UW Difference Makers: DC Ed Donatell Aims to Revitalize Washington Defense

When UCLA's DeWayne Walker decided to stay on with UCLA after being passed up for the head coaching position, instead of becoming Washington's defensive coordinator, many Husky fans were disappointed.

Walker is a good coach with excellent recruiting ties in Southern California.  Those recruiting ties made him even more valuable to a Northwest school.

I personally always thought of Walker as more of a flavor of the month type of guy, so when he passed on Washington I wasn't too upset.  It's no knock on Walker, but it wasn't like he was the only guy in the country who could coach a defense.

However, when the Huskies hired Ed Donatell, I really got excited.  What Ed brings to the program is a lot of experience from the NFL, plus the type of bloodlines we like: He started his career at Washington under Don James, spent time with Keith Gilbertson at Idaho, and was the DC for the Atlanta Falcons under Jim Mora Jr.

Ed has spent 12 of the last 13 seasons as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator in the National Football League and has coached 12 players who have earned Pro Bowl recognition.  Last season he was a special assistant with the New York Jets.  He served as defensive coordinator from 2004-06 for the Atlanta Falcons.

Prior to his time in Atlanta, he served four seasons as Green Bay's defensive coordinator under Mike Sherman.  During his stint in Green Bay, Donatell's defense led the NFL with 144 takeaways, an average of 36 a year, and led the league with 2.25 forced turnovers per game.

Even though his defense hasn't played a down yet, he has fans and players excited.  Practices this spring indicated that he was capable of providing the most maligned defense in Husky history with a complete 180-degree turnaround.

Part of that turnaround will come from being in the right place at the right time.  Kent Baer never had the tools at his disposal that Donatell will have this season in the defensive backfield.

To be fair to Baer, he had around six guys each season he could count on over the past three years.  Donatell, on the other hand, will have plenty of depth, talent, and experience back there in 2008.

Washington has a proud defensive tradition that goes back to the days of Jim Owens.  Win or lose, when you played the Huskies, you were going to hurt the next week.  In fact, teams often lost the week after Washington softened them up.

For some reason that tradition began to fade under Rick Neuheisel, and under Ty Willingham it became non-existent.

Husky fans love an attacking defense, and Donatell promises to return that attacking tradition to the football field in 2008.  You aren't going to recognize these guys this season.  No more lining up 10 yards off the line of scrimmage.  This defense is going to take its chances and start playing aggressively to win, rather than passively not to lose.

Ed Donatell is going to be the biggest Husky difference maker in 2008 if he can turn around a defense that ranked 94th nationally last year in scoring defense (giving up 31-plus points per game), 99th in pass defense (261-plus yards per game and 27 touchdowns) and pass efficiency defense, and 102nd in total defense.