The Next Coach at the University of Washington

Now that Ty Willingham has been relieved of his duties as head football coach, although he is still in charge for the next five weeks, the big question surrounding Montlake is who will be the next head coach?

Every columnist, beat reporter, and yay-hoo has offered up their lists and choices for who they want to get the job. So following in their footsteps, and doing the blogly thing (we just made up a word, blogly) I will name who I think will be the next coach.

I believe Dave Christensen, the offensive coordinator at Missouri will be the next head coach at the University of Washington.

Here's why:
-Gary Pinkel is not going to leave Missouri for the mess that is the Huskies. So what they he coached here under Don James, he has roots in the Midwest, his children and grandkids live nearby and he has great facilities.

-Pinkel will recommend Christenesen for the job and UW will listen. Christensen played at UW, was an assistant coach under James, and is from Everett. He has roots here in the NW, unlike his boss.

-Some of the other candidates being mentioned: Lane Kiffin, Will Muschamp, Jeff Tedford, Mike Riley already have or will have better jobs that UW. Either Kiffin or Muschamp will be heading to Tennessee. Auburn might have an opening, therefore creating another more appealing opportunity for someone.

-Pat Hill, Chris Petersen, and Todd Graham will probably get looked at but ultimately will not be what the Huskies are looking for. Frankly, Hill has only won the WAC one time, ONE TIME, in 12 seasons. Yes, he has been to bowls in eight of the last nine years, but with the ridiculous amount of bowls these days that isn't good enough for a Pac-10 program. Petersen knows that he is the big fish in a small pond. He rules the WAC every season and has his team primed to go to their second BCS bowl in four seasons. It's not like he's missing anything at Boise State. Todd Graham doesn't have any ties to the Northwest, making recruiting here difficult. He has only two seasons as a head coach at the FBS level. While he has been impressive, it doesn't give him the needed experience to make him a serious candidate.

So, I believe that Husky fans can look forward to a press conference where Dave Christensen is introduced as the next head football coach of your Washington program.