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New era in Washington UW, WSU take low-profile route with Gilbertson, DobaPosted: Thursday August 07, 2003 7:17 PMUpdated: Tuesday August 12, 2003 6:49 PM
They staged one of the most dramatic battles of the 2002 season, a triple-overtime upset that saved one team's bowl hopes and dashed the other's national title chances. Few games in the long history of the Apple Cup elicited more passion than Washington's 29-26 victory over Washington State last November, because rarely have the teams flourished simultaneously as they did under Rick Neuheisel and Mike Price. Eight months later, the Huskies and Cougars opened fall practice this week under much different circumstances. Both coaches are gone, each the subject of his own well-chronicled offseason scandal. In their place are two men on the opposite end of the visibility spectrum -- Washington State's Bill Doba, a 62-year-old rookie head coach, and Washington's Keith Gilbertson, the former Cal and Idaho head coach who'd long resigned himself to finishing his career as an assistant. None of that particularly mattered, though, when the teams hit the practice field for the first time Wednesday. "It's a sad situation, it's unfortunate it happened, but we were in here every morning this summer working," said Washington quarterback Cody Pickett. "We've got a great challenge ahead of us at the end of the month, we play Ohio State at their place, and we have to put it behind us."
Indeed, there's nothing like an opener against the defending national champs to keep a player focused in the middle of chaos. "As soon as you put in that [Ohio State] video," said Gilbertson, "you know what's up." It's amazing he's even had time to watch. Washington officially fired Neuheisel for his involvement in an NCAA tournament pool on June 12, and placed Gilbertson -- the offensive coordinator on the Huskies' 1991 national championship team and again the past three seasons -- in charge of "overseeing daily operations of the football program" shortly thereafter. He did not officially become the new head coach, however, until the completion of Neuheisel's appeal process July 29, one week before players reported for fall camp. In addition to scouting, recruiting and preparing for the start of practice, Gilbertson, who signed a four-year, $870,000 contract, had to reorganize his staff, hiring one new assistant and promoting two others. "We had to cram about two months of work into seven days, because there were certain things we weren't allowed to do until Rick's situation was resolved," said Gilbertson. "What you worry about is being able to organize everything properly. You don't want to make any rash decisions." In Pullman, Doba had about a seven-month head start on Gilbertson. He was Price's hand-picked successor upon accepting the Alabama job just before the Cougars' Rose Bowl game against Oklahoma. Unlike Gilbertson, however, Doba, a South Bend, Ind., native, has never been a head coach at the collegiate level, spending the first 15 years of his career as an Indiana high school coach and the past 14 as Price's loyal assistant. "To have this opportunity at this time, it's a dream come true," said Doba. Doba, who hired five new coaches in five days after the Rose Bowl, has assembled a staff that includes seven Cougar alumni, highlighted by former star quarterback Timm Rosenbach, and a former college head coach, Purdue's Leon Burtnett (linebackers), under whom Doba served in the mid-'80s. "I'm just grateful that these guys wanted to come work with an old-timer like me," said Doba. Doba's old-school background seems to be what the players admire most. "If there's a player's coach, Coach Doba is it," said quarterback Matt Kegel. "He's a very understanding guy, very concerned with how we feel about stuff. It's always great to play for a coach like that." "He's like your grandfather," said defensive end Isaac Brown. "He's always there for you to talk to him, a really hands-on kind of guy." Both players said Doba's defensive background has brought a new intensity to practices. But while the Cougars expect to be more physical this season -- more power running plays to take advantage of talented tailback Jermaine Green -- don't expect the Cougars to get away from the wide-open system Price made so successful. Mike Levenseller, Price's offensive coordinator during WSU's consecutive 10-win season, is back, and as Doba said, "if it isn't broke, don't fix it." That said, the media covering the Pac-10 seem to think something's broke, picking the defending conference champs to finish seventh this fall. The primary concerns are Kegel's ability to replace record-setter Jason Gesser and the loss of Outland winner Rien Long and NFL first round cornerback Marcus Trufant, though junior Karl Paymah showed similar potential there this spring. The major concerns at Washington are a running game that averaged a school-low 74.5 yards per game last season and a defense that gave up 30 or more points five times. It doesn't help that the Huskies lost four potential starters over the summer -- guard Aaron Butler left the team to pursue a culinary career, defensive linemen Josh Miller and Junior Coffin are out for the season with injuries and fullback Zach Tuiasosopo will miss at least the first three games while awaiting tiral on a felony malicious mischief charge. Gilbertson said the Huskies are working on running the ball better but won't stray too far from their bread and butter -- All-America candidates Pickett and Williams. "We [Neuheisel and Gilbertson] always shared a similar philosophy about offensive football," said Gilbertson. For four straight seasons now, at least one of two has entered the late November Apple Cup with its Pac-10 title hopes still alive. If you believe the prognosticators, that might not be the case in Gilbertson and Doba's debuts. "I'm not going to stand here and bitch about it," said Kegel. "We lose our head coach who'd been here for 13 years [and] Jason Gesser -- I could see why they'd pick us [seventh], but we have such talented people returning. It's going to be a different story come November or December."
Desert storm still brewingArizona coach John Mackovic reinstated star running back Clarence Farmer in June from a suspension that kept him out of spring practice, but it appears coach and player haven't completely settled their differences. "I ain't going to say nothing to him, just play the game," Farmer told beat writers on the first day of camp. "I don't have to say nothing to him unless I have to." As a sophomore in 2001, Farmer led the Pac-10 in rushing with 1,229 yards, then missed all but four games last season with a knee injury. Mackovic didn't initially give a reason for the runner's suspension -- the rumor mill ran rampant about his possible role in last season's player revolt against the head coach -- then said in May that Farmer had to "take care of academic issues." Farmer contends he had no academic problem, saying his name has been smeared. On the positive side, Farmer says he has a clean bill of health. The Wildcats certainly need him -- they ran for a total of 526 yards last season.
Meanwhile, behind closed doors ...The start of practices and the fast-approaching season means the kind of conference expansion talk that ruled the summer has died down, but that doesn't mean wheels aren't in motion. Presidents and athletic directors from nine Big East schools along with commissioner Mike Tranghese held a meeting Tuesday to discuss their future plans. A previous meeting of just the football schools was held last month, and according to those with knowledge of the proceedings, the only issue on the table right now is whether or not the seven remaining football programs should split off from the six basketball schools. No discussions have been held yet with potential new teams, but the schools are expected to meet again in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, at the WAC's media day last month, commissioner Karl Benson announced his league's intention to add two schools from the Central time zone. Interesting, considering the logical candidates -- TCU, Tulane, Houston and Southern Miss -- all hail from Conference USA, which already faces the possibility of losing Louisville and Cincinnati to the Big East. And complicating that plan is the fact that Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson, whose league lifted its moratorium on expansion in June, says he's been contacted by six schools, most or all of whom would seem to be either in the WAC or among those the WAC is pursuing. Stay tuned.
Worth notingEven if he's reinstated and comes back to run for 2,000 yards, Maurice Clarett will be missing from at least one aspect of Ohio State's 2003 season. The Buckeyes took their team picture Wednesday night without him. ... Just over two weeks away from their opener against Kansas State at Arrowhead Stadium, there are still three quarterbacks battling for Kyle Boller's old job at Cal: junior Reggie Robertson, sophomore Richard Schwartz and juco transfer Aaron Rodgers. ... Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville has offered the first hint as to how he plans to handle the presence of four quality tailbacks. "You'll see them in slot positions, wing positions and, hopefully, at times we'll have as many as three in a game at a time," he told the Birmingham News ... Incoming freshman Dominique Zeigler may be the playmaker Baylor has been so desperately lacking. The receiver caught four passes for 126 yards to earn MVP honors at last week's Texas high school all-star game. ... Six of the nation's top 10 quarterback recruits for next year, as rated by TheInsiders.com, have committed to colleges this summer: No. 1 Rhett Bomar (Grand Prairie, Texas) to Oklahoma; No. 2 Kirby Freeman (Brownwood, Texas) to Miami; No. 4 Chad Henne (West Lawn, Pa.) to Michigan; No. 6 Drew Weatherford (Land O'Lakes, Fla.) to Florida State; No. 7 Bobby Reid (Galena Park, Texas) to Oklahoma State; and No. 9 A.J. Bryant (Fort Valley, Ga.) to Georgia. Stewart Mandel covers college sports for SI.com. To send a question or comment for Stewart's Mailbag, click here. |
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