UW Football Notebook | Emmert states it was his decision

University of Washington president Mark Emmert said Thursday that the decision to keep Huskies football coach Tyrone Willingham was ultimately his.

"It was a decision I was comfortable with because I want to see Ty finish out this thing and see what he can do with mostly his players out on the field next season," Emmert said in an interview with KJR-AM.

Emmert said he spent a few days after the team's return from Hawaii talking with Washington athletic director Todd Turner and others and that "I agreed with Todd that the correct choice was to let coach Willingham have another crack at this."

Emmert also talked with Willingham, and he said the coach knows that "they've got to win more football games next year and that's an expectation he has of himself and of his team and that I and everyone else has of the program, so he is going to have to do what it takes to get there."

Emmert said the two discussed UW's defensive struggles but that Emmert did not suggest that changes in the coaching staff on that side of the ball be made.

"He obviously recognizes that the performance on defense was inadequate so he is going to have to make some changes, but what those are are strictly up to him," Emmert said.

Emmert said what wasn't a factor was a $3 million buyout in Willingham's contract or pressure from any outside groups.

Emmert said it would be "penny wise and pound foolish" to worry about money when making such a decision.

Reffett honored

Defensive tackle Jordan Reffett, for the second consecutive year, was the winner of the Guy Flaherty Most Inspirational Award at the Huskies' annual awards banquet Thursday.

The Flaherty Award, named after its first winner in 1908, is Washington's oldest and most prestigious individual award.

Reffett, a senior from Moses Lake, is just the third two-time winner in the 100-year history of the award. Tom Wand won it in 1911 and 1912, and Don Mcketa won in 1959 and 1960.

In other awards, senior tailback Louis Rankin was named the offensive most valuable player. Rankin finished the season with 1,294 rushing yards.

Defensive end Daniel Te'o-Nesheim was named the defensive MVP. He led the Huskies in both tackles for loss (15.0) and sacks (8.5) and was fifth on the team with 57 total tackles.

Information in this article, originally published Dec. 7, 2007, was corrected Dec. 9, 2007. A previous version of this story contained an error. Jordan Reffett is just the third two-time winner of the Guy Flaherty Most Inspirational Award for Washington Huskies football. Tom Wand and Don McKeta each previously won the award twice. Because of incorrect information supplied to The Times, the original version of this article said he was the second two-time winner.