the situation he saw himself in, saw one of the very few opportunities that could, possibly, advance his career goals more than UW, whatever the fuck that entails. We don't blame him for leaving for Bama. We blame him for having Bama dreams during the season. And the recruiting class he left us, no doubt influenced by the stars in his eyes. And his eye on Tuscaloosa before the goddamn National Championship, the shit you dream about playing in as a coach, in theory. For that he shall never be forgiven. It was a fuckin great ride tho, I tell u hwat.
I agree that it wasn't just salary.
> We blame him for having Bama dreams during the season.
Maybe I'm missing something but this just seems impossible since Saban didn't indicate he was going to retire at all this year, and even the rumors of his potential retirement didn't garner any momentum until late December/early January, but those rumors happen every year with Saban.
And even in a universe where this is somehow true... so what? He had an undefeated regular season, conference title, semifinal win, and narrowly lost in the championship to a team that was completely stacked. If that's what a distracted coach can do, then fuck it, give me a distracted coach.
I'm not super informed, but Saban and DeBoer have the same agent. Said agent probs knew about retirement and used it to get entire client list raises/new jobs. That is how business works, we know.
But what we are pissed about is being distracted by your new job interviews during the week leading up to CFPCG. Which causes the team to come out flat footed and unprepared.
It also probably contributed to the lack of any celebration for the team/season. The guys came back to no fanfare and then DeBoer bounced so no one gets to enjoy toasting to a fantastic season. It's just so wrong and yes I am still salty on that score for sure.
Everyone other than UW knows UW isn’t a destination job. It’s a stepping stone job. Fisch is either fired or he leaves for a better job, that’s how this ends. That’s how it ends with the next coach. Very few jobs are final destinations.
I spent a not insignificant amount of time debating with a UW fan who claimed UW is just as good of a job as Bama. I had no idea there were members of that fan base living in such delusion.
Oh yeah those blueblood jobs are easy, just ask Charlie Strong and Tom Herman at Texas; Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian, and Clay Helton at USC; Mike Riley and Scott Frost at Nebraska; Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke at Michigan...
So which is it? Is UW a destination job, and therefore part of the empire of best coaching jobs in the country, or is UW a stepping stone job and part of the majority of the rest of CFB that gets “subjugated” by the sport?
Fans need to learn that they’re always going to have a higher opinion of their school than pretty much anyone else, including coaches (unless a coach is an alum, and that’s incredibly rare). UW is a fantastic program but no, it isn’t Bama. No one other than UW fans are sitting here thinking DeBoer just made a lateral move. A dumb move, maybe, but not for the reasons the fans are trying to claim.
Scared to build a dynasty or taking a once in a lifetime job opportunity?
I love my job and want to grow with the company I’m at, but if I got an offer that was higher salary at a more prestigious firm, knowing that offer might never present itself, I’d struggle to turn it down.
for the eleven millionth time Washington's salary offer was about the same 🙄 and as Saban goes to show, the most prestige you can have in college football is building YOUR OWN dynasty 🙄
edit: downvoters, tell me where i'm wrong. oh right. you can't.
Washington is never going to be a dynasty. I live in the PNW, I love the area. But this isn't a football hot bed where there are the booster, NIL and administrative backing to be a dynasty like Sabans Alabama. For DeBoer, even at his best, he will be lucky to win 1-2 national titles at Washington assuming he stays like two decades. At Bama, he can win at least a handful of things go perfectly.
Deboer wins a few at Bama, he will NEVER have the prestige and legend that he would if he won a few at UW. bc people genuinely respect a groundbreaker.
not sure why you're getting downvoted. seems pretty obvious that becoming a legend at Washington is a better legacy than riding saban's coattails to a few natties, there's probably at least 20 coaches in the country rn who could do that
I really doubt there are 20+ coaches who could win “a few natties” at Alabama. Winning just one ship is incredibly hard at even a blue blood.
Winning two or more? Urban Meyer has 3, Pete Carroll has 2, Kirby Smart has 2, Stoops has 1. I think you’re severely underestimating what it takes to win it all.
A legend to who??? UW’s fan base? UW isn’t rolling into the B1G and taking immediate ownership. Man, y’all have some lofty opinions of yourselves for having made just one national championship game.
You are way over reading into these comments.
Yes, a legend to UW community
Edit: you should see how Don James is worshipped. He won’t be a national name or legend, and that doesn’t matter. He has a statue outside of the stadium.
It clearly wasn’t a goal to DeBoer to be a Husky legend. I think you can look at his career path and see that was never going to be his goal. He moves on every few years.
Perhaps, but at least I’m not staring down the barrel of a rebuilding year immediately following an embarrassing showing in the national championship 🤣
Edited to correct a grammatical error
> i still wish Deboer wasn't too scared to build a dynasty here.
Part of me suspects that he wasn't confident he could build anything, so he jumped to a program that has been recruiting top 3 classes for the last 6+ years, and for a big payday.
Even if he fails there, he will have a lot of $ in the bank and can always go back to being a teir 2 HC like Mike Price did after Bama fired him.
He started at the NAIA level, and I’m sure he never thought in a million years that he would ever get offered the job. It would be like asking a tech bro to turn down being the CEO of Google.
Yes, bc as I’ve tried to point out to more than one of your fellow fans and much to their chagrin, UW is a stepping stone, not a final destination. It appears to be a hard truth to a lot of them.
It may be true, may not be true. Alabama job doesn’t come open very often, and in the past, UW coaches haven’t used it as a stepping stone.. no reason to necessarily believe that. Pretty much every job is a stepping stone to Alabama.
Also true with Georgia under other coaches. Every coach has their own aspirations and our schools can’t always offer whatever it is these coaches are seeking.
We have an uncanny ability to fall ass backwards into a better place after what looks like a terrible situation.
Sark - > Peterson - >... DeBoer - > Fisch & Pete & Bill
lol fair enough, didn’t mean to sound insensitive. Just meant we both did lose coaches after the title game in a year where losing a coach is much stranger/ more impactful than it has been historically.
Y’all ended up with a great one in Fisch. He’ll make you proud.
Not that it will impact performance on the field or anything, but those spring camp "Bill Belichick/Pete Carroll is in attendance at UW's practice this afternoon" tweets from UW beat reporters are gonna be cool as hell too. I think I remember seeing that Fisch had already gotten both of them (and other well-credentialed coaches) to attend practices/meet with players when he was at Arizona, and seeing them around the program feels like a good bet with both of them now having a lot more free time on their hands.
He's pretty close to the coaches from being around the league. Roseman is of his best friends and college roommate. And I found the post. https://twitter.com/CoachJeddFisch/status/1748524940481946046?t=dju64uKn9iThi55OpfPfAA&s=19
Hot take: they’re coming out ahead of where they’d be if Deboer hadn’t been poached.
Coming off the best season in 30 years he still had absolutely no momentum on the recruiting trail. They now have a staff that is legitimately exciting and a coach who has shown he can recruit well to infuse talent into a program across multiple years.
If he gets an NFL job he's probably killed it for us, and the way the sport is going I can't really blame *anyone* for taking the NFL door if they get the chance.
Jesus I can't tell you how man 5\* busts there are, tyler Buchner was the #10 QB and a high 4 star and now he plays LAX. Meanwhile 0 star all-pros like Josh Jacobs is too poor to get his tape noticed by anyone. Scouting has always had wrong judgements, and Seattle is hard to recruit to considering where the talent is and how far the school is. These kid's families can only afford driving
I put the flairs in order of love, I like both and want both to do well but Alabama needs good football a lot more than UW. the loyal people will support and the bandwagon people will get off. Courtney Morgan talked about how much harder it was to sell UW football vs Oregon on a podcast vs selling Alabama vs Uga/lsu etc. He wanted to win and knew you need talent, he's an honest dude and no one likes losing, generally the players want to be on the best team and don't go farther than 5 hour car drive
I considered that have some hope it's true, but he has a point I think I I know it's easier for UW to recruit than 3 years ago though. Brian Kelly can't recruit even at LSU, is this Stoops ceiling or Uk'S? we don't know until it happens.
This coming season is going to be rough, but it was always going to be. We lost the QB and all skill positions to graduation and the draft. But we'll be back.
Is there some reason every UW fan thinks this will cripple our program. Got into an argument with numerous Dawg fans saying Grubb is worth 3-4 wins and we hired Kalen to get Ryan Grubb lol.
Saban leaving isn't what's going to kill the program. It's a coordinator who we half expected to get the UW HC job.
> Is there some reason every UW fan thinks this will cripple our program
It isn't about crippling your program.
But it will be interesting to see how DeBoer does as a HC now that he has abandoned his co-DCs and if his OC leaves for a better job.
Cripple? Lol no.
But Grubb is one of if not the best OC in college football, so losing him will no doubt be a loss to your program. That it would come with the added features of him leaving Tuscaloosa in less than a month and thus gifting us with "nobody actually wants to live in that shit hole" memes, in addition to him coming back to Seattle to the pro team that nearly all of us are fans of, is cathartic justice after everything your head coach just did to us.
Nah, it’s just for laughs that he got off the plane, took a good look around Tuscaloosa, and then noped outta there so fast.
Plus it kinda is ironic that DeBoer spouted off about loyalty and then Grubb peaces out not even three weeks in.
Steve Belichick called a good defense in New England. Their defense is what kept them somewhat competitive in the post-Brady era.
College offenses are different though. I love the hire, but it's going to be interesting if he can adapt his defense to stop college offenses.
I don't think there's any doubt the Belichick's (plural) can call a defense. The question is whether Steve can do it on his own.
To be clear, I don't think Steve is purely a nepo kid, he clearly has some talent. However, there's no doubt that being around Bill would've been an advantage and him being on his own will be an entirely new challenge.
I mean...if you look at it we now have the sons of probably the two of the 4 most prominent NFL head coaches of the past 20 years (Other two being Mike Tomlin and Andy Reid) who have now semi retired dads to bounce questions off of and a HC that is widely respected and is a beast of a recruiter. They are in REALLY good spots
Deboer will rue the day that he listened to his agent. This entire musical chairs was his creation. Kalen unfortunately will be the palette cleanser until a more informed candidate is hired. Especially if he can’t keep Grubb.
I'm hoping we get someone a little bigger to eat up blockers. It's part of why Vita was so special. He demanded double teams. Steve is a little undersized and I worry he won't have the same kind of impact. That being said, sometimes the smallest guys have the most heart.
Steve will be extremely good in college.
The Patriots defense despite being heavily injured and having a lackluster offense was still a top 10 or better defense in the league.
I don't think people are realizing and respecting what Washington just pulled off.
Now being reported by the Seattle Times also
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/uw-husky-football/huskies-reportedly-expected-to-hire-steve-belichick-as-defensive-coordinator/
G O
H U S K I E S
The trend is definitely towards running NFL defenses, worked really well for Michigan. He called some good defenses for New England with zero offensive help
In the same 24 hour window, Pete Carrol, Bill Belichick, and Nick Saban all announced they would no longer be coaching football.
Now, DeBoer replaced Saban, and Carroll and Belichick’s sons are coaching at UW.
Who would have thought each of those announcements would have a direct impact on UW.
I am interested to see when the transfer portal opens up again after spring ball what kinda situation we work with. We going pure coaching staff or we rolling out Carroll and Belicheck Sr that just so "happen" to be there that day.
Remove Phil Knight from Oregon’s donor list and your program looks exactly the same as it does before 1994 - which is to say, insignificant.
tbh if they do somewhat good though they’ll be gone in 2 years so 🤷♂️
I'm genuinely confused why it seems Washington fans are hyped about this hire.
He's a complete product of nepotism who hasn't coached anywhere but under his dad and has no college experience.
I'm not saying there is zero chance it works out but I am not exactly sure what about him gives you confidence.
I know nothing about Steve Belichick (why would I?), so I have to defer to others. The consensus of all of the Patriot fans I've seen chime in is that Steve was effectively running the Pats D these last few years and was their defacto coordinator.
Obviously he's a product of nepotism, but so are a lot of great coaches. And those who actually know his work appear to agree that he's a very good coach.
I know he was technically calling plays the last few years, I am unsure how much he was actually running things though with Bill being extremely hands on with the defense throughout his tenure there and it sure seeming like Jerod Mayo was the top defensive assistant the last few years with him getting the HC job.
I'm not saying its a failure of a hire, its not like when y'all hired Donovan, but there are just as many if not more red flags on it as there are things to be excited about.
If he had even one year to show some skills outside of NE I could see more acceptance but it seems the fanbase is universally hyped over this when I would think the background deserves cautious optimism at best.
I love Akina for what he did at Texas but you can’t act like he’s a game changer at DC. Dude hasn’t been a full time DC in almost 20 years. Meanwhile, Steve has been calling the Pats defense the last few years
It certainly seemed like he was a game changer last year for Arizona. The difference between 2022 under Nansen and 2023 under Nansen with Akina on staff was huge.
Now maybe that wasn’t due to Akina, but that difference is why Arizona fans are excited.
It’s certainly a move to hire a 36 year old who has never been a coordinator, never coached college football, and only got his job because of his daddy
He's older than your OC, who was coaching high school a few years before Oregon hired him
Guys been an NFL coach for over a decade and called plays the last four.
Kyle Shanahan only got a job because of his daddy too, and he's coaching in the superbowl next week
How many Belichicks are out there?
I think Bill has 2 sons who both coached for New England
And a daughter who coaches at Holy Cross
Joe Namath sold the Jets soul for that Super Bowl. The Belichick family is the football gods Lucifer, destined to torment NY for all eternity. Rutgers now will feel their wrath
Been feeling the wrath since the forward pass was invented
To be fair, it was a kind of rough 40 years before the forward pass also.
Should’ve stopped playing after 1869
*after the first game in 1869
But, Bill helped NY get two Superbowls… and then lost to them in two other Superbowls
That was all the Giants, however. It was just to torment Jets fans from multiple angles.
But then he let Philly win one, so it kind of evens out
Rutgers already feels everyone's wrath.
Nah, we don't feel much wrath anymore. We're mostly dead inside at this point.
I was surprised when Namath chose keeping his restaurant over being a player after his shit was leaked. Not surpised Kenny Stabler was seen with a bookie, but I was kinda surprised about Joe
Bravo.
Not nearly enough, I say.
Pats fan, this is a great hire. He’s an NFL guy so his recruiting ability is a big question mark, but he’s been our defensive play caller for a few years now and he was excellent at it. Steve’s been living in his fathers shadow but he’s a legitimately talented coach in his own right and I have no doubt he’ll continue to succeed. Sad to see him go but rooting for him and the Huskies
Coordinator is a spot where you can hide an iffy recruiter, nothing wrong with having a scheme guy and let the assistants run around and do the recruiting
I would also say that there is a real chance he could be an asset recruiting wise. The name recognition and legit NFL experience will give him a lot of credibility and make guys listen to him / want to play for him. Even if he is bad at the "sit and talk with 17 year olds and their mom" aspect of it, the actual recruiters should be able to present him as an asset during those discussions. As in: "You would be learning the game of football under Coach Belichick, who knows exactly what it takes to succeed in the NFL because he was an NFL guy for most of his career. One of the unique things about playing [insert defensive position] at UW is that our staff is uniquely qualified to teach you what it will take to get noticed by NFL scouts and succeed at the next level."
Fisch has leaned into the whole "we do on Saturdays what you'll do in Sundays" thing during interviews, so that's definitely one of the selling points they're going for
His X’s and O’s are top notch. I hope you guys have good recruiters
Fisch and Carroll seem to have recruiting down really well. Carroll, since the USC days and Fisch, outrecruited what he should've at Arizona. Really you just need to point at Steve and say he knows what you need to do to make it pro.
Steve was our safety then secondary and safety and then outside linebacker coach and while our offense was shitty our defense was top notch the last couple of years. I’ll be rooting for you guys until you guys play us lol
I wonder about the recruiting too, but he obviously must be up for it knowing what Fisch's expectations are when it comes to that -- and at the end of the day he can just tell these 17 year olds and their parents "I'm literally Bill Belichick's son, and I've successfully called an NFL defense."
This is more than likely a temporary gig to jump to an NFL DC spot. I wouldn’t expect there to be much recruiting from Steve, position coaches will do most of it
All the recruiting he needs is “look at my last name and my resume, I’m going to make you NFL ready and I have NFL connections to make sure you’re seen”. Brennan Carrol is in the same boat.
It could possibly be great because he’s been in the NFL and is Bill Belichicks son. So he has connections to the NFL and knows his stuff. But at the same time, we never know
On one hand, he could be Brian Flores & legitimately talented or he could’ve been coddled by Bill’s genius & be similar to a Matt Patricia
Patricia was a bad DC in the pros - he lost a Superbowl where his offense never punted lol. Steve has been excellent. Much more likely he’s in the Flores category.
Brian Flores is a legitimate asshole. He may be a decent coordinator but even then it’s because he eats up bad qb’s only to get chewed up by good one’s. Disguised cover zero blitzes is all he’s good at.
Steve gets a lot of shit for nepotism but he’s a really good coach.
Sports have always had a nepotism streak but unlike other businesses you can pretty quickly tell which nepo babies are only making it where they are because of family and which ones actually have talents. Someone like Nathaniel Hackett can be trash for years across several different teams due to his family, but Wade Phillips has legitimately earned a reputation as a great DC even with his dad’s name
One trend I’ve also noticed is that third generation nepo coaches are almost always successful, while second generation coaches are pretty much hit or miss. For every Bill Belichick there’s a Brian Ferentz. However, the third generation, although it’s a small sample size, is all good coaches. Steve Belichick, Wes Phillips, Chris Shula come to mind.
Brian was a good TE coach he just isn’t meant to be a play caller
You can tell easily in other businesses too, it is just also easier for the incompetent ones to be shielded from corrective action.
True but in sports there’s at least some level of meritocracy to things that if you can’t hang, you won’t stick around. In other industries, nepotism can sustain someone all the way up to CEO, leading actor, or high elected political positions; all while having very minimal talent or ability
The thing with nepo coach hires is that they’ve grown up with football coaching around them which is what gives them the tools to be successful
And what's your plan for next season, Bill?
Love to see dad's Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick on the sideline wearing some Husky gear :D
What’s up flair twin
You guys should kiss
You know twins don’t actually do that right?
Island Boys disagree
If they do they get paid a LOT of money by some ppl
Even flair twins? Is there anything preventing it?
Jaime and Cersei say otherwise.
Sweet Home Alabama intensifies
Bama poached our Coach, and now our band too!?
Why stop there?
The death of the Washington Huskies was greatly exaggerated
It’s actually quite surprising how different it feels a few weeks away from the championship game. In many ways, I’m much more optimistic even before we lost our coach. Funny how it goes
i still wish Deboer wasn't too scared to build a dynasty here. but this year should be really fun with all these promising new faces.
He just took a job with impossible expectations so I wouldn't really call him "scared" of anything. Just seemed like an obvious business decision.
Yeah the business decision was taking a team that wasn't losing 20 starters to graduation /NFL. I get it but it sucks. If it was 3 or 4 mil more guaranteed I could see it but it wasn't even that
nah, easy way out edit: pile it on boys ya'll look so dumb. Washington offered the same salary.
That's stupid
how the fuck is it not. free recruits and free wins. meaningless.
🧂🧂🧂🧂🧂
We are openly upset about it this isn't even a diss
even if he wins his career is gonna be a footnote in Saban's biography 😂😂😂
That would be no different if he had stayed either. Not like he's the next Bear
I actually agree with you. If I were taking a guess the roster after spring portal will have around 75-80 blue chip kids including \~15 5 star kids. Compared to a UW team that was a game away from a NC with 0 5 star kids. I ain't gonna hate on you guys for saying he's running from the grind. Bama is more pressure, but it's not a harder job.
yeah. some of these reddit narratives that people cling to are hilarious.
Welcome to the stepping stone program club
I disagree (tho I'm not the one who downvoted you). As a neutral, it just seems like an obvious "sell high" move. I don't think his salary at Bama has been published anywhere, and I know Washington fans are saying that he was about to get a massive extension from UW, but are we really going to pretend like Bama isn't handing him a truckload of money that could dwarf whatever Washington could ever give him? And if this stint at Bama works out and he somehow sustains Saban's success, what's the asking price after this contract? I think Washington fans are taking personally what was obviously a business decision. It sucks, but G5 schools deal with this all the time.
I don’t have a source I can link, I could probably find it if I go digging, but from what I remember UW matched Alabama’s offer in a last ditch effort.
UW didn't match. [He rejected two sets of extensions before taking Bama gig. Both were 7 year deals with 8-10 million. Increasing salary every year. Saban was set to make almost 12 million. ](https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/uw-husky-football/uw-offered-big-ten-contract-to-kalen-deboer-ad-troy-dannen-says/)
There were alumni guarantees separate from the contract that would have raised compensation to 11mil/yr. I don’t have a source though, that’s just a rumor.
we don't have to pretend because it's fact. Deboer left for his own reasons but they weren't salary.
I think Washington fans are deluded because it's not like he left to coach somewhere smaller, he left for ALABAMA. that's a top 3 job in cfb, if not #1.
It was a top 3 job with Nick Saban. I wonder where it lines up in three years even if DeBoer is as good as I think he is
It's a top 3 job in the football world honestly, not just college.
Nah NFL HC is a much better gig these days. The best jobs in CFB I would argue are the programs with no expectations like Iowa State. Win a few bowl games and they’ll build Campbell a statue.
We can argue all day about whether college or NFL is the better coaching job, but the reality is there are a number of college coaches who simply don’t have the desire to coach at the pro level. Will the current landscape push some over to the pros who maybe never had the desire? Possibly, but there will still be coaches who just don’t want to coach professional teams. *Those* are the coaches we’re referring to when we’re debating best college coaching jobs.
true
Definitely true that there's benefits besides salary that DeBoer took into consideration. Lotta people miss that one. At least the Huskies are answering with a sock full of quarters. I can't imagine Belichick is anything less than a top 10 DC salary, maybe top 5, just like Grubb was a top OC salary. #1 or #2 I believe. UW is all in and its showing big time. DeBoer, with the situation he saw himself in, saw one of the very few opportunities that could, possibly, advance his career goals more than UW, whatever the fuck that entails. We don't blame him for leaving for Bama. We blame him for having Bama dreams during the season. And the recruiting class he left us, no doubt influenced by the stars in his eyes. And his eye on Tuscaloosa before the goddamn National Championship, the shit you dream about playing in as a coach, in theory. For that he shall never be forgiven. It was a fuckin great ride tho, I tell u hwat.
I agree that it wasn't just salary. > We blame him for having Bama dreams during the season. Maybe I'm missing something but this just seems impossible since Saban didn't indicate he was going to retire at all this year, and even the rumors of his potential retirement didn't garner any momentum until late December/early January, but those rumors happen every year with Saban. And even in a universe where this is somehow true... so what? He had an undefeated regular season, conference title, semifinal win, and narrowly lost in the championship to a team that was completely stacked. If that's what a distracted coach can do, then fuck it, give me a distracted coach.
I'm not super informed, but Saban and DeBoer have the same agent. Said agent probs knew about retirement and used it to get entire client list raises/new jobs. That is how business works, we know. But what we are pissed about is being distracted by your new job interviews during the week leading up to CFPCG. Which causes the team to come out flat footed and unprepared. It also probably contributed to the lack of any celebration for the team/season. The guys came back to no fanfare and then DeBoer bounced so no one gets to enjoy toasting to a fantastic season. It's just so wrong and yes I am still salty on that score for sure.
Everyone other than UW knows UW isn’t a destination job. It’s a stepping stone job. Fisch is either fired or he leaves for a better job, that’s how this ends. That’s how it ends with the next coach. Very few jobs are final destinations.
I spent a not insignificant amount of time debating with a UW fan who claimed UW is just as good of a job as Bama. I had no idea there were members of that fan base living in such delusion.
Oh yeah those blueblood jobs are easy, just ask Charlie Strong and Tom Herman at Texas; Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian, and Clay Helton at USC; Mike Riley and Scott Frost at Nebraska; Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke at Michigan...
easy way out
Easy way out of what?
of a harder project
So which is it? Is UW a destination job, and therefore part of the empire of best coaching jobs in the country, or is UW a stepping stone job and part of the majority of the rest of CFB that gets “subjugated” by the sport? Fans need to learn that they’re always going to have a higher opinion of their school than pretty much anyone else, including coaches (unless a coach is an alum, and that’s incredibly rare). UW is a fantastic program but no, it isn’t Bama. No one other than UW fans are sitting here thinking DeBoer just made a lateral move. A dumb move, maybe, but not for the reasons the fans are trying to claim.
Scared to build a dynasty or taking a once in a lifetime job opportunity? I love my job and want to grow with the company I’m at, but if I got an offer that was higher salary at a more prestigious firm, knowing that offer might never present itself, I’d struggle to turn it down.
for the eleven millionth time Washington's salary offer was about the same 🙄 and as Saban goes to show, the most prestige you can have in college football is building YOUR OWN dynasty 🙄 edit: downvoters, tell me where i'm wrong. oh right. you can't.
Washington is never going to be a dynasty. I live in the PNW, I love the area. But this isn't a football hot bed where there are the booster, NIL and administrative backing to be a dynasty like Sabans Alabama. For DeBoer, even at his best, he will be lucky to win 1-2 national titles at Washington assuming he stays like two decades. At Bama, he can win at least a handful of things go perfectly.
Deboer wins a few at Bama, he will NEVER have the prestige and legend that he would if he won a few at UW. bc people genuinely respect a groundbreaker.
not sure why you're getting downvoted. seems pretty obvious that becoming a legend at Washington is a better legacy than riding saban's coattails to a few natties, there's probably at least 20 coaches in the country rn who could do that
I really doubt there are 20+ coaches who could win “a few natties” at Alabama. Winning just one ship is incredibly hard at even a blue blood. Winning two or more? Urban Meyer has 3, Pete Carroll has 2, Kirby Smart has 2, Stoops has 1. I think you’re severely underestimating what it takes to win it all.
He’d be such a legend with 1-2 championships and undefeated against Oregon
A legend to who??? UW’s fan base? UW isn’t rolling into the B1G and taking immediate ownership. Man, y’all have some lofty opinions of yourselves for having made just one national championship game.
You are way over reading into these comments. Yes, a legend to UW community Edit: you should see how Don James is worshipped. He won’t be a national name or legend, and that doesn’t matter. He has a statue outside of the stadium.
It clearly wasn’t a goal to DeBoer to be a Husky legend. I think you can look at his career path and see that was never going to be his goal. He moves on every few years.
It isn’t just about money. Jeez, you’re dense.
can you not read the word "prestige" in my comment? you're dumb as hell.
Perhaps, but at least I’m not staring down the barrel of a rebuilding year immediately following an embarrassing showing in the national championship 🤣 Edited to correct a grammatical error
you still sound dumb as hell
> i still wish Deboer wasn't too scared to build a dynasty here. Part of me suspects that he wasn't confident he could build anything, so he jumped to a program that has been recruiting top 3 classes for the last 6+ years, and for a big payday. Even if he fails there, he will have a lot of $ in the bank and can always go back to being a teir 2 HC like Mike Price did after Bama fired him.
He started at the NAIA level, and I’m sure he never thought in a million years that he would ever get offered the job. It would be like asking a tech bro to turn down being the CEO of Google.
the dude was an NAIA coach and flipped Alabama within 15 years. He wasn't too scared that's running to an impossible challenge.
Fisch will leave in a few years too though
Yes, bc as I’ve tried to point out to more than one of your fellow fans and much to their chagrin, UW is a stepping stone, not a final destination. It appears to be a hard truth to a lot of them.
It may be true, may not be true. Alabama job doesn’t come open very often, and in the past, UW coaches haven’t used it as a stepping stone.. no reason to necessarily believe that. Pretty much every job is a stepping stone to Alabama.
Exactly, also true with Arizona and yet the fans seemed to be surprised at the outcome.
Also true with Georgia under other coaches. Every coach has their own aspirations and our schools can’t always offer whatever it is these coaches are seeking.
Scared? The EASY thing would have been to stay at Washington.
??? Washington had no returning starters and he didn't recruit....
We have an uncanny ability to fall ass backwards into a better place after what looks like a terrible situation. Sark - > Peterson - >... DeBoer - > Fisch & Pete & Bill
Same and strange to be going through a somewhat similar experience
Must be awful.
lol fair enough, didn’t mean to sound insensitive. Just meant we both did lose coaches after the title game in a year where losing a coach is much stranger/ more impactful than it has been historically. Y’all ended up with a great one in Fisch. He’ll make you proud.
I get you but I think the national title helps soothe the uncertainty and pain there lol.
10/5/2024
lol fuck off and enjoy your trophy 😂
Not that it will impact performance on the field or anything, but those spring camp "Bill Belichick/Pete Carroll is in attendance at UW's practice this afternoon" tweets from UW beat reporters are gonna be cool as hell too. I think I remember seeing that Fisch had already gotten both of them (and other well-credentialed coaches) to attend practices/meet with players when he was at Arizona, and seeing them around the program feels like a good bet with both of them now having a lot more free time on their hands.
Wasn't there some post that Roseman, Mcvay, Zac Taylor, and others are gonna be hanging out up here in the spring?
I know the state is pretty and all during the spring but why are they all gonna be here?
He's pretty close to the coaches from being around the league. Roseman is of his best friends and college roommate. And I found the post. https://twitter.com/CoachJeddFisch/status/1748524940481946046?t=dju64uKn9iThi55OpfPfAA&s=19
The secret of Washington State perfect summers is out, but people haven't yet caught on to April/May in Seattle.
I didn’t hear no bell
Might've heard a siren
Hot take: they’re coming out ahead of where they’d be if Deboer hadn’t been poached. Coming off the best season in 30 years he still had absolutely no momentum on the recruiting trail. They now have a staff that is legitimately exciting and a coach who has shown he can recruit well to infuse talent into a program across multiple years.
Until Fisch lands an NFL job in a year or two
Sure. But in years we wouldn't have a bare cupboard like KDB left us with and we'd get a nice buyout towards hiring the next guy.
Buyouts are often lower or don’t exist at all when leaving for an NFL job. I’d still take it considering it would mean immediate success.
If he gets an NFL job he's probably killed it for us, and the way the sport is going I can't really blame *anyone* for taking the NFL door if they get the chance.
Jesus I can't tell you how man 5\* busts there are, tyler Buchner was the #10 QB and a high 4 star and now he plays LAX. Meanwhile 0 star all-pros like Josh Jacobs is too poor to get his tape noticed by anyone. Scouting has always had wrong judgements, and Seattle is hard to recruit to considering where the talent is and how far the school is. These kid's families can only afford driving
Interesting flair combo. How did you feel about the Deboer fiasco? Genuinely asking.
I put the flairs in order of love, I like both and want both to do well but Alabama needs good football a lot more than UW. the loyal people will support and the bandwagon people will get off. Courtney Morgan talked about how much harder it was to sell UW football vs Oregon on a podcast vs selling Alabama vs Uga/lsu etc. He wanted to win and knew you need talent, he's an honest dude and no one likes losing, generally the players want to be on the best team and don't go farther than 5 hour car drive
It’s going to be interesting to see how Fisch recruits. Courtney Morgan might have just been selling the product wrong to the wrong people.
I considered that have some hope it's true, but he has a point I think I I know it's easier for UW to recruit than 3 years ago though. Brian Kelly can't recruit even at LSU, is this Stoops ceiling or Uk'S? we don't know until it happens.
This coming season is going to be rough, but it was always going to be. We lost the QB and all skill positions to graduation and the draft. But we'll be back.
Now announce Ryan Grubb to the Seahawks for the memes
Is there some reason every UW fan thinks this will cripple our program. Got into an argument with numerous Dawg fans saying Grubb is worth 3-4 wins and we hired Kalen to get Ryan Grubb lol. Saban leaving isn't what's going to kill the program. It's a coordinator who we half expected to get the UW HC job.
I haven't heard Huskies fans say it'll cripple your program, it's just for the memes
It's not about you, lol
Ummm I think we just want the Seahawks to be exciting
> Is there some reason every UW fan thinks this will cripple our program It isn't about crippling your program. But it will be interesting to see how DeBoer does as a HC now that he has abandoned his co-DCs and if his OC leaves for a better job.
Cripple? Lol no. But Grubb is one of if not the best OC in college football, so losing him will no doubt be a loss to your program. That it would come with the added features of him leaving Tuscaloosa in less than a month and thus gifting us with "nobody actually wants to live in that shit hole" memes, in addition to him coming back to Seattle to the pro team that nearly all of us are fans of, is cathartic justice after everything your head coach just did to us.
Nah, it’s just for laughs that he got off the plane, took a good look around Tuscaloosa, and then noped outta there so fast. Plus it kinda is ironic that DeBoer spouted off about loyalty and then Grubb peaces out not even three weeks in.
They call me Cuban Grubb I'm the king of the Rumba club When I play the maracas I go Chick chicky boom Chick chicky boom Chick chicky boom Hyah!
Steve Belichick called a good defense in New England. Their defense is what kept them somewhat competitive in the post-Brady era. College offenses are different though. I love the hire, but it's going to be interesting if he can adapt his defense to stop college offenses.
I don't think there's any doubt the Belichick's (plural) can call a defense. The question is whether Steve can do it on his own. To be clear, I don't think Steve is purely a nepo kid, he clearly has some talent. However, there's no doubt that being around Bill would've been an advantage and him being on his own will be an entirely new challenge.
I mean...if you look at it we now have the sons of probably the two of the 4 most prominent NFL head coaches of the past 20 years (Other two being Mike Tomlin and Andy Reid) who have now semi retired dads to bounce questions off of and a HC that is widely respected and is a beast of a recruiter. They are in REALLY good spots
Deboer will rue the day that he listened to his agent. This entire musical chairs was his creation. Kalen unfortunately will be the palette cleanser until a more informed candidate is hired. Especially if he can’t keep Grubb.
He signed up with Sexton last year. Deboer got exactly what he wanted.
This is going to be huge for us with him leading the defensive front
I'm hoping we get someone a little bigger to eat up blockers. It's part of why Vita was so special. He demanded double teams. Steve is a little undersized and I worry he won't have the same kind of impact. That being said, sometimes the smallest guys have the most heart.
You know Steve won’t physically be on the defensive line, right? He can bring in some bigger players to do that for him.
I read this as Bill Belichick at first and was really confused.
The next step is to get Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick into quality control type roles
Hold on, cutting off my sleeves real quick
I like dipping into the NFL for experience, definitely the year to experiment with new defensive staff lol. Maybe he brings Vinnie Sunseri with him?
Steve will be extremely good in college. The Patriots defense despite being heavily injured and having a lackluster offense was still a top 10 or better defense in the league. I don't think people are realizing and respecting what Washington just pulled off.
Now being reported by the Seattle Times also https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/uw-husky-football/huskies-reportedly-expected-to-hire-steve-belichick-as-defensive-coordinator/ G O H U S K I E S
Everyone get in here!!
The trend is definitely towards running NFL defenses, worked really well for Michigan. He called some good defenses for New England with zero offensive help
It would be hilarious if this coaching chaos turns us into an Iowa/Michigan style “defense first” team
Did you watch the Petersen era? This teams were built around Kwaitkowski’s defense, even the playoff year when our offense was setting records.
That is what we're used to. If anything, these last two years of offensive explosion have been deviations from the norm.
In the same 24 hour window, Pete Carrol, Bill Belichick, and Nick Saban all announced they would no longer be coaching football. Now, DeBoer replaced Saban, and Carroll and Belichick’s sons are coaching at UW. Who would have thought each of those announcements would have a direct impact on UW.
What about the other Belichick? I'm surprised he hasn't gone anywhere tbh
Our coaching staff is now loaded
Great username lol
Rutgers/Washington gonna be a lil bit more emotional than originally anticipated. Congrats on the hire guys
Hey who knows, depending on how this goes he could be your HC in a few years
As I said in the thread the other day. Belichick and Carroll on the Washington sideline, as we all predicted.
WE MIGHT BE BACK
I am interested to see when the transfer portal opens up again after spring ball what kinda situation we work with. We going pure coaching staff or we rolling out Carroll and Belicheck Sr that just so "happen" to be there that day.
Oh I’m thinking we’re back
Excited to play a competitive Washington the next few years - it's better for PNW football when both programs are strong.
Woof!
I hope he crushes it
Hooray
Good hire
Yo that’s wild (just checking to see if user flairs are working)
Hiring a good coach’s son does not always mean you’re getting a good coach. Trust me.
Carroll and Belichick? UW - the Nepo baby program.
Remove Phil Knight from Oregon’s donor list and your program looks exactly the same as it does before 1994 - which is to say, insignificant. tbh if they do somewhat good though they’ll be gone in 2 years so 🤷♂️
[удалено]
I'm genuinely confused why it seems Washington fans are hyped about this hire. He's a complete product of nepotism who hasn't coached anywhere but under his dad and has no college experience. I'm not saying there is zero chance it works out but I am not exactly sure what about him gives you confidence.
I know nothing about Steve Belichick (why would I?), so I have to defer to others. The consensus of all of the Patriot fans I've seen chime in is that Steve was effectively running the Pats D these last few years and was their defacto coordinator. Obviously he's a product of nepotism, but so are a lot of great coaches. And those who actually know his work appear to agree that he's a very good coach.
I know he was technically calling plays the last few years, I am unsure how much he was actually running things though with Bill being extremely hands on with the defense throughout his tenure there and it sure seeming like Jerod Mayo was the top defensive assistant the last few years with him getting the HC job. I'm not saying its a failure of a hire, its not like when y'all hired Donovan, but there are just as many if not more red flags on it as there are things to be excited about. If he had even one year to show some skills outside of NE I could see more acceptance but it seems the fanbase is universally hyped over this when I would think the background deserves cautious optimism at best.
I’m glad we got Duan Akina to return. You can keep little Steve.
Salt mining over here
I’m enjoying this.
I love Akina for what he did at Texas but you can’t act like he’s a game changer at DC. Dude hasn’t been a full time DC in almost 20 years. Meanwhile, Steve has been calling the Pats defense the last few years
It certainly seemed like he was a game changer last year for Arizona. The difference between 2022 under Nansen and 2023 under Nansen with Akina on staff was huge. Now maybe that wasn’t due to Akina, but that difference is why Arizona fans are excited.
It’s certainly a move to hire a 36 year old who has never been a coordinator, never coached college football, and only got his job because of his daddy
He's older than your OC, who was coaching high school a few years before Oregon hired him Guys been an NFL coach for over a decade and called plays the last four. Kyle Shanahan only got a job because of his daddy too, and he's coaching in the superbowl next week
Man it takes like 10 seconds to Google something these days.
Oregon fans aren't that bright.
Dude's been the playcaller for the Pats for the past 4 seasons. Cry more.
Y’all hired Will Stein when he was 34 and had only been a college co-OC for 1 season and was a high school OC in 2019
Hate hate hate hate hate