On loyalty and leaving things better

It’s been a rough well for my University of Washington Huskies. We lost in the National Championship on Monday and our head coach blindsided us by taking the job at Alabama after just two seasons.

Coach DeBoer had two amazing seasons for us and we’ll always be grateful for that. I do understand that college football is a business and loyalty sometimes only goes so far. Coaches sometimes have opportunities that they need to take. Perhaps going to the most storied program in the country is something too good to pass up.

All that said, DeBoer has left UW in a much worse position than he arrived. He arrived with the cupboard stocked from the Chris Petersen era. While he was here, he and the coaches did not recruit up to standards. And with most of the talent leaving for the NFL, the cupboard is now bare.

It’s not a doubt in my mind that this all impacted DeBoer’s decision. He earned the right to go to another job, but without a doubt he made a selfish one. He knew that things would be hard in the next two years rebuilding things. He knew his stock probably wouldn’t be any higher. He knew he was leaving UW’s program in shambles.

This is life in college football unfortunately. I will admit I was completely wrong about who DeBoer was. I don’t think he’s a bad person and I do think he truly cares about his players and others. But above all, he cares about himself and his ascension up the ladder.

I love the mantra leave things better than when you got there. I’ve taken that to every job I’ve gone to. I don’t believe that is something that is high on DeBoer’s priorities unfortunately.

I know a lot of fans and alumni like myself are hurting. But truly I feel awful for the staffers, coaches, and players who were sold a vision. Some people just got to campus last week. This isn’t a business for the meek and everyone will be fine. But this will take some time to get over for sure.

UW will be okay. We have dedicated boosters and alumni who are set on watching us get back to the top.