dawgfan
10-20-2013, 09:02 PM
Rumors circulated yesterday during the abortion of a game Washington played at Arizona State, and the news was officially announced today - Hall of Fame coach Don James succumbed to his battle with pancreatic cancer and died at the age of 80, leaving behind Carol, his wife of 61(!) years, three kids and ten grandkids.
James was clearly the best football coach in modern Washington history (you could make an all-time case for Gil Dobie) and at the time was regarded as among the best in the business. Sports Illustrated famously ranked their top three coaches one year, and the list consisted of:
1. Don James
2. Don James
3. Don James
He leaves behind a lengthy coaching tree, the most successful of which are Nick Saban and Gary Pinkel. It was James who convinced Saban to get into coaching, talking his former Kent State player into going for a masters degree and working as a grad assistant while he waited for his wife to get her degree. James also coached Jack Lambert at his stint with Kent State, and of course put a ton of guys into the NFL during his time at Washington.
He won a National Championship with his 12-0 team in 1991 and came close in 1984 when pollsters voted a 13-0 BYU team over his 11-1 team despite a massive disparity in schedule strength. He won the Pac-8/10 six times in his 18 years (earning Rose Bowl trips each time), including tying a Pac record with three straight Rose Bowls following the 1990-92 seasons.
After an NCAA investigation begun after the 1992 season into recruiting improprieties from a bogus jobs program for L.A. based players in the mid-'80's, the team was hit with severe sanctions by the Pac-10 (which at the time did their own sanctioning). Besides major scholarship limitations, the school was set to receive a 1-year bowl ban and 2-year TV ban. James warned UW President William Gerberding that he would resign if Gerberding flipped the TV and bowl bans, and that's exactly what Gerb did. James resigned shortly afterward, and Gerberding - who had harbored a political dislike of James for his public support of Ronald Reagan and George Bush, as well as a philosophical opposition to the attention that James and the football program received (Gerb was a purist about the academic mission of Universities) - got what he wanted.
James decided to retire rather than continue coaching, and remained close to the program and maintained a home in the area (as well as a winter home in Arizona).
His legacy looms over the program to this day, and the standards he set have yet to have been matched by subsequent coaches.
James was clearly the best football coach in modern Washington history (you could make an all-time case for Gil Dobie) and at the time was regarded as among the best in the business. Sports Illustrated famously ranked their top three coaches one year, and the list consisted of:
1. Don James
2. Don James
3. Don James
He leaves behind a lengthy coaching tree, the most successful of which are Nick Saban and Gary Pinkel. It was James who convinced Saban to get into coaching, talking his former Kent State player into going for a masters degree and working as a grad assistant while he waited for his wife to get her degree. James also coached Jack Lambert at his stint with Kent State, and of course put a ton of guys into the NFL during his time at Washington.
He won a National Championship with his 12-0 team in 1991 and came close in 1984 when pollsters voted a 13-0 BYU team over his 11-1 team despite a massive disparity in schedule strength. He won the Pac-8/10 six times in his 18 years (earning Rose Bowl trips each time), including tying a Pac record with three straight Rose Bowls following the 1990-92 seasons.
After an NCAA investigation begun after the 1992 season into recruiting improprieties from a bogus jobs program for L.A. based players in the mid-'80's, the team was hit with severe sanctions by the Pac-10 (which at the time did their own sanctioning). Besides major scholarship limitations, the school was set to receive a 1-year bowl ban and 2-year TV ban. James warned UW President William Gerberding that he would resign if Gerberding flipped the TV and bowl bans, and that's exactly what Gerb did. James resigned shortly afterward, and Gerberding - who had harbored a political dislike of James for his public support of Ronald Reagan and George Bush, as well as a philosophical opposition to the attention that James and the football program received (Gerb was a purist about the academic mission of Universities) - got what he wanted.
James decided to retire rather than continue coaching, and remained close to the program and maintained a home in the area (as well as a winter home in Arizona).
His legacy looms over the program to this day, and the standards he set have yet to have been matched by subsequent coaches.