RIP Don James, longtime Washington coach
 

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.

I didn't grow up in Seattle, and attended UW later in life, but I spent 3 years there,got my degree and fulfilled many personal goals. As a passionate football fan I fell in love with Husky football. Anyone who goes to a game at Husky stadium will understand. and as a fan and alum you learn what an impact he had on Husky football.

RIP

Any serious college football fan owes it to themselves to see a game at Husky Stadium, especially now that it's been basically rebuilt and is a beautiful, modern facility.

To Missouri fans, Don James is almost a godfather of the Pinkel era Tigers. Pinkel has sung James' praises from the first time he arrive in Columbia, and it's evident how much James shaped his career. He even said in his statement tonight that the Toledo and Missouri programs today are James' programs due to his influence.

Don't know that the rumors were in Washington, but in Columba the word in 2008 was that the Washington job was his if he wanted it. It seemed like James wanted him to take the job, but Pinkel has said he would only do it if his heart were in it because he loved Washington so much. He obviously decided to stay.

Thanks to Don James for helping Pinkel become the coach he is today and creating the program we have.

My dad played for Don James at FSU...said he was a great coach, great guy, and very funny...

dawg, quick question. What do you mean "flip the TV and bowl bans"? What did the president do that James didn't like?

The penalties as proposed by the Pac-10 and presented to the UW initially were a 2-year TV ban and a 1-year bowl ban (in addition to the scholarship reductions). While James was far from happy with the severity of these penalties, he was willing to accept them. However he was aware that President Gerberding was supposedly concerned about the loss of TV revenue and was considering flipping the penalties such that it would be a 1-year TV ban and a 2-year bowl ban. James told Gerberding in no uncertain terms that he would resign in protest if that happened - he didn't feel it was fair to his players to be prevented from participating in bowls for 2 years, especially since the penalties were for infractions involving players in the mid to late '80's, and the current players on the roster had no involvement.

That was music to Gerb's ears, as he had years early developed severe jealousy over the attention James and the football program received, and this provided him with the opportunity he wanted to get rid of James, so he went ahead and appealed to have the penalties adjusted to a 1-year TV ban and 2-year bowl ban, and James promptly resigned in protest.

Hardcore Husky fans have long known that the true source of the downturn in Husky football can be traced back to Gerberding. He was also the jackass that forced Marv Harshman into retirement because he thought he was too old and didn't present the kind of telegenic face he thought the basketball program needed, and he forced Athletic Director Mike Lude into retirement because Lude had no qualms about telling Gerb to fuck off when he tried to meddle with athletics - this despite the fact that under Lude, the athletic department had become fully self-sufficient, and in fact had built up a significant surplus (even after the 1987 expansion of Husky Stadium - an expansion that Gerberding was not in favor of).

Here's the statement from Coach Pinkel that kcchief mentioned.....

It's really interesting to wonder what would have happened had Washington hired Pinkel in 1999 (as expected) instead of Neuheisel. I've had a soft spot for Mizzou football ever since Pinkel was hired there because of his direct connections with DJ.

RIP, Don James.

I plan on getting up there one day. Hopefully it happens next season.

Tough loss. Looking over career records, Terry Donahue happened to be 10-5 against him

Not quite right - Donahue was 7-5-1 vs. James.

Math is bad...oops

1976 - UCLA 30, UW 21
1977 - UCLA 20, UW 12
1978 - UCLA 10, UW 7
1979 - UCLA 14, UW 34
1980 - Did not play
1981 - UCLA 31, UW 0
1982 - UCLA 7, UW 10
1983 - UCLA 27, UW 24
1984 - Did not play
1985 - UCLA 14, UW 21
1986 - UCLA 17, UW 17
1987 - UCLA 47, UW 14
1988 - UCLA 24, UW 17
1989 - UCLA 27, UW 28
1990 - UCLA 25, UW 22
1991 - Did not play
1992 - Did not play

Looking things over, UW only beat UCLA once by more than a score, UCLA just three times over UW. For some reason James could smack the Trojans around in Seattle, but UCLA always played well there.

UCLA had to forfeit that 1977 win due to using an ineligible player. Dirty, cheating Bruins ;)

Yeah, pretty remarkable that DJ was 1-0 vs. John McKay and 3-3 vs. John Robinson v1.0. Terry Donahue gave DJ as much trouble as any coach out there. Frank Kush was 2-1 vs. DJ at Arizona State, but one of those wins was forfeited.

Pinkel talks about his last conversation with Don James.

Molded by his mentor, Gary Pinkel has pushed Missouri into prime time in SEC - Yahoo Sports

Huge mistake by Washington to have hired Rick Neuheisel in '98 instead of Gary Pinkel.