UW Football
Timing of resignation surprises UW players

By Bob Condotta
Seattle Times staff reporter

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One by one, Washington football players yesterday began to hear the news.

Linebacker Joe Lobendahn learned that his coach was being let go in a text message from teammate Zach Tuiasosopo. Cornerback Derrick Johnson found out on the way to school in a phone call from a friend.

For all, it took a while to digest.

Lobendahn was one of five players — all of the team's captains — made available to the media yesterday. But he is the only underclassmen of the group, the only one who has to look forward to playing for a new coach now that Keith Gilbertson has been let go.

"I'm very overwhelmed right now," Lobendahn said. "I'll be on my third head coach and my fifth position coach (assuming linebackers coach Chris Tormey isn't retained)."

The players were called to a 1:30 p.m. meeting at which Gilbertson told them he would not be their coach after this season. Gilbertson then left the room and athletic director Todd Turner explained the reasoning and what will happen next.

"You probably could have heard a pin drop in that room," said receiver Charles Frederick. "Everybody was so quiet like someone had passed away because coach Gilbertson was leaving."

All knew that there was a chance that Gilbertson would be gone. As Johnson said, "If it can happen at Florida with a 4-3 season, then anything is possible here with the high expectations of this program."

But none said they saw it coming when it did.

Lobendahn, when asked if it was fair for the change to be announced now, shook his head. "I would want to hear this after the season instead of right now," Lobendahn said. "It's kind of a flashback to what happened with coach (Rick) Neuheisel."
 
All of the players praised Gilbertson, with Tuiasosopo — who said that Gilbertson was the coach who had recruited him to Washington — seeming to take it particularly hard.

"He's helped me through this process of college football to get to be the person and the player that I am today and I'm grateful for that," Tuiasosopo said.

Tuiasosopo said that the lack of success this season "is not him. You can put that on the coaches a little bit, but when it comes down to it, it's just the players on the field and we are the guys that go out there and bring home the W or the L."

Offensive tackle Khalif Barnes said he wasn't sure any coach would have had much of a chance considering the nature in which Gilbertson got the job in the wake of the sudden firing of Neuheisel in the summer of 2003.

"That would have been a tough thing for anybody coming in," Barnes said. "(Vince) Lombardi would have had a tough time with that one."

Inevitably, the players were asked if they felt a change needed to be made because players were losing faith in their coaches.

Tuiasosopo disagreed.

"Not at any point was this team ever parting from coach Gilbertson," Tuiasosopo said. "He was the backbone of the team. He was the one that kept us positive, kept us fighting. He was always there for us during this whole season, whether the situation was good or bad."

Tuiasosopo also dismissed any suggestion that the team will now play harder.

"We would have played just as hard if he wouldn't have gotten fired," Tuiasosopo said. "I don't think that's going to change."

Playing hard was the one thing this team has been able to take pride in all season.

"He didn't really lose a lot of guys," Barnes said. "That was the one thing that no matter what, guys continued to fight. I rarely saw someone quit this year. I was really proud of that."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com