Donovan Fired by Huskies; Adams Becomes Interim OC

The assistant coach didn't last two years at the University of Washington.

The heads have begun to roll.

Nine games into to an extremely disappointing season, the University of Washington football team on Sunday parted ways with offensive coordinator John Donovan.

The school made the announcement of his firing in a four-paragraph release, coming nearly 24 hours after the Huskies played Oregon and gained a season-low 55 yards rushing in a 26-16 defeat.

Donovan had been with the UW for 23 months, hired by Jimmy Lake after the latter took over as head coach. His pro-style attack was a total bust, generating just 115 yards rushing per game this season compared to 195 an outing for Husky opponents. 

Lake, for that matter, remains under pressure for the lackluster performance of a 4-5 team that has underachieved in nearly every category after drawing a No. 20 preseason ranking in the Associated Press poll. 

The second-year Husky head coach was involved in an incident that was broadcast nationwide by ABC-TV, where he raced down the sideline, crashing into people, and shoved reserve linebacker Ruperake Fuavai during the Ducks game. It still could cost him his job.

Junior Adams, Husky wide receivers coach, will replace Donovan and assume play-calling duties for the remainder of the season.

Payton McCollum, offensive quality-control analyst, will assume Donovan's duties as quarterbacks coach.

A former offensive coordinator at Penn State and Vanderbilt, Donovan originally joined the UW staff in January 2019, having worked the previous four seasons for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Donovan, 47 and a New Jersey native, was fired at Penn State in 2015 as offensive coordinator, causing UW fans great consternation when he still was hired to coach the Huskies with such a poor track record.

As the UW offense struggled, much was made of Donovan's decision to call plays from the sideline before he finally agreed to go to the press box for the third game against Arkansas State.

He lasted all of 13 games with the Huskies. He leaves with one year remaining on a three-year UW contract that would pay him up to $875,000 annually.

Adams joined the UW staff at the same time as Donovan as wide receivers coach, having spent the two prior seasons as offensive coordinator and receivers coach at Western Kentucky. 

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