Washington president says give football coach time

The president of the University of Washington says Husky fans need to give football coach Tyrone Willingham a break.

President Mark Emmert said in an interview Tuesday that the team has one of its toughest schedules ever and the players and their coaches just need some things to bounce their way. The Huskies have gone 0-2 and face No. 3 Oklahoma on Saturday.

Emmert says no one is more frustrated by the team's losing record than Willingham and his coaching staff.

"They're working very, very hard to be successful and I support him because of that," Emmert said.

Fans, alumni and media have been pressuring the university president to specify the test Willingham must pass to keep his job - he is 11-27 in three-plus seasons at UW. But Emmert, who retained Willingham after last season amid calls for his firing, said he's not going to play that game.

"That's utterly inappropriate. It's about the progress of the program and having it move in the right direction," he said.

The 2008 season is the fourth year of Willingham's five-year deal that pays him $1.4 million a year. Major college programs prefer to have the future of their coaches settled before they enter the final year of contracts, for recruiting purposes.

Emmert said many fans have been offering their opinions on the football program, but this year's criticism doesn't compare to last season's experience of fan e-mails to the university president tying future donations to Willingham's removal.

"You don't have to be a mind-reader to know that people are disappointed when we lose games," he said. "We have not helped them at all with this schedule that was set up years ago. It's an awful schedule."

The Huskies lost their opener 44-10 at Oregon, a game that was moved up from later in the season for television and to give UW a second bye week later. They lost Saturday at home 28-27 to then-No. 15 BYU. After Oklahoma comes a bye and then the rugged Pac-10, with a final non-conference game against Notre Dame also next month.

Emmert said the fans shouldn't assume Washington is going to lose this weekend against Oklahoma, the highest ranked non-conference opponent to visit Husky Stadium since 1969 when No. 1 Ohio State won in Seattle.

"If our kids play at their highest potential, who knows, we have a chance at them," he said.

Next year's schedule is not quite as bad: The Huskies open against national power LSU but then get Idaho at home before going to Notre Dame. They play USC, Cal and Oregon at home, and host the Apple Cup against rival Washington State in Seattle.

Emmert also said the university is weeks away from hiring a new athletic director. He said the search has taken so long - Todd Turner, the man who hired Willingham, was forced to resign effective Feb. 1 - because he is picky.

The interim athletic director, Scott Woodward, is still in the running for the permanent job, Emmert said. But he said the university needs to make sure it is making the best use of a talented guy.

Woodward, UW's vice president for external affairs, is leading the school's effort to find money for the overdue renovation of 89-year-old Husky Stadium, the Pac-10's oldest football venue.

"I'll serve at the university in whatever capacity the president would like me to serve. I'm enjoying doing both jobs," Woodward said Tuesday. "I love working for the university."