Breaking: Washington Huskies Head Coach Mike Hopkins Announce His Resignation From Huskies and Further Explain His Decision

Washington Huskies Head Coach Mike Hopkins Announce His Resignation From Huskies and Further Explain His Decision

Over the course of 110 football seasons, the University of Washington has hired 18 different athletic directors. Oddly, though, with Troy Dannen’s abrupt resignation after just five months on the job, the school is presently without an athletic director.

Mike Lude, the Huskies’ longest-serving AD, passed away just five days ago. He held the position for 15 years before being fired by school president William Gerberding, mostly due to the success and growth of football being too much for the upper-campus administrator to manage.

In 1991, Lude was succeeded by Barbara Hedges, the first woman to hold the role in Montlake history, since he was unable to personally participate in the UW’s subsequent run of undefeated games and co-national championships.

But several fans were surprised by Hedges’ hiring, primarily because she was hired to lead the event after serving as associate athletic director at USC.

For many of the contributors, it did seem strange to have a Trojan leading Huskies.

Thirty years later, the University of Washington sent Jennifer Cohen, a woman, to lead the USC sports department in Los Angeles.

Probably the most contentious Husky AD was Harvey Cassill, who disregarded his donors’ careless use of an illegal slush fund to pay the players. Cassill didn’t last long in his role when former coach John Cherberg made the money pool public.

Some former Husky ADs have had great success; Joe Kearney, for example, ran the athletic departments at Michigan State and Arizona State before going on to become the WAC commissioner for 14 seasons.