Hooray for Bill Moos!

No matter what happens, all I can say is THANK YOU OREGON for giving Moos the boot and promoting some prominent “yahoo” booster to be your A.D. With quotes like this, how can we not feel fortunate that Moos is acting as the headhunter in all this?? From Blanchette’s column today:

By Monday evening, Moos had been in contact with nearly a dozen potential candidates.

“I honestly feel this is a prime opportunity to seize the moment and get a jump on the Huskies,” Moos said. “Both programs are down. At Oregon, when we went after the Huskies, they were winning and it was a major challenge. This is maybe a time to step in with the right person who has charisma and energy, both for recruiting and to help get the stadium finished.”

This is, Moos insisted, Sterk’s process and decision.

“But I’ve had first-hand experience – from Jim Sweeney to Jackie Sherrill to Warren Powers to Jim Walden to Mike Price,” said Moos, who after his playing days, rose to become assistant athletic director at WSU. “I think I’ve got a pretty good feel for those who might want to be one-year wonders or someone who has an interest in the place, can adapt to it or has been there before and won’t look down his nose at Pullman or eastern Washington. Because he’s got to make a good, solid sell to recruits and fans.”

We are, officially, not screwing around here. I trust Sterk and Floyd, rightly so, as the hirings of the Bennett’s plus June Daugherty have been strong. And it’s hard to really call Doba Sterk’s hire, really. The program needed a “Steward” at the point that Price quit on us, and at the time it was the perfect marriage that just didn’t work out long-term. Short term, perfect, long term, not so good. But to have Moos come out and say that not only is he going to filter through the coach-speak bullsh*t on who will want be here long-term, but to come out and say “we’re trying to seize the opportunity to jump on a down Washington program”?? WOW! That’s music to our ears, wouldn’t you say? Why not come out and say something like that? Let’s get after this thing and make a hire that will get the buzz overflowing again.

There’s tons of links today, including lists of candidates, etc. For that stuff, go to Vince’s latest blog entry. As far as what we’re up to? Hey, we’re full of speculation too and we’re hearing crazy rumors just like anyone else. But for now, we’ll let the dust settle a little bit and we’ll see who emerges, and then we’ll post more thoughts on what could be considered the true candidates. Let’s also not forget one other big thing. There’s some really, really prime-time jobs out there right now – Michigan, Nebraska, Arkansas among others – and there’s likely more to come, including right here in the Pac-10 if UCLA pulls the plug on Dorrell, or if villagers burn down Montlake in protest to another last-place finish at UW. So while we’ve got wild lists and ideas, so do a lot of other schools, with quite frankly, better jobs available. But hey, again, Moos is showing some onions already in this, so HOORAY for Bill Moos and thank you Oregon!