Low Points for Husky coaches 1957-2021

1. Jim Owens (1969) lost to UCLA 61-20
2. Don James (1985) lost to Oregon State 21-20
3. Jim Lambright (1994) Lost to Oregon 31-20 "The Pick"
4. Rick Neuheisel (2001) Got prison raped at Miami 65-7
5. Keith "Gilby" Gilbertson (2003) Lost to Nevada 28-17
6. Tyrone Willingham (2008) Lost to WSU 16-13
7. Steve Sarkisian (2012) lost to WSU 31-28
8. Chris Petersen (2014) lost to Arizona 27-26
9. Jimmy Lake (2021) Lost to FCS Montana 13-7

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RaceBannon

Good list

Might go with Cal at home for Rick. The stadium was pissed off that day. Really pissed

Lambo getting embarrassed by Nebraska in 97 as a top 5 team

UCLA 90

Ohio State Rose Bowl for Pete

Just a matter of is it a game when we? sucked and lost to a shitty team or a huge game we lost

We lose all sorts of ways but always the right way

DerekJohnson

Good list

Might go with Cal at home for Rick. The stadium was pissed off that day. Really pissed

Lambo getting embarrassed by Nebraska in 97 as a top 5 team

UCLA 90

Ohio State Rose Bowl for Pete

Just a matter of is it a game when we? sucked and lost to a shitty team or a huge game we lost

We lose all sorts of ways but always the right way

You probably meant the '98 Nebraska game that UW lost 55-7

RaceBannon

Nope

DerekJohnson

Nope

You used the word "embarrassed". I felt more embarrassed in 1998 watching that debacle on national TV

Houhusky

Opening home game and first somewhat real game as a HC loss to an FCS team seems like a different type of new low.

UW should have been able to beat Montana with Taylor Bean at QB and pumpy at RB.

WoolleyDoog

I might add to this as the post-James, points when it was clear the coaches weren't the guys and it was time to make moves to move on because I believe that was what happened Saturday.

Lambright - 1994 after the Apple Cup. Sidenote: Lambo went 9-7 in-conference in his first two seasons in a very down Pac-10 with the talent on those teams. It was obvious he was not the guy but also it was a different era I guess too where it took a lot to fire coaches..

Neuheisel - 2002 Cal - Have to remember how big of a deal losing to Cal, especially at home was at that time and that the team was ranked #12 at the time. You don't fire him there but I think a case could have been made after the Sun Bowl. Had Neuheisel not gotten himself fired off the field, I think he would have tanked in 2003 and gotten fired.

Gilby - 2003 Nevada - It was already pretty obvious looking back after how horribly they got thrashed the week before by an average UCLA team. Give him the rest of the year but look for a coach at that point. Losing to an Arizona team that was 2006-Stanford level bad and losing to an above average Cal team 54-7 pile onto that.

Willingham - 2005 Air Force - What an abomination of an opening game. Obviously you can't fire him at this point but it was clear he was a mess. 2006 suddenly senior loss to Stanford and 2007 Apple Cup were when you could actually fire him.

Sark - 2012 at Arizona - Getting absolutely blown out by an above average at best Arizona team confirmed to me Sark was never going to turn the corner. Then losing the Apple Cup after building up the chance to get some momentum going into a make or break year doubled that up. To Sark's credit I never thought he did enough to deserve to get fired on the field though I think he would have went 8-6 too in 2014 and finally would.

Petersen - 2019 Cal - Never thought Petersen wasn't the guy, but losing to Cal, two years in a row, at home, and only scoring 19, with the talent this team had and an NFL-skilled QB cemented to me that something was really wrong with Petersen. At Stanford and at Colorado continue that. Damn, that team was so close to getting an easy 10-11-win season.

Lake - John Donovan hire. Looking back that was so much more than a red flag. It was a white flag.

insinceredawg

I might add to this as the post-James, points when it was clear the coaches weren't the guys and it was time to make moves to move on because I believe that was what happened Saturday.

Lambright - 1994 after the Apple Cup. Sidenote: Lambo went 9-7 in-conference in his first two seasons in a very down Pac-10 with the talent on those teams. It was obvious he was not the guy but also it was a different era I guess too where it took a lot to fire coaches..

Neuheisel - 2002 Cal - Have to remember how big of a deal losing to Cal, especially at home was at that time and that the team was ranked #12 at the time. You don't fire him there but I think a case could have been made after the Sun Bowl. Had Neuheisel not gotten himself fired off the field, I think he would have tanked in 2003 and gotten fired.

Gilby - 2003 Nevada - It was already pretty obvious looking back after how horribly they got thrashed the week before by an average UCLA team. Give him the rest of the year but look for a coach at that point. Losing to an Arizona team that was 2006-Stanford level bad and losing to an above average Cal team 54-7 pile onto that.

Willingham - 2005 Air Force - What an abomination of an opening game. Obviously you can't fire him at this point but it was clear he was a mess. 2006 suddenly senior loss to Stanford and 2007 Apple Cup were when you could actually fire him.

Sark - 2012 at Arizona - Getting absolutely blown out by an above average at best Arizona team confirmed to me Sark was never going to turn the corner. Then losing the Apple Cup after building up the chance to get some momentum going into a make or break year doubled that up. To Sark's credit I never thought he did enough to deserve to get fired on the field though I think he would have went 8-6 too in 2014 and finally would.

Petersen - 2019 Cal - Never thought Petersen wasn't the guy, but losing to Cal, two years in a row, at home, and only scoring 19, with the talent this team had and an NFL-skilled QB cemented to me that something was really wrong with Petersen. At Stanford and at Colorado continue that. Damn, that team was so close to getting an easy 10-11-win season.

Lake - John Donovan hire. Looking back that was so much more than a red flag. It was a white flag.

100% this. All the excitement I had for the Lake hire died the day they announced they were filling out their staff with John Donovan and Derham Cato. Talk about a fucking buzz kill. Somehow the hire has turned out even worse than I imagined.

theknowledge

I might add to this as the post-James, points when it was clear the coaches weren't the guys and it was time to make moves to move on because I believe that was what happened Saturday.

Lambright - 1994 after the Apple Cup. Sidenote: Lambo went 9-7 in-conference in his first two seasons in a very down Pac-10 with the talent on those teams. It was obvious he was not the guy but also it was a different era I guess too where it took a lot to fire coaches..

Neuheisel - 2002 Cal - Have to remember how big of a deal losing to Cal, especially at home was at that time and that the team was ranked #12 at the time. You don't fire him there but I think a case could have been made after the Sun Bowl. Had Neuheisel not gotten himself fired off the field, I think he would have tanked in 2003 and gotten fired.

Gilby - 2003 Nevada - It was already pretty obvious looking back after how horribly they got thrashed the week before by an average UCLA team. Give him the rest of the year but look for a coach at that point. Losing to an Arizona team that was 2006-Stanford level bad and losing to an above average Cal team 54-7 pile onto that.

Willingham - 2005 Air Force - What an abomination of an opening game. Obviously you can't fire him at this point but it was clear he was a mess. 2006 suddenly senior loss to Stanford and 2007 Apple Cup were when you could actually fire him.

Sark - 2012 at Arizona - Getting absolutely blown out by an above average at best Arizona team confirmed to me Sark was never going to turn the corner. Then losing the Apple Cup after building up the chance to get some momentum going into a make or break year doubled that up. To Sark's credit I never thought he did enough to deserve to get fired on the field though I think he would have went 8-6 too in 2014 and finally would.

Petersen - 2019 Cal - Never thought Petersen wasn't the guy, but losing to Cal, two years in a row, at home, and only scoring 19, with the talent this team had and an NFL-skilled QB cemented to me that something was really wrong with Petersen. At Stanford and at Colorado continue that. Damn, that team was so close to getting an easy 10-11-win season.

Lake - John Donovan hire. Looking back that was so much more than a red flag. It was a white flag.

Good list. The Lake comment resonated with me. I was at the 2019 signing day event. It was the first time I heard Donovan in person. He was quiet, awkward and had awful body language. My whole table side eyed each other and thought, uh, oh. What capped off that night was when Lake was thanking his wife, he thanked her for cooking for him and doing his laundry. I mean, WTF??? This clown is running the program? My friends and I were apprehensive from that point forward but like good little doogs we convinced ourselves every misstep of the way that this year would be fine. UW would win 10 and recruiting would pick up. There was just too much talent. After Saturday we all said "We knew it!!! We all knew it deep down at that dinner!!" and we were right.

Fire_Marshall_Bill

The 2010 and 2012 Arizona losses were really bad. 2012 cemented Sark as over his head (actually LSU did).

SFGbob

2006 suddenly senior loss to Stanford

What's the back story on this? I've seen the reference a number of times but I don't know what it's referring to.

backthepack

Pea patch time

YellowSnow

The loss to Montana gets the gold medal and it's not really that close.

Yeah, Oregon State in '85 must have been a shit show, but it wasn't a program destroying type of loss.

AOG

The most resilient losses (the type that stick to you like an incurable rash) were, in this order:

1) Ducks 1994
2) WSU 1982

RaceBannon

2006 suddenly senior loss to Stanford

What's the back story on this? I've seen the reference a number of times but I don't know what it's referring to.

Stanford doesn't do red shirts. Ty brought that to UW only didn't tell the players they didn't get a 5th year

Just announced them as seniors

DoogmanRefund

2006 suddenly senior loss to Stanford

What's the back story on this? I've seen the reference a number of times but I don't know what it's referring to.

I’m sure I’ll miss some details as I’m doing this from memory. Last home game of the year Willingham announces maybe the night before that a handful of RS JRs will not be coming back next year and will be participating in senior day before the game. The team is visibly pissed off and clearly quit on him that day, those that hadn’t already quit on him anyway. They play the second most uninspired game I’ve ever seen and lose to a historically terrible Stanford team. Willingham is somehow allowed to coach for two more seasons. Husky football dies.

BleachedAnusDawg

2006 suddenly senior loss to Stanford

What's the back story on this? I've seen the reference a number of times but I don't know what it's referring to.
Stanford doesn't do red shirts. Ty brought that to UW only didn't tell the players they didn't get a 5th year

Just announced them as seniors

At the final home game.

DerekJohnson

2006 suddenly senior loss to Stanford

What's the back story on this? I've seen the reference a number of times but I don't know what it's referring to.
I’m sure I’ll miss some details as I’m doing this from memory. Last home game of the year Willingham announces maybe the night before that a handful of RS JRs will not be coming back next year and will be participating in senior day before the game. The team is visibly pissed off and clearly quit on him that day, those that hadn’t already quit on him anyway. They play the second most uninspired game I’ve ever seen and lose to a historically terrible Stanford team. Willingham is somehow allowed to coach for two more seasons. Husky football dies.

Fun fact: That Stanford team was 1-11 with its only win at Washington. In the 20-3 win over the Huskies, none other than Richard Sherman caught a 90-yard TD pass down the left sideline for Stanford.

WoolleyDoog

2006 suddenly senior loss to Stanford

What's the back story on this? I've seen the reference a number of times but I don't know what it's referring to.
I’m sure I’ll miss some details as I’m doing this from memory. Last home game of the year Willingham announces maybe the night before that a handful of RS JRs will not be coming back next year and will be participating in senior day before the game. The team is visibly pissed off and clearly quit on him that day, those that hadn’t already quit on him anyway. They play the second most uninspired game I’ve ever seen and lose to a historically terrible Stanford team. Willingham is somehow allowed to coach for two more seasons. Husky football dies.
Fun fact: That Stanford team was 1-11 with its only win at Washington. In the 20-3 win over the Huskies, none other than Richard Sherman caught a 90-yard TD pass down the left sideline for Stanford.

It was at least on the road, but the 2003 loss at Arizona to me is an underrated horrible all-time loss and there's no way Gilby should have made it another year after that. That was that Arizona team's only win and they were absolutely shelled in all but one other conference game, John Mackovic had already been fired, that UW team had Pickett (Sr) and Reggie and somehow lost. That Husky team was also playing to clinch a bowl game and Arizona had nothing to play fore.

WoolleyDoog

2006 suddenly senior loss to Stanford

What's the back story on this? I've seen the reference a number of times but I don't know what it's referring to.
I’m sure I’ll miss some details as I’m doing this from memory. Last home game of the year Willingham announces maybe the night before that a handful of RS JRs will not be coming back next year and will be participating in senior day before the game. The team is visibly pissed off and clearly quit on him that day, those that hadn’t already quit on him anyway. They play the second most uninspired game I’ve ever seen and lose to a historically terrible Stanford team. Willingham is somehow allowed to coach for two more seasons. Husky football dies.

I got weird similar vibes to suddenly senior thing when I noticed McGrew on the opposite sideline pacing. Throw in a few guys losing their starting jobs like Ale and Turner and I wonder if there was a dark cloud coming in. Helps when the guys who came in seemed worse than the guys they beat out last year.

RaceBannon

We suck