Editors note: This is the first in a series of nine articles previewing Pac-10 football teams
An off-season fiasco involving the controversial dismissal of Rick Neuheisel as head coach of the Washington football program has left a torrent of unanswered questions surrounding the team.
Fortunately for athletic director Barbara Hedges, the University's 24th head coach was already in the Husky locker room. On July 29, offensive coordinator Keith Gilbertson was awarded the head coaching position and instantly began campaigning to his players and staff that the 2003 season would not be a loss due to any outside distractions.
"We are going to be behind on some things," Gilbertson admitted during his introductory press conference. "I hope that our team would look like a team that is dying to win, flying around the field knocking the hell out of everyone who moves, playing as hard as they can play."
After finishing 2002 with a 7-5 record that concluded with a loss in the Sun Bowl to Purdue, the Huskies will return 14 starters and 46 lettermen who are aggressively seeking respect. The team has been selected to finish third in the Pac-10, a mark that senior quarterback Cody Pickett has said his team should be able to beat.
Considered a Heisman hopeful, Pickett broke nearly every Husky passing record in 2002, all while rewriting the Pac-10 single season passing record when he topped out at 4,458 yards on the year.
His favorite targets, junior wide receivers Reggie Williams and Charles Frederick, will undoubtedly cause opposing secondaries to stay on their toes. Balancing out the offense will be senior running back Rich Alexis and an experienced offensive line. But the Huskies' main concern isn't how they are going to get in to the end zone, but how they will keep opposing offenses out of theirs.
Although there are seven starters returning on defense, it will be up to senior linebacker Marquis Cooper to lead a group that allowed 14 or more points in all but two of their contests in 2002.
The schedule will be unkind to Gilbertson for his Washington coaching debut, as his team will travel to open the 2003 season against defending national champion Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, on Aug. 30. That game should be a determining factor as to how much the Huskies were affected by the loss of Neuheisel.
Reach the reporter at damien.tippett@asu.edu.
