Things have been imploding for the Washington Huskies football program since… well…
Week one of the college football season.
The Huskies topped off the preseason rankings at number 20, were a sleeper team in the PAC-12, and there was a lot to look forward to in Seattle.
However, they opened up the season with a dismal loss to FCS school Montana, and it’s all been downhill since.
And just when you think it couldn’t get worse, head coach Jimmy Lake has been suspended for one game…
After hitting one of his own players.
Video evidence shows that after outside linebacker Ruperake Fuavai tackled an Oregon player while he was already out of bounds on Saturday, a small skirmish broke out between the two teams, and then Lake proceeded to pull Fuavai away and throw a right cross across his facemask.
OOF…
Not a good look for a head coach…
According to the New York Post, Washington athletic director Jen Cohen released the following statement:
“Our staff has spent the last 24-plus hours reviewing video of the incident, as well as speaking with coach Lake, the involved student-athlete and several other student-athletes and members of the staff, and I have made the decision to suspend coach Lake for next Saturday’s game against Arizona State.
We are in agreement that while we do not believe his actions were intentional or deliberate, we can have no tolerance for a coach interacting with a student in the manner coach Lake did.
We have high expectations of conduct for our coaches, and we will not shy away from those expectations.”
After the game, Lake refuted the allegations of him hitting Fuavai at the post-game press conference, saying he was simply separating him:
“I separated him. I didn’t strike him. I separated him.”
Yeahhhhh, video says otherwise bud.
And shades of Woody Hayes come back to my mind:
