In the two posts below, you can read (and read and read) much of what UW president Mark Emmert and new UW athletic director Scott Woodward said Wednesday as the immediate fate of Huskies athletic was passed to Woodward.

For those wanting more of a skimmers' version, here are five things that stuck with me after a day of hearing it all and writing on quite a bit of it.

1.) Emmert and Woodward have seen big-time college football up close and personal in the heart of the Southeastern Conference -- LSU, not Vanderbilt. Unless events prove otherwise, the default assumption should probably be that they know what they're doing.

2.) I believe them when they say they do not yet know what will happen with this coaching staff at the end of the season. It seems that they would very much like Willingham to succeed; but absent success, they seem ready to make a move.

3.) Something will happen in December. Willingham will get a new contract, or Woodward will get a new coach; but it seems unlikely Woodward will send Willingham into the fifth-year of a five-year contract as a potential lame duck.

4.) The days of the 2007 and 2008 schedules will slowly phase out. The next few schedules are mostly set, but eventually teams like Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Nebraska will be the exceptions in out-of-conference schedules that will also include Indianas and Idahos.

5.) They seem to believe the Husky Stadium renovation will get done. And Woodward's background in the big leagues of Louisiana politics shouldn't be underestimated.

Here are some of the most interesting things I heard today from new UW athletic director Scott Woodward:

Is he happy about the football program?
No, I’m not happy. Nor is coach Willingham, nor are the student athletes who participate in football. No one’s happy. I go out to practice every single day and I’m in the training room every single day and I’m in the study hall and I’m in the training table every single day. And I see these kids and I look in their eyes, they’re not happy, but they’re working hard, they’re nowhere near quitting, and they’re going to give it their best. This is early in the season and it’s premature to talk about anything but supporting these Huskies and supporting them as best as we can.

On his relationship with Willingham:
Very good. Coach Willingham is a fabulous person and a fabulous coach. I’ve spent an enormous amount of time with the football program. We’ve put a lot of resources both financial and personnel into football, and fixing football was one of the top priorities that I’ve had coming in here, and it will continue to be.

Follow-up on why he believes Willingham is a fabulous coach:
I'll judge that at the end of the season and hope that we get our wins that we think we can because we're doing a lot of good things and you just have that corner to turn, and it's hard to do, and I'm optimistic that corner will be turned.

His philosophy about changing coaches in mid-season:
It’s still to be evaluated at the right time, and now’s the right time in my opinion. But I do have a philosophy that you judge a body of work at the end of the season, and that’s how we’ll do it.

Whether he must either give Willingham a new contract or hire a new coach after this season:
I haven't definitely decided that, but I would think that the two scenarios you laid out would be the scenarios we go down.

On whether football attendance will figure in on his decision:
It'll be in the calculus, but not mega. Sure, it's in the calculus. … I think if you watch the trends of attendance we hit a bottom and we're coming out of that trough. But there's no doubt about it, we have to put a better product on the field and our fans have to feel good about it. Like I've said, our coaches and our student athletes are working their tails off and they're doing everything they can to get those so-far elusive wins.

The current status of the stadium renovation project:
We’re asking two things. What we’re guessing right now is a $300 million project. We’re going to ask the state for the tourism taxes, which we pay heavily into with our visiting teams and their fans, the hotel-motel tax, restaurant tax, and rental car tax. We’re going to ask to be a part of that mix when it’s decided in Olympia and is take to King County. So that’s half of where we’re seeking funding. And of that half, the only thing that we’re going to ask for is going to be seismic, health and safety, ADA and things that really are the basis of this whole facility which is a safe facility. The second part will be a combination of current seat donor increases, philanthropic asks and I’m going to see how much we can carve out of our department to service some debt of that other $150 million dollars. So it’ll be a 50-50 split and it’ll be the same thing that we’ve been preaching for a long time now.

On reconnecting with unhappy football fans:
Win some ball games. That's the important thing. Like I said in the press conference, your warts show when you're losing and when you're winning they go away, kind of. We have to win some ball games, that's crucial.

On if he thinks there is dissatisfaction beyond mere losing:
I don't. I think that's the paramount issue. There may be some disconnect in some pocket areas and we'll try to figure what those are. But we're doing everything that we can to make it a great fan experience, our people are well-behaved and they support this place. I mean, look at our record over the past three or four years: It's abysmal. And look at the crowd that we have on a beautiful day in September and they're still there supporting these kids. Is there going to be a lot of chirping from a lot of disgruntled fans who want instant results? Heck yeah, I understand that, I get that. They can complain all they want because they have a right to.

On his football scheduling philosophy:
My philosophy is, I kind of like the A-B-C schedule of non-conference games. You schedule a good, competitive BCS school, and then kind of a lower-tier BCS school as your B, and then a non-BCS school as your C competition.

On media relations:
I know y'all have a job to do. I try to be as transparent as I can be and tell you what I can tell you. I know that you have a job to do and Richard and I are going to try to make it as easy as possible. But know my philosophy on coach Willingham: He's the COO of college football. I'm going to let him do things he likes to do. I'm going to tell you that he and I – just like my boss – we have disagreements, we handle them within those four walls and we come out together on them. … The West Coast is different. Most people open up their practices. Everywhere (else) I've been and everywhere I've ever noticed, they lock them down. … They know people are always watching and spying and they get very paranoid about it and rightfully so. So I have sympathy for it. But I also know that you guys help us promote our program and that you have a readership that wants to know what's going on here. So my philosophy is I love Pete Carroll and what he does. It's great, It's awesome. I like that. But I also know that championship football sometimes needs a competitive edge, and that (Nick) Saban philosophy of closing it down and locking it down has its merits.

Here are a few of the most interesting things I heard from UW president Mark Emmert as he named Scott Woodward athletic director:

On the selection
For me, when all was said and done, this was actually a very easy choice. There were many people that would like to have this job. There is no question that we have our challenges in facilities and a variety of other areas, but the fact remains that this is one of the great programs in the country and I know Scott is excited to take it on.

On the football program
Obviously we don’t have as many wins in the football program as anybody would like, but the fact remains that the University of Washington, when you look at athletic programs around the country, is a spectacular program and a great opportunity for anyone. I didn’t talk to anybody who was scared by all of that. I know that that’s been some of the chatter in the media, but frankly that doesn’t make any sense. We’ve got a great solid budget, we’ve got a fabulous tradition in all of our sports, we got, while we have facilities that need work, they’re not unimaginable problems to get fixed. This is a great opportunity. So I didn’t hear from anyone that, ‘No, I don’t want to go to the University of Washington.’ So I think that can be easily dismissed, though there will always be people speculating on that.

On how he and Woodward will agree on the biggest athletics department decisions:
Just like I do with all the other administrators in my cabinet when there are decisions that need to be made that are large policy decisions that have some significant impact on the future of a program or a major personnel change, then I would expect, and I know from years of working with Scott, I would be involved in that decision, just as I do with my other people. Day to day affairs, running the operation and the tactical rather than the strategic issues, that’s entirely up to Scott. This is his department, not mine.

On how he and Woodward met: I came across the name in my first months at LSU. I got down there and much to my amazement found they didn't have a state relations guy. So I started asking legislators and political leaders who they would suggest, and both Republicans and Democrats, Senators and representatives and everybody I asked said, 'The guy you want is Scott Woodward.' Because he had this great reputation for fairness and openness and a great love of the university. I talked to several other people, but when I interviewed Scott I realized that he was the guy, and I hired him. I hired him first to work in state relations and then expanded his portfolio over the four and a half years we were together there. And then when I came up here I brought him with me to work on those same kinds of issues.

Football coach Tyrone Willingham attended today's press conference announcing that Scott Woodward as the school's new athletic director. However, Willingham left before we could get his reaction to the news.

The school just put out this statement from Willingham:

“It is exciting to now have a leader and a direction for our department. Scott’s passion for football is clearly evident but his dedication extends to all our athletic teams. He has experience with some outstanding programs, which have benefited from his leadership and high level of expectation. Our time together has been positive and I look forward to continuing to work with him.”

Scott Woodward, who has served as UW's interim athletic director since January, was named to the full-time job this morning. Here is the official announcement from UW.

University president Mark Emmert made the announcement at an 11 a.m. press conference on campus.

In that press conference, Woodward said that the football program "is obviously struggling mightily." And he said the solution for declining attendance and increasing dissatisfaction with the program is to win more football games.

He said a "very good" relationship with coach Tyrone Willingham, and called Willingham a "fabulous" coach.

However, Woodward said he will re-assess the coaching situation at the end of the year. And he said it is most likely that he will either extend Willingham's contract or terminate it -- rather than sending Willingham into the fifth year of a five-year contract.

Woodward also said that he thinks the ideal UW football schedule would follow the A-B-C tiers of out-of-conference opponents: one big-name BCS school, a lower-level BCS school, and a non-BCS school.

The A.D. job had been open since January, when Todd Turner left the job under pressure.

Top chores awaiting Woodward include the renovation of Husky Stadium and deciding on the future of football coach Tyrone Willingham, who is 0-3 in this, the fourth season of his five-year contract.

Woodward has been UW's vice president of external affairs since February 2006, and seems to have the full confidence of Emmert. In fact, the No. 1 issue working against him for the AD job was Emmert's eagerness to keep him in the external affairs job.

Woodward has admitted his own interest in the AD's job for months, but has always stated that he will serve however Emmert wants.

Emmert said he conducted an extensive AD search, interviewed about a dozen people and passed along about a half-dozen of those names to his AD search committee. However, in the end he decided Woodward was the right man after all.

The both men came to UW from LSU, where they experienced the Tigers' national championship under Nick Saban, who Emmert is credited with hiring.

Woodward also has a history of fund-raising and working with the state governments -- two credentials that should come in handy with the Husky Stadium renovation.

He retains his taste for Louisiana food, and for successful football programs that can drive success in other sports. He hinted that plans for a new UW baseball park will be announced soon.

As acting AD he has stated his preference for a more open program than Willingham traditionally runs, however he also said he places more value on allowing the coach to run the program in his own way ... and to live or die the consequences. He repeated that today.

UW's new and long-awaited athletic director will be named at 11 a.m. this morning during a press conference called by university president Mark Emmert. The press conference will be streamed live on Gohuskies.com.

The job has been open since January, when Todd Turner left the job under pressure.

Scott Woodward has served as interim athletic director since that time. Woodward is one of the few known candidates for the full-time job.

Top chores awaiting the A.D. include the renovation of Husky Stadium and deciding on the future of football coach Tyrone Willingham, who is 0-3 in this, the fourth season of his five-year contract.

Multiple sources are reporting that delays incoming freshman defensive lineman Craig Noble has gotten a qualifying score in California's high school graduation test. This opens the door to his arrival on campus later this week.

"I talked to Coach Willingham last night and so now we're just waiting to process the rest of the paperwork, the transcripts and after that's done I'll be ready to go", Noble told Realdawg.com.

Noble is a highly regarded 6-3, 300-pounder from Taft High School in Los Angeles. He said he doesn't know his playing status, but he seems likely to redshirt for at least three reasons: 1.) The Huskies already are a quarter of the way through the season, 2.) the defensive line isn't an easy place to make the jump from high school to Pac-10, and 3.) Washington already has three true freshmen playing on a defensive line that is weak on production but strong on numbers.

UW coaches aren't available to the media today, due to the bye-week schedule. However, we will hear from coach Tyrone Willingham tomorrow and likely get some clarification.