It’s Official Jimmy Lake Era At UW Ends

The inevitable was announced Sunday afternoon by UW Athletic Director Jen Cohen. Cohen confirmed that  Jimmy Lake had been relieved of his duties after serving a  one-week suspension for a sideline incident during the Oregon game between Lake and one of his players.

After watching countless reviews of the incident it is hard to determine whether Lake made contact with his player after separating the player from a confrontation with another player from Oregon.  Lake’s intentions were well-intended. His actions not so much. Whether Lake made contact or not with the player the tone and tenor crossed the line. Add the fact that the incident was captured on National Television the incident was a bad look for Lake and the  Husky Football program.

QUICK DECISIVE ACTION

Forty hours after the incident Cohen released the following statement regarding the incident.

“Our staff has spent the last 24-plus hours reviewing video of the incident, as well as speaking with Coach Lake, the involved student-athlete and several other student-athletes and members of the staff, and I have made the decision to suspend Coach Lake for next Saturday’s game against Arizona State,” said Cohen. “President Cauce, our Faculty Athletics Representative, Alexes Harris, and members of our executive staff are in agreement that while we do not believe that his actions were intentional or deliberate, we can have no tolerance for a coach interacting with a student in the manner Coach Lake did. We have high expectations of conduct for our coaches, and we will not shy away from those expectations.”

END OF AN ERA

On Sunday Cohen made it official that the suspension had moved to termination and the decision was made from a holistic lens.

DID LAKE EVER HAVE A CHANCE ?

Defensive coordinator Bob Gregory will finish the season as interim head coach and Junior Adams will serve as the offensive coordinator until the end of the season. Both served those roles in the Huskies 30-35 loss to Arizona State. The role of the head coach is a complicated one with power and pressure. It is a complicated role that caters to many constitutes but reports to the Athletic Director. The coach reports to the Athletic Director with her or him serving the many constitutes. Therein lies the complication of being a head coach. The Athletic Director reports to the donors, the school president, the student body, and the administration.  While the coach does not report to any of these groups, they are judged by them.

POLITICAL POSITION

The title of head coach in college athletics is a lonely role and a political one. You have to please everyone but play favorite to no one. And oh, by the way, you have to win. At the end of the day, Lake’s record on the field led to micro scrutiny off it. How else can you explain being fired after 13 games? A 6-7 record is not good, but it looks worse when your losses are to Montana, Michigan, and  Oregon. Yes, who you lose to also plays a role in the equation. Lake was an ambitious public servant of the  University of Washington.

His biggest mistake was forgetting that no one person is bigger than the institution. It all became about Lake and no one else. The ability to hold power is a learned behavior that requires patience, time, and trust. Lake was not given any of those and making things worse is that Lake never gave those attributes to his coaches and players.