College football in Washington

It's safe to say this season is going nowhere for the Washington Huskies and Washington State Cougars. Given the struggles of both programs, I wouldn't be surprised to see the winless Huskies head into Pullman for the Apple Cup against the one-win Cougars next month.

So what are the teams doing to get out of this mess? If you're a UW fan, not much. Administration at the school didn't have the courage to fire coach Tyrone Willingham after last season. That decision will have long-ranging repercussions for a program that hasn't posted a winning record or advanced to a bowl game since 2002.

Willingham's first class, which was small and compiled on short notice after Keith Gilbertson's firing, features just six players who will be redshirt seniors next year: defensive end Darrion Jones, kicker Ryan Perkins, offensive lineman Ben Ossai, linebacker Chris Stevens, defensive end Daniel Te'o-Nesheim and offensive lineman Morgan Rosborough.

Give Willingham a mulligan on that if you choose, but there's no explanation for his recruiting failures the following year. Despite his "Return of the Dawgs" pitch to recruits, he signed a modestly regarded class that Scout.com ranked 35th in the country. Among his 22 signings in 2006, just 13 players remain.

Those classes would've provided a challenge for any coach to win this season, but the decision to keep Willingham was worse. UW is 0-5 and likely will bring in the lowest-ranked class in the conference because everyone knows Willingham will be fired. And in a pointless attempt to save his position, Willingham has played 12 true freshmen this season. Now, the new UW coach is presented with a 2009 season where the Huskies again will be projected to finish ninth or 10th in the Pac-10, and a future that leaves him with an experienced group in his fourth year.

Contrast that with the situation at WSU. Former coach Bill Doba recruited poorly and progressively hit the junior-college ranks every year in an attempt to cobble together a decent team. It didn't happened after a Holiday Bowl win in 2003, and after a 5-7 record and 3-6 mark in conference last season, athletic director Jim Sterk decided to make a change.

The Cougars have featured little depth in recent years, but with the promise that he'll be given time, new coach Paul Wulff is starting to correct that by redshirting most of his first recruiting class.

It hasn't been easy as Doba left just three redshirt seniors. And the situation won't improve a lot next season when only five fifth-year players will be in the program.

So how does Wulff improve the depth situation? He signed five JC transfers and four are redshirting. That means defensive linemen Jessy Sanchez and Bernard Wolfgramm in addition to offensive lineman Zack Williams essentially fall into the 2006 class, which only has eight members left. The fourth JC signee, Alex Hoffman-Ellis, also is redshirting but has three years of eligibility remaining. Two transfers from the University of California — cornerback Brandon Jones and running back James Montgomery — also fall into the 2006 class in addition to JC defensive tackle Josh Luapo, who's supposed to enroll in January.

That would boost the '06 class to 14 members. Couple that with Doba's best class, which was 2007, and Wulff should have enough experience to compete for a bowl in 2010.

In the win-now world, that's not quick enough for many fans. But both UW and WSU partisans will have to be patient. After all, the fortunes of both programs aren't going to change overnight.