Football Notebook | Season-ending defeat heats seats under UW coaches

HONOLULU — So now what?

Washington's latest — and last this season — come-from-ahead loss, a 35-28 thriller here to Hawaii on Saturday night, stirred more rumblings in Husky Nation over the future of the team's coaching staff.

The fate of coach Tyrone Willingham could be in question after the team blew a halftime lead for the fourth time this season — and in this case, a 21-point lead in the second quarter. That wasn't something Willingham wanted to address afterward. He delivered a cold stare at a reporter who asked if he was confident he would return in 2008.

Athletic director Todd Turner said last week he had "no doubt" in his mind Willingham would return next season. But UW president Mark Emmert is also surveying the situation and he has been more noncommittal, though he hasn't also offered anything publicly to indicate he's making a change.

Emmert was in Hawaii for Saturday night's game and returned home Sunday.

The rest of the team stayed in Hawaii on Sunday to spend a day enjoying the islands, though the weather was far from perfect, with rain and winds sporadic throughout the day.

The team returns today, and Willingham is expected to have a season-ending news conference on Tuesday.

Willingham is sure to be asked at that news conference if he will make any changes to his coaching staff, especially on defense. That unit ended the season giving up a school-record 446.4 yards per game and allowed 500 or more six times. Washington allowed 538 yards against Hawaii.

Conventional wisdom is that defensive coordinator Kent Baer, who has been with Willingham since Willingham first became a head coach in 1995 and a coordinator since 1999, is likely to be let go. Baer did not meet the media after Saturday's game.

Willingham said again after the game he thinks the Huskies are close to turning a corner, though a fan base wearied by an 11-25 record in his three years in Seattle may not be as receptive to that message anymore.

"The key is the confidence to get over [the hump]," Willingham said. "The confidence and the ability to make plays. When you have that, then we make those catches, we make those throws, we make those runs, we make the blocks. All of a sudden now you're looking at a football team that doesn't come close but finds a way to get over the top and win those games."

Note

• Washington quarterback Jake Locker rushed for 76 yards against Hawaii to finish the year with 986, a Pac-10 record for a quarterback. That figure was shy of giving the Huskies two 1,000-yard rushers for the first time.