There’s money, there’s big money and there’s TV money, and the latter can help pay bills, buyouts and paychecks, as Washington has illustrated over the last three weeks. The Pac-12 as a whole is flush, thanks to its 12-year broadcasting deal with both ESPN and Fox, signed in May, that will pay out $2.7 billion in total over the length of the contract. That sort of monetary infusion, about $225 million per year, will trickle down to the league’s 12 teams: the deal pays out about an additional $160 million annually when compared to the Pac-12’s prior TV contract, and that’s some serious, landscape-altering money.
You’ll see the ramifications over the next few years, when $225 million becomes $450 million, that becomes $1 billion, and so on down the line. Soon, the Pac-12 as a whole — the teams that make up the league — will have the financial security needed to make a serious and significant commitment to creating a top-tier football product.
See Washington, and see the future. The Huskies want to be a premier program, and have been at various points in their history, and can surely be so again. But it takes a commitment: for starters, it takes money to hire a staff capable of leading Washington back into national prominence.
It also takes money to build the right sort of facilities, money to bankroll recruiting operations, money to create a brand — it takes money, money, money. But the staff is key, as the complimentary pieces, like facilities, become meaningless if the program has the wrong captain at the helm.
Check out Washington’s financial commitment to football staffing over the last few weeks. It begins on Dec. 29, when the Huskies’ 67-56 loss to Baylor in the Alamo Bowl — their fourth loss in five games to end the season — raised significant issues about coordinator Nick Holt’s defense.
That was the straw that broke the camel’s back, but it wasn’t an outlier: Washington allowed 296 points over its last seven games, an average of 42.3 points per game, so Holt’s defense had collapsed long before Robert Griffin III and the Bears went to town in San Antonio.
But it was the final straw; Holt, safeties coach Jeff Mills and linebackers coach Mike Cox were relieved of their duties days later. Each held contracts that ran through the 2012 season, with Holt’s paying him $650,000 annually, so the university had to pony up and buy each out of their current deals.
That’s not cheap, and there’s the fact that the Huskies needed to find replacements, after all. Little fish aim low in this case, perhaps hiring a non-B.C.S. conference coordinator or position coach without a proven track record of success — and one who won’t demand a significant contract.
Big fish aim big, and money is no object. Washington went big: Justin Wilcox as coordinator and Peter Sirmon as linebackers coach, both from Tennessee, and the hires made waves in the Pac-12. The only drawback in each hire — and this should tell you something — is that each played their college ball at Oregon.
The Huskies weren’t done yet. Three days ago, Steve Sarkisian and Washington stole Keith Heyward away from Oregon State, his alma mater, and gave him responsibility over the Huskies’ defensive backs. This past season, Mills and Demetrice Martin shared secondary duties, with Martin, who left to join Jim Mora’s staff at U.C.L.A., coaching the cornerbacks.
If taking Wilcox and Sirmon away from Knoxville hurt Tennessee, hiring Heyward away from Corvallis is a body blow to the Beavers. It’s not just the fact that Oregon State is Heyward’s alma mater, or that he was one of the Beavers’ best recruiters. Oregon State and Washington are North rivals, so adding Heyward helps the Huskies and dings the Beavers — two for the price of one, in short.
The biggest move, though one that doesn’t seem meaningful on paper, came earlier today. Non-coordinator assistants are often overlooked, unless they, like former Alabama assistant Sal Sunseri, play a key role in a title run. But Washington’s hiring of former California assistant Tosh Lupoi sent ripples across the West Coast, if not throughout the nation. Why?
Because Lupoi, according to those in the know, is one of the best recruiters in the country. While with the Golden Bears, Lupoi helped Jeff Tedford reel in the sort of classes typically seen in Los Angeles, at U.S.C., not in Berkeley. Though only a half-decade into his coaching career, Lupoi brings the sort of recruiting cachet shared by only a select few in his profession — Ed Orgeron, Adrian Klemm and Trooper Taylor, for example.
How did Washington convince Lupoi, like Heyward, to leave his alma mater? By putting a number on a napkin, pushing it across the table and watching Lupoi’s eyes pop out of his head. According to Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times, Lupoi’s contract may be worth upwards of $500,000 annually; compare that to his contract at California, where Lupoi made $164,000 annually.
It costs money to fire incumbent staff members, not to mention hire brand-new, name-brand assistants from another B.C.S. conference would-be power. It took a serious financial commitment to hire Heyward away from Oregon State; it took a very, very serious check to lure Lupoi out of Berkeley.
You have to think that the Pac-12’s new payouts have altered the way Washington does business. The league’s new television contract allows Washington — or another Pac-12 program — to handle key staffing decisions in a different fashion than ever before. Instead of sticking with Holt, playing out the string, the Huskies were able to fire Holt, hire Wilcox and then double down with two proven Pac-12 assistants, Heyward and Lupoi.
Sarkisian and Washington have one more hire to complete, now that offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier has taken the same position at Alabama. Here’s guessing the Huskies — seeing that money has become no object — make another splash. Welcome to the new Pac-12.
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