By 
Washington Husky head coach Ty Willingham is expected to have upgraded his defense next season by recently hiring Ed Donatell, a veteran NFL defensive coordinator with the Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons.
Washington’s pathetic and inept excuse for a defense last year needed to be cleaned up and improved about 20 points.
The Huskies ranked 94th nationally last year in scoring defense (giving up 31+ points per game), 99th in passing defense (261+ yards per game and 27 touchdowns) and pass efficiency defense, and ranked 102nd in total defense. These rankings were among the 119 NCAA Division 1A teams. In other words, the Huskies had no defense. They lacked speed, talent and experience. I said last year that Washington’s defensive secondary couldn’t cover my grandmother on her best day. she wasn’t kidding
Donatell is to be commended for being willing to try to clean up this unfortunate mess. He may be able to flip it based on his experience and performance. That is:
1) As defensive backs coach to Denver’s Mike Shanahan, he helped the Broncos win back-to-back Super Bowls in 1997 and 1998 by taking over a secondary that ranked last in the NFL and led them to a Top 10 ranking by 5 in a row. years.
2) As defensive coordinator for Green Bay’s Mike Sherman for 4 years, Donatell’s leadership helped the Packers’ defense lead the NFL with 144 snaps, averaging 36 per season, and lead the league with 2.25 forced turnovers per game.
3) As a defensive coordinator for 3 years for Atlanta’s Jim Mora (a University of Washington graduate and the Seattle Seahawks’ new designated coach when Mike Holmgren retired after the 2008 season), Donatell racked up more success.
His 2004 Falcon unit led the NFL in holding opponents to a league-low 30% on third-down conversions. His Falcons also led the league in sacks for the first time in team history, and in 2005 his defense ranked third in the NFL with only 28 passes allowed of 20 or more yards. Additionally, Atlanta won the club’s third division title and advanced to the NFC championship game.
Donatell also had ties to Washington before he arrived. In addition to coaching Jim Mora, he was a graduate assistant to Don James, the legendary Dawgfather and the best coach in Washington. Donatell was also a defensive backs coach for 3 years in Idaho under former Washington coach Keith Gilbertson.
Donatell said his defensive style will be “based on speed and burst, lots of energy, enthusiasm, (an) attacking style.” Hell, I already like the boy. So Donatell can’t just talk about a good game, he can back it up.
I remember another guy named Jim Lambright whose legendary defenses were fast, furious and swarming; he also experienced quite a bit of success, including a 1991 national championship as defensive coordinator. The 1991 Huskies were second in the nation in rushing defense (67.1), total defense (237.1), scoring defense (9.2) and turnover margin (+1.73); they led the Pac-10 in virtually every defensive category.
Let’s hope Ty Willingham and Ed Donatell have great success next year and for years to come. What Willingham and Donatell will have to do is start winning and keep winning. When they do, they’ll have to line up behind a couple other guys with really big hit records like Huskies: Don James and Jim Lambright.
For the record, Don James has won one national title, gone to 6 Rose Bowls (4-2 record), won one Orange Bowl title, and played in 15 bowl games (10-5 record) in 18 years. Oh yeah, James went 153-57-2 (72%), including a record 99 wins in Pac-10 conference play, and Washington won 22 straight games from 1990 to 1992.
Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley