You've still got to respect UW coach Tyrone Willingham

The boos fell, harsh and heavy, on the Washington players when they ran off the field at halftime and again when they walked off late Saturday night, after their fourth loss in four games.

Booing has become a new tradition at Husky Stadium. Washington fans and students have been angry for a long time and they've been eager to jeer anybody wearing purple.

Certainly coach Tyrone Willingham hears them. No doubt, he even feels the sting.

This is his program. These are his players. He has been in their living rooms. He has met their parents. He has seen them play in high school. He has envisioned their potential.

He never expected this.

After Saturday's loss, Willingham was more introspective than he has ever been. He talked, albeit briefly, about the swirl of speculation around the program and the effect it is having on his team.

The speculation, of course, is about Willingham's Washington future, which at this 0-and-4 low point, is vanishing.

All of the early mornings and late nights, all of the adjustments, the personnel changes, the recruiting coups, haven't led to wins. Nothing Willingham has done to stop the flood of losses has worked.

And at the end of this, his fourth season, he will be gone.

But in this rush to change the school's football fortunes, the rush to replace him, let's not lose sight of the quality of the man.

Willingham is a good man in a bad situation.

He is a high-caliber person, with a solid value system that he deftly passes on to his players. He hasn't won enough games, but he has changed the culture of Washington football.

He has put an end to the renegade days of Rick Neuheisel's program. Throughout his career, Willingham has played by the rules and emphasized attendance in the classroom as much as the practice fields.

Using much the same philosophy as Seahawks general manager Tim Ruskell, Willingham has looked for good players who also are good people.

Willingham, unlike Ruskell, hasn't found a way into the postseason in Seattle, but he has restored dignity and that should be acknowledged.

No, he isn't an easy person to get to know. He often is cold and dismissive with both sports writers and boosters. Many of his news conferences have been exercises in frustration as he keeps the curtains drawn on his personality.

Purposely he has been tight-lipped and cliché-ridden with both reporters and Tyee Club members. He has been rigid with his rules.

But understand that Willingham remains one of the few African-American head coaches in college football. His road to his coaching positions at Stanford, Notre Dame and Washington has been much more difficult than a similar road for a similarly qualified white coach.

It is a matter of fact that, even in the United States in 2008, when the country might elect its first African-American president, black football coaches still face more challenges than white coaches.

Of the 119 Division I Football Bowl Series (formerly I-A) head coaching positions, only six are held by African Americans. After the 2007 season, there were 17 positions open; only one was filled by an African American, Houston's Kevin Sumlin.

Willingham has beaten the odds and gotten three high-profile jobs, in part because of his stern discipline. The perfectly pressed slacks and sweaters, the stomach-in, chest-out military bearing, and the stiff-upper-lip, Patton-like public approach have helped him conquer the inequality in his profession.

He won a Pac-10 Conference title at Stanford with this approach. He got the job at Notre Dame with this stern personality. He is true to his beliefs. He is unwavering in the way he conducts himself.

Willingham is an honorable man who doesn't deserve the cascade of boos after every defeat.

Sure, Washington fans should be angry. Last Saturday night at Husky Stadium was as bleak as any I can remember. Even a mediocre Stanford offense gained 466 yards. There were inexplicable breakdowns from beginning to end.

The only ingredient missing from this 35-28 loss was sideways rain.

Willingham hasn't worked at Washington and unless his team miraculously wins its next eight games — which it won't — he will be gone.

He will be fired, but he shouldn't be pilloried.

After last season's Apple Cup, I wrote that I believed he hadn't done his job as football coach and Jim Mora, who later was named successor to Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren, should replace Willingham.

That doesn't mean I haven't respected the person. In fact, in this most difficult year, Willingham has seemed more gracious and more engaging.

This is no time for piling on.

So let's mute the boos and think about the dignity, if not the victories, Willingham has brought to Washington.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com