Hit 'em wif da truth, Ted Miller

OK, so less than five hours after saying I would be posting less as I buckle down for studying, I come back with a third post.

But as I was scanning ESPN's conference blogs (great addition for the Worldwide Leader, by the way) I ran across former Seattle reporter Ted Miller's latest post about non-conference scheduling, particularly as it relates to the imminent demise of Tyrone Willingham at Washington.

Since it's going to become evident over the next few weeks anyway, I figured I might as well just come out and say it: We're Ty Willingham apologists.

Only one of us is a Husky fan (hint: not me) but we both think that firing Ty after this season would be a mistake. That doesn't mean I think he's the best coach going. In fact, (speaking strictly for myself here), I'd be pissed, too, if I was donating wheelbarrows of cash to a program that has fallen into its deepest depression in history. (Well probably, anyway. Aforementioned obligations certainly cut into research time, even if posting is still a possibility. But I digress.)

But the blame, I'd argue should not fall on Ty. This could be its own 5,000-word post, but I'll briefly outline my reasoning.

First, he inherited a program that was an utter shambles -- coming off of a one-win season and with a bare cupboard talent-wise. Second, fate robbed the team of a bowl berth in his second season. If not for an injury to fleet-footed quarterback Isaiah Stanback's, uhm, foot -- suffered when the Huskies were 4-2 with momentum on their side -- Willingham likely would have been hailed for a remarkable turnaround to postseason eligibility.

But third, as Miller correctly points out, Ty hasn't had much help from his athletic department. Yes these schedules are set up years in advance blah, blah, blah. But UW's schedules the past few years have been brutal by any standard -- particularly for a rebuilding team in (up until this year) a stacked conference. That HAS to be taken into account by boosters -- even the most rabid among them.

It's my opinion that these schedules were crafted in the first place based on inflated expectations among the athletic department and its boosters (who I'm guessing communicate from time to time). Setting such a high bar was a sign of total-lack of foresight at best, hubris at worse. Firing the guy who failed to clear that impossible standard would certainly qualify as the latter.