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Updated Montlake Mount Rushmore
WoolleyDoog
Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 3,847 
Who would be on a hypothetical Husky football Mount Rushmore is a topic which was burning last offseason. Now since the dust has settled has Penix made it? What about DeBoer?
Mine now: Don James, Emptman, Penix, Gaskin
I would be happy with Jim Owens or Tui instead of Gaskin. Not sure who else would be in the conversation. A Penix/Rome combo somehow would also work.
Comments
I can't mix coaches and players. DJ stands on his own anyhow. DeBoer could have been a contender, especially if he had beat Michigan. But now he'll life in infamy.
Stan, Tui, Penix and Napoleon.
James, Petersen, Penix, Tui.
If the criteria is massively impacted the program even after they were gone.
Penix and Tui are on there because Rick and Deboer weren't really appropriate. Those teams are known for those quarterbacks, not their coaches.
Petersen didn't win a rose bowl and pop off, and I have him for other things, but he hired himself and set us up pretty well with talent/culture.
James instead of SE because he won a Natty in 84 and popped off and everyone can fuck right off about that.
James and Emtman are the unanimous 2.
The rest are a fight between Dobie, Owens, and whatever players we think are worthy. Penix, Odunze, Sixkiller, Reggie, Gaskin, Tui, Kennedy, Moon. If Brunell hadn't gotten hurt and had won a natty he'd be there, but as Race Bannon says he had to die for Billy Joe and the team to win. DeBoer is not a consideration.
I have Penix on there since QB is QB and he's the best one ever in capability, awards and record as a starter at Washington (other than whoever played QB under Dobie).
Maybe I'll just go with Dobie as the 4th since Winners Win.
I was actually joking about DeBoer while not taking away from what he did. I'm not as salty as others on him either. I think you have to put Emptman no matter what. He should have won the Heisman in 91. The cornerstone for the one true natty and a massive catalyst for the three-year peak of the program.
Petersen I'm torn on. It's a great point that the 2022/23 teams are built around guys he created and just how well overall he set up the program after years of pain and mediocrity. Massive points lost though for setting up Lake and quitting.
I go Gaskin over Tui. Longer higher level of success. Came back for a really important extra year when he didn't need to and he didn't have the mistakes Tui had constantly.
I think you have to have Dobie and Owens as the godfathers of the program
Then James
I actually put Enoch Bagshaw as the 4th coach. First two rose bowls, set the Huskies as a player in the golden age and invented football at Bama. He tied a rose bowl and popped off as well
I know the kids like Petersen.
If Gaskin or Kaufman are in then I don't see why Sankey and Polk wouldn't be in too. I understand they are fan favorites and all but they weren't better players or better Huskies imo. None of them make it.
Players in my adult lifetime would be Stan and Penix. Penix went 25-3, beat Texas twice and top 10 Oregon three times. Stan was the most dominant DL in the best defense I've seen.
Deboer would've made it as a coach if he had won the natty or stuck around for a few more years and kept it rolling the way it was somehow. Since he didn't, it's James alone on the mtn alongside Empterman and Penix.
Gaskin easily clears all those guys to me. One, he outproduced them all - 1,200 yards more than Polk and Kaufman and 30 plus more touchdowns. He was also the leader on two Pac-12 champions and three 10-win teams and the others because of their eras didn't win much. Sankey behind the other three for not coming back for an extra seasoning even if he had still almost assuredly is behind Gaskin in numbers.
No coaches on the list as they get their own recognition.
The problem with a players list is that rules changes and recency bias skew things for the modern guys on offense. Hugh McElhenny was an All-American and is in the CFB HOF. Can't leave a dude like him off the list just because he played 75 years ago.
Empterman, Penix, McElhenny are top-3 for me. #4 for me is a toss-up between Kauffman, Gaskin, Reggie Williams, Rome, and maybe Lawyer Milloy.
Then the boosters fired Baggy in 1929 after losing to the U of Chicago. Baggy was heartbroken, and ended up dying of a heart attack at the Olympia capitol building. His body was found by a janitor.
Players. Well Mt Rushmore is history so George Wilson is the father of our country
George Fleming for the Owens rose bowls
Stan Emptermann
Michael Penix Jr
Did you ever read Race Bannon’s interviews with Bagshaw? Eye-opening.
peterman?
If we are basing on favorites and not necessarily best, I’m going Penix, Gaskin, Shaq, and Rome. There may be some recency bias.
To offset a lot of this recency bias I am going with:
Hugh McElhenny;
Rick Redmon;
Bob Schloredt;
Steve Emtman.
good list
Does Penix replace Schloredt if he wins the natty?
James, Penix, Stan Emptermann, @RaceBannon
First four out… Tui, Gaskin, Rome, @DerekJohnson
Probably. I love my Big Penix energy. To a (huge) degree, my list was slanted toward the founding fathers of Husky football. It's a fool's argument to rank athletes from eras fifty years apart but here we are.
I tried to ensure all played 3 years at UW. (No Corey Dillons, etc).
Penix had the biggest impact of any player in UW history, IMO. His wins above replacement (which I'm sure PFF actually tracks - kill me) is probably 3 or 4 games in 2023.