After a brief tenure as the head coach of Washington Football, Jimmy Lake is out of a job. Who are the top candidates to replace him?
After being hired to replace the legendary Chris Petersen after the 2019 season, Jimmy Lake has already been let go by Washington Football.
Lake was a great defensive coordinator under Peterson but was an odd choice to replace him. Washington is one of the top jobs in the Pac-12 and was coming off an appearance in the college football playoff in 2016 and it was strange to see them hand it to a coach who had no previous head coaching experience.
Even during the COVID shortened season in 2020, it started to seem like this was not going to work out. Lake made a very questionable decision to hire Jim Donovan as his offensive coordinator and Donovan had not had much success at previous stops. Recruiting was also taking a hit. Lake was seen as someone who did not like recruiting and that is just not acceptable if you want to win at the highest level in college football.
Some recent incidents also made this decision easier. Lake has had confrontations with players on the sideline and was suspended for Saturday’s game against Arizona State. This hire seemed like it was heading in the wrong direction and it is probably the right move for Washington to go ahead and make a move now.
There are a lot of job openings coming open in college football and it is fair to wonder how Washington stacks up with the other jobs. This will be an interesting coaching search for one of the most prominent programs in the Pac-12.
Here are three potential replacements for Washington to look at.
3. Blake Anderson
This might be a surprising name to some, but Anderson has put together a very good first season at Utah State and has built other programs up before.
Anderson knows the region in the west and is a good offensive coach. The question might be, has he done enough to be the leader at a program like Washington?
Anderson was a well-respected coach at Arkansas State and it was a bit of a surprise when he took the job at Utah State.
This was thought to be a multi-year rebuilding job, but Anderson has the Aggies sitting at 8-2 and coming off of a big win over San Jose State. Utah State could win the Mountain West and that was unthinkable at the start of the year. I don’t know if he would get the job, but Washington should give Anderson a serious look.
2. Jay Norvell
Another hot group of five name for head coaching jobs is Jay Norvell at Nevada. Norvell has done a nice job with the Nevada program and has shown that he can develop talent, as his current quarterback Carson Strong is projected to be one of the first quarterbacks taken in the draft next April.
Washington has struggled to find anything on offense and a coach with Norvell’s background might be more appealing than others.
Norvell is thought to be one of the brightest offensive minds in college football and has a great background, with coaching stops at Arizona State, Texas, Oklahoma, and even Nebraska where he helped Zac Taylor win Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.
Washington might have to outbid other programs for his services, but it might be worth it for the Huskies.
1. Justin Wilcox
This might not be the first name that comes to mind when thinking of coaching candidates for the Washington job, but Wilcox was the defensive coordinator at Washington under Steve Sarkisian.
Wilcox is regarded as one of the best defensive minds in college football, but things have gone downhill for him while at Cal. Keep in mind though, Cal is one of the toughest jobs in the country and not an easy place to win.
The thing that might be holding Wilcox back will be his offensive struggles at Cal and how similar they are to Lake’s at Washington.
Wilcox will need to make some good hires on the offensive staff, but I think that if he were to get the job, that he can do very well there. This should be the top candidate on the board for the Washington Football program.