Inside The Huskies

Adams Not Only Former UW Loyalist Working Elsewhere in Pac-12

Nearly a dozen and a half guys have left the Huskies and stayed in the league.

Dan Raley

Junior Adams has been vilified in Seattle for a week for leaving the University of Washington football coaching staff and taking a job with a Pac-12 competitor, moving 275 miles down the road to Oregon.

He's the Ducks' new co-offensive coordinator and wide-receivers coach, no longer a Husky. Hopefully for the school's sake, he turned in his playbook and promised not to take a lot of players with him.

While this sort of conference crossover is hard for fans to accept, and seems to smack of disloyalty, the fact is former UW football personnel turn up everywhere across the Pac-12.

Currently, 17 former Husky assistants or players now work for league rivals on their coaching staffs.

Three of these guys are even Pac-12 head coaches — California's Justin Wilcox (UW, defensive coordinator, 2012-13), Oregon State's Jonathan Smith (UW, offensive coordinator, 2014-17) and Colorado's Karl Dorrell (UW, offensive coordinator and receivers coach, 1999).

Nine of the UW's 11 conference opponents employ someone who has a Montlake connection on his coaching resume. Only Arizona State and Utah haven't gone this route, staying Husky free. 

Adams, in fact, is one of three new Oregon assistants who once coached for the Huskies, joining defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi (UW, defensive line, 2012-13) and defensive backs coach Demetrice Martin (UW, DB coach, 2009-11).

California has four former Husky-related individuals on its coaching staff in Wilcox, defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon (UW, linebackers coach, recruiting coordinator, 2012-13), defensive-backs coach Tre Watson (UW, starting cornerback and outside linebacker, 2012-13) and fellow secondary coach Terrence Brown (UW, graduate assistant, 2015-17, and DBs coach, 2020-21).

Arizona has three with UW ties on the payroll in new Wildcats defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen (UW, assistant head coach, running-backs coach and special-teams coordinator, 2009-13), quarterbacks coach Jimmy Daugherty (UW, receivers coach, 2009-12) and tight-ends coach Jordan Paopao (UW, graduate assistant, tight ends coach, 2011-19).

At Stanford, the Cardinal employ defensive-backs coach Duane Akina (UW, reserve quarterback, 1976-79) and wide-receivers coach Bobby Kennedy (UW, receivers coach, 2002-03).

In Los Angeles, UCLA similarly has a new outside linebackers coach with a strong Husky tinge, Ikaika Malloe (UW, starting strong safety and outside linebacker, 1992-95, and graduate assistant, 1997-2000, and defensive-line coach, outside-linebackers coach, co-defensive coordinator, 2016-2021).

Across town, USC retained Donte Williams as a defensive-backs coach for the Lincoln Riley staff (UW, graduate assistant, 2011-12).

In Pullman, Washington State recently hired a new defensive-line coach in Pete Kaligis (UW, starting offensive guard, 1990-94, and head and assistant strength coach, 1999-2004). 

There aren't nearly as many one-time Husky players as coaches who have crossed over to a rival, but the list has been growing recently, especially in Westwood. 

Eight former Huskies currently turn up on Pac-12 rosters for five teams, among them quarterback Ethan Garbers, wide receiver Colson Yankoff, linebacker Ale Kaho and edge rusher Laiatu Latu at UCLA; wide receiver Terrell Bynum at USC; linebacker Jackson Sirmon at California; linebacker Josh Calvert at Utah, and defensive tackle Taki Taimani at Oregon, with a ninth, safety Brandon McKinney, recently completing his eligibility in the Rose Bowl for Utah.

  

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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