Dejon Hush Fired at University of Washington

[Chris Long]

2004 Record 6-10
2005 Record 10-4

[camthrax]

I heard they cancelled their Irvine trip too... I wonder what happened.

[CATLAX MAN]

There used to be an explanation on this forum that has since disappeared. The explanation seemed to be related partially to a money issue & the level of committment that the players wanted to expend. I am just reiterating what I remember from the original post, so don't take this as fact.

[DontSpillDaBeansWish]

2004 Record 6-10
2005 Record 10-4

Number of Players:
2004: 30
2005: 22
2006: 11 at the time of occurence

Don't get me wrong. I played for Dejon, Jack, and you, Chris, for more than a year. I think Dejon is a great coach. He has an immense knowledge about the game and on top of being a great coach, he is also improving year by year. There is no denying that he knows what he is doing.

That said, something wasn't working within our program, and we needed a big change. 11 players does not constitute a team. We did everything in our ability to retain players. Even though it may reflect badly upon the program, many people were not willing to devote the time that was being required. I was one of the eleven players that was showing up to every practice.

The last thing we wanted to do was "fire" a coach, especially one of Coach Hush's caliber. Sadly, we only had two decisions left. One was to fold as a program, and another was to do what we could to try to get the program back on its feet. I reiterate that it shows poor character to those that did not come out due to whatever reason beforehand. Out of the returning players left that were forced to make a decision, not one was happy about the "firing" of Dejon. After all, the players that were left were the ones that had not quit.

With the Irvine trip: Many people were not willing to pay $1500 to play a total of 14 games, and sadly we needed to cut costs to entice additional players to come out. Cutting this trip was one way to reduce costs ~600 per person.

I will leave it at that. I still believe coach Hush as well as his staff to be great coaches and great leaders, and give him my best wishes. I think he would be a great fit for a lot of programs. I thank coach Hush, Visco, and Long for your guys' time and effort devoted to this program, and hope that there exists no hard feelings.

-Ozan

P.S. I do not know what happened to the other thread, my guess is that the discussion began to heat up there. I never had a chance to read that one.

[Chris Long]

Please don't thank me for anything.

Receiving thanks at this point is like receiving height compliments from a midget.

Good luck in 2006.

[CyLaxKeeper00]

...in short, the huskies reorganized.

[PNWLaxer]

I am starting to think this thread will soon find itself along side the other thread regarding this topic.

[Kyle Berggren]

I hope not. I didn't erase the previous thread, but this can be the information source for people to contact both sides if they have any questions. We obviously have 2 sides to the split, and now 2 people to contact regarding it.

[DontSpillDaBeansWish]

Good luck in 2006.

To you as well.

[primetime21]

it sucks to hear that a successful program like uw is going through a major rebuilding season(s). i am happy to hear that they are not folding and giving up. that says a lot about the school, program, and people willing to work together and see a team and program that made it to the final four a year ago not just up and disappear. an earlier post had the numbers of players over the last few years. i guess my question is who is running the program and will you guys pull enough player back to compete this season?

when we were in the A division we always thought of UW as a rivalry over the past three seasons we have had some good games. as a league we should do our best to see that our league gains a reputation for great teams and good competition. UW is a team that in the past has done that for us, and up until now was looking to be a contender in the upper A division. i hope this does not sideline UW for to long, after all we are scheduled to play the second week of the season, but on the topic i hope UW pull throughs, we can't have two straight years in the league of teams folding and disappearing.

[DontSpillDaBeansWish]

I believe the drop in dues attracted a lot of players. We have about 25 core guys showing up to every practice. With a little bit of luck here and there, I think our team has the potential to again be a successful program this year.

[NKlaxguy]

This is the aspect of 'virtual varsity' that has always intrigued me...when conflict arises between coaches and the officers who essentially run the team, i.e. the FSU situation. My question is was Mr. Hush presented with the option to stay onboard for the 'revised' season with lower dues and less games? Or did he refuse to sway from the original game plan and that is where conflict resulted.

Dave

[John Paul]

You hit it on the head - which is why I believe we should avoid the virtual varsity label except in the very rare cases at our level where the coach actually does the run the team with no student officers. To me, that's the biggest difference between varsity and club - much bigger than how much a team practices or how they look and how they travel.

I've been watching this with interest as Dejon is a Michigan grad and a friend, so I certainly wish him the best. However, I do know that UW has already found an outstanding coach to take over.

[Kyle Berggren]

For those that are wondering, Matt Cone is taking over the coaching duties.

[ZagGrad]

Cone?! Hahaha...awesome! He's a great guy. I hope he does well with the team, but not too well...