Neither athletic director Scott Woodward nor president Mark Emmert would name any names under consideration to replace Tyrone Willingham as head football coach after this season.

But they suggested that the media would probably step in to fill that void, and they were right.

When these kinds of jobs pop open, names seem to come from four primary ares: Guys with ties to the area, successful major college coaches who might be lured from their current jobs, assistants who might be ready to step up, and successful guys from mid-major programs who might be ready to step up.

The list below represents all those kinds of guys:

JIM MORA
Seahawks assistant and tabbed to take over for Mike Holmgren next season. But he’s a former Husky, he infamously expressed interest in the job while head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, and he seems the favorite of current UW fans -- or at least those with computer access.

LANE KIFFIN
Former USC offensive coordinator who left for the NFL. He was fired this season by the Raiders, but that’s a tough job. And Pete Carroll stands forever as proof that NFL mortals can become college deities. And he's interested.

GARY PINKEL
Former UW assistant under Don James who has turned Missouri into a national power. He’s under contract there through 2012, but you know contracts.

DAVE CHRISTENSEN
Even if they couldn’t get Pinkle they would have a pretty good chance of luring his offensive coordinator, an Everett native who played at UW in the early 1980s.

WILL MUSCHAMP
Defensive coordinator at No. 1-ranked Texas. He was defensive coordinator for national-champion LSU team when UW president Mark Emmert and AD Scott Woodward were there.

CHIP KELLY
Oregon offensive coordinator. There's no questioning his offense, and now has growing familiarity to the Northwest and the Pac-10.

DEWAYNE WALKER
UCLA defensive coordinator, Willingham wanted badly to bring him up to Seattle this season.

CHRIS PETERSEN
Ongoing success at Boise State. He hasn’t shown much indication that he wants to move, but UW could throw lots of money at him and perhaps even offer to paint the field blue.

PAT HILL
Before there was Chris Petersen, there was Pat Hill with his ongoing success at Fresno State. He’s had a lot of success down there, and lots of folks wonder what he might do with Pac-10 resources and recruiting to a place like Seattle instead of Fresno.

SKIP HOLTZ
He was a hot choice for about 45 seconds when East Carolina broke off to its fast start this season. Lately, not so much.

TODD GRAHAM
The new Holtz, but based on his current success at Tulsa.

GARY PATTERSON
The new Holtz, or is it the new Graham?, but based on his current success at TCU.

JEFF TEDFORD
Under contract at Cal through 2013 and unlikely to leave now that the university finally seems to be making good on its long-delayed promise to improve facilities. Still, he might be interested in moving to a campus where football is king.

MIKE RILEY
Oregon State coach does more with less than anyone in the Pac-10. But he left Corvallis once and lived to regret it. He’s not likely to bolt a second time.

MIKE TICE
Former Seattle Seahawk tight end went on to coach the Minnesota Vikings. He was interested in the job last time and probably would be again.

MIKE LEACH
Another guy named Mike, and this one is having lots of success while scoring lots of points at Texas Tech.

Tyrone Willingham is going on with his 4:30 coaches show on KJR, 950-AM.

UW president Mark Emmert said that the decision to replace football coach Tyrone WIllingham was mostly made after the loss to Oregon State. Only the details and decisions were left after that, although he admits that Saturday's loss to Notre Dame didn't help things.

Emmert said he was surprised by the team's troubles this season -- especially on offense. He said he doesn't necessarily expect the new coach to get the Huskies to the Rose Bowl next season, but that he believes there is good young talent on the roster.

Emmert said he doesn't have a particular name or even handful of names in mind, but that this will allow the school to begin looking for that next coach immediately without going behind anyone's back.

He said he would be open to someone with head coaching experience or a coordinator, someone from college or the NFL ... although he noted that obviously someone with college head coach experience is easiest to judge.
He wouldn't "speculate" about Seahawks assistant Jim Mora, a popular name among UW fans.

"Change can be a good thing or a bad thing," quarterback Jake Locker said of the news today that coach Tyrone Willingham will leave the UW football team at the end of this season.

Locker said it is "tough" to see this happen to the coach and staff that recruited him to UW. And he said he would like to put in word to athletic director Scott Woodward in favor of retaining offensive coordinator Tim Lappano.

However, he said this is an "important time" for the football team to hang together over the next five games, starting Saturday at USC.

He said the coaching change won't affect his eventual decision of whether to stay at UW through his senior season.

Washington coach Tyrone Willingham says he will step down at the end of the 2008 season at his weekly press conference today.

Here is his opening statement:

"I’ll make a statement regarding my future at the University of Washington. Scott Woodward and I have met and we have come to a decision that at the end of the 2008 football season, they will move in another direction with the head football coach at this university. It is my desire to complete and finish the football season and do that in the manner that I have done it: Unwavering in my approach and commitment to our young men and to the goals we have set for them: that they should be championship player, championship students, championship persons and they should have fun in the matter that is reflective in the values of this program and the university community. I’m hoping that this announcement will allow the Husky family to come together and eliminate all the speculation and all the negativity that has surrounded the program and (allow) all these young men can do the things necessary to be successful both on and off the football field.

The Huskies are 0-7 after Saturday's 33-7 loss to Notre Dame. Willingham's record is 11-32 in his four seasons at UW.

Athletic director Scott Woodward said the announcement ends speculation of what is going to happen with Willingham, who had a year remaining on his contract.

"It became quite obviously that the performance on the football field wasn’t up to what we talked about at the beginning of the season and previous to the season and it became more obvious as time went on," Woodward said in explaining his decision to make the move -- and the announcement -- now.

Washington currently has a nine-game losing streak dating back to last season, tied with North Texas for the longest in the country.

A few other highlights from the press conference:

*Woodward apparently raised the issue with Willingham on Sunday. Willingham didn't want to characterize the talks today, however, Woodward said that Willingham is always professional.

*Woodward said the search for a new coach will begin immediately and he wouldn't rule out that a coach could be named before this season ends.

*Woodward had said that he didn't plan to make a move until after the season. However, he said today that his primary concern was leaving the players "orphaned" without their head coach. That issue doesn't apply now, since Willingham will stay on. For his part, Willingham said he is glad that he will be allowed to say. He also said that he doesn't think his leadership will be any more compromised as an official lame duck than it had been as a speculative lame duck.

* Willingham said he wouldn't rule out anything with regard to his future, including returning as a college football head coach. He said he expects his staff to be professional in continuing to coach the team while looking after their own employment situations.

*Things happened quickly enough where Willingham did not have enough time to tell his team that this announcement was about to be made. He saw quarterback Ronnie Fouch just before the public announcement, and informed him. Fouch said he and most of the team had supported Willingham and that he believes the team will continue to play hard for him.

* Both Willingham and Woodward said they hope that by making the announcement now, it will ease the constant speculation that had hung over the team as each loss has piled up. Both also said they hope this will help offer some clarity to recruits. Willingham said the announcement might open minds that had closed.

*University president Mark Emmert was not part of today's announcement. However, he said he will be available to answer questions from individual members of the media.

In the wake of UW's loss to Notre Dame on Saturday, no offensive or special teams players were honored as players of the week.

However, linebacker Mason Foster was honored for his work on defense and fullback Austin Sylvester, defensive tackle Jovon O’Connor and safety Greg Walker were honored for work on the scout teams.

Foster, a sophomore from Seaside, Calif., is UW's top tackler this season, led both teams with 10 total tackles.

Meanwhile, FSN has picked up the Huskies next home game -- Arizona State's visit on Nov. 8. A 4 p.m. kickoff has been set.

Finally -- for now -- true freshman defensive tackle Senio Kelemete isn't listed on the depth chart for Saturday's game at USC, and indication that the knee injury he suffered during pregame warmups before the Notre Dame game is serious. Johnie Kirton is listed as the starter.

We're scheduled to hear from Coach Willingham at noon. I'll be back with any news after that.