Washington Football Culture Change—"Death March" Style

You really have to look back to the mid 1950s to find a low ebb that compares to the Washington Husky football program in 2008. Washington was on the verge of becoming a football powerhouse in the early 1950s when they made the mistake of hiring a popular local high school football coach by the name of Johnny Cherberg.

Cherberg had become a local legend at Queen Anne HS but he was way over his head when he assumed the reigns at Washington. Almost immediately he lost the control and faith of his team. By his second year the program descended into a state of anarchy and he was fired. On the way out the door he named names and let it be known that there was a slush fund at Washington they used to buy players.

It wasn't a big secret back then because every program in the country operated in the same manner. However when it became public Washington was slapped with a program wide probation and the old Pacific Coast Conference was dissolved in it's wake because most of the teams in the conference were guilty of the same thing.

The powers that be at Washington decided to hire a big national name to heal the program and went after Alabama's Bear Bryant and Oklahoma's Bud Wilkinson. Both coaches had no interest but suggested the Huskies go after Mississippi State's Darryl Royal who responded with a 5-5 record during his first and only season before taking his dream job at Texas en route the the hall of fame.

UW went back to the same coaching well again the next season and came up with a 29 year old assistant coach named Jim Owens who had cut his teeth as an All American end for Wilkinson at Oklahoma and as a young assistant under Bear Bryant at Kentucky and Texas A&M.

When Owens arrived nobody had a lot of confidence in him figuring he would be here only a few years till he failed or moved on to a more lucrative position. Owens who was hired over a couple of young guys named Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi ended up going to three Rose Bowls in his first six seasons and staying on the job for 17 years.

What Owens did when he arrived in Seattle was reminiscent of his days with Bryant and the "Junction Boys" at Texas A&M. He introduced what was called the "Death March" after it became apparent that respect for the young coach was not going the way he hoped.

After one particularly bad practice, one week before the opener with the Colorado Buffaloes, Owens led his players out of Husky Stadium and onto the practice field after practice. It was obvious that Owens had seen enough.

Owens lined them up on the goal line and they began running in 15-yard bursts. They'd line up in a three-point stance, run until Owens blew the whistle, and line up in a three-point stance again; they ran from one end of the field to the other and back again. Then up and back again. 

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?