Seattle Sportsnet

With news breaking today that Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel is set to sign a lucrative contract extension to remain in Columbia, one possible replacement for Tyrone Willingham can be crossed off the list of available candidates. Husky AD Scott Woodward can throw Pinkel on the backburner along with Jim Mora, Jr. for now, and should start taking a hard look at currently unemployed Lane Kiffin.

Kiffin, the embattled ex-head coach of the Oakland Raiders and recent divorcee of Al Davis, has already expressed interest in the Husky vacancy…along with every other available collegiate head post. Needless to say, Kiffin is a big name that will attract attention wherever he ends up. Beyond being a big name, Kiffin has a number of attributes that should keep him on speed-dial in Woodward’s phone.

One, Kiffin is a West Coast guy with close connections to the Pac-10. Prior to taking the Oakland job, Kiffin was the offensive coordinator at USC, where he called the plays for one of the premiere offenses in college football. Additionally, Kiffin was a superb recruiter, inking letters from the likes of LenDale White, among plenty of others. He has a history of bringing in five-star players, as well as pitching to prep prospects in the Pac-10 corridor.

Two, Kiffin is young. Just 33 years of age, Kiffin’s youth would play two-fold as a college head coach: 1) He could be counted on to provide long-term stability to a program in need of it and 2) his closeness in age to many of the players he’d be recruiting would be more attractive for many kids than playing for an older guy.

Three, Kiffin runs a pro-style offensive system. While many Husky fans want to see a coach running the spread-option to come to Montlake, the transition from any other offense to the spread-option is one that takes time. As exemplified by Rich Rodriguez at Michigan, installing a new system isn’t always easy. And while Dawg fans would like to imagine that they’re patient enough to wait for such a system to develop, the truth of the matter is that a bowl appearance is an expectation within the next two years (i.e. before Jake Locker A.D.). Experiencing a major overhaul to the gameplan, then, should make little sense to the Montlake faithful.

Of course, there are a number of other candidates who will be interviewed for the job (including Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Haywood, no less), but none seems to make as much sense to us here at SSN as Lane Kiffin, the future of Husky football.

The Husky Men’s Basketball team came back from a 26-25 halftime deficit to crush Florida International 74-51 last night at Hec Ed. In doing so, the Huskies improved their record to 2-1 on the season, one game over .500. The last time one of our major Seattle sports franchises was over .500 was way back on April 22, when the Mariners were 11-10. Almost seven months to the day, which has to be some sort of record for a major U.S. city.

It was a tale of two halves for the Dawgs, who shot only 22% from the field in the first frame against a tough FIU zone. The Huskies came out firing in the second half, led by Justin Dentmon, who scored seven points before the first media timeout. They finished the half shooting 66% and outscored the Panthers 49-25. Dentmon finished with 21 points, including 75% (3-4) from beyond the arc. Isaiah Thomas added 19, and the backcourt tandem took the reins as Jon Brockman had an off-night, finishing with just eight points.

The final half of our Top 11 villains poll produced a close matchup between Husky football coach Ty Willingham and former Sonics owner Howard Schultz. Schultz pulled out a one-vote victory with 36% of the vote, while Ty managed 35%.

Which of these five Seattle sports villains do you despise most? Final results:

Howard Schultz: 36% (21 votes)
Ty Willingham: 35% (20 votes)
Bobby Ayala: 14% (8 votes)
Ken Behring: 8% (5 votes)
Rick Neuheisel: 5% (3 votes)