Sports

Wednesday, Dec. 03, 2008

Columnist says Ellerson would be a good fit for the Huskies

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Editor’s Note: Attempts by The Tribune to reach Rich Ellerson on Tuesday were unsuccessful.

Among the fringe candidates mentioned as a possible successor to Tyrone Willingham, Cal Poly’s Rich Ellerson is as mouth-watering a proposition to Washington Huskies fans as the sight of another turkey sandwich.

He isn’t a household name. He’s never been a major-college head football coach. He’s not a rising star. (He’ll turn 55 on Jan. 1, which is to say he’s perhaps 15 years older than the ideal age for tackling the kind of reconstruction project he’d face at Washington.)

Furthermore, Ellerson has no desire to leave San Luis Obispo.

“I’ve got a sailboat moored out there in Avila Bay,” he told reporters recently. “I’ve got my dive boat in the driveway. I’ve got a little vineyard in the front yard. I’ve completely bought into the culture of where I am. Knock on wood, I hope to keep doing this for a while.”

And yet the more I look at Ellerson’s background, the more I see him as a perfect fit for the Huskies. Here are six factors in his favor:

No. 1: The next Washington coach should know the West. A former center and linebacker at Hawaii, Ellerson has served on coaching staffs everywhere from his alma mater, to Idaho, to the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League.

No. 2: The next Washington coach should know the Pac-10 Conference. Ellerson has had two stints as an assistant coach at Arizona — first as defensive line coach for the Wildcats’ legendary “Desert Swarm” unit, then as defensive coordinator.

No. 3: The next Washington coach should know success. Since arriving at Cal Poly in 2001, Ellerson’s record is 56-34. Over his past 61 games, he’s 48-13. Not regarded as a traditional NCAA FCS power, Cal Poly has won at least seven games each of the past six years. And though Weber State upset the Mustangs in the playoffs Saturday, their 8-3 season will be recalled for how they went on the road at Wisconsin and took the bowl-bound Badgers into overtime.

No. 4: The next Washington coach should know how to stand up for his players. After Andrew Gardner missed three extra-point kicks in the heartbreaking defeat at Wisconsin, Ellerson said: “He’s one of us, and if anybody has a problem with that, they’ve got to go through us. If you don’t like it, stay home.”

No. 5: The next Washington coach should know how to uphold the standards implemented after the program devolved into the scandal-tainted mess awaiting Willingham.

Ellerson hasn’t merely achieved with student-athletes, he’s achieved with scholar-athletes.

“We have a reputation for being a great academic institution, particularly our engineering school,” Ellerson has said. “We have a bunch of guys, we tease you and say we can play you off your feet, then help you with your homework afterward.”

No. 6: The next Washington coach should know how to best use the once-in-a-generation talent of quarterback Jake Locker. Uh, heaven? Thanks for calling.

Locker operated out of a Wing-T formation at Ferndale. Two years ago, Ellerson switched Cal Poly’s offense from a spread to a Wing-T.

“It’s unique,” Ellerson has said of his triple-option attack. “There aren’t a lot of folks that are committed to it. That’s part of our reason, frankly, for going back to it.”

Cal Poly’s triple option, by the way, isn’t some “Jurassic Park” package that allows one short pass for every 27 snaps. Mustangs quarterback Jonathan Dally threw for 1,960 yards and 23 touchdowns this season. He also ran 152 times for 821 yards and 11 touchdowns.

The spread has become the college football flavor of the year — the decade, really — but its influence will wane as defenses adapt. That’s how the game works. That’s how the cookie-cutter philosophy crumbles.

Ellerson has dared to do something different: A triple-option with a passing component. He’s also installed a 3-4 defense with multiple fronts and blitzes — a scheme that enabled his defensive linemen, outweighed against their Wisconsin counterparts by more than 40 pounds a person, to compete for more than four quarters.

Ellerson’s concepts, on both sides of the ball, would retool the Huskies, and retool them in a hurry.

About the sailboat moored on the bay, and the dive boat in the driveway? He could have both at Washington, along with a huge bump in salary that would make Rich Ellerson a very rich Ellerson.

I’ve never met the man. In fact, until my friend Don Borst mentioned him the other day on the radio, I’d never heard of him. So, I’m sure there are drawbacks to his candidacy beyond his inability to wow the Huskies fan base, because … well, because.

A football coach who tends a vineyard in his front yard can’t be all good.

John McGrath writes for the (Tacoma, Wash.) News Tribune. Write to him at john. mcgrath@thenewstribune.com.