In preparation for an upcoming book I’m writing about coaching, I study coaching styles, coaching techniques, and coaching philosophies.

Studying those the last two season for UW under Kalen DeBoer, last season I wrote several articles about the how and the why Washington would be wildly successful.

The first thing I noticed was over the summer was when receiver Jalen McMillan appeared on a Pro Football Focus podcast.

On the show he said that Washington’s offense was going to be unstoppable, and the best in the country.

I cringed.

Then I recognized the beauty in his words.

Most players would be steered away from making such an outlandish comment.  Something like that has a way of making into into bulletin boards, giving opponents some extra juice to get after a team.

Plus, it could put undue external pressure on the team.

However, and here’s what made his words so alluring, his proclamation had the exact opposite effect.

He created an internal expectation for the team.  The pressure from within matched the outside pressure, making it so that the load was equal on both sides of the bubble and the tank didn’t implode on the Huskies.

It also made sure that he and his teammates brought their “A-Game” every week because with such a big target on their backs they were going to be taking everyone’s best shot.

To some they may feel that he spoke it into existence, but he was relaying what Kalen DeBoer had been preaching to the team from Day 1.

Those words were possible because DeBoer’s first task was to let the team he inherited know that he would take care of them.

In speaking with Nick Saban for the Don James Documentary, he intimated that players won’t care what a coach has to say until they know the coach cares about the player.

“My relationship with the coaching staff was definitely the biggest factor,” new Washington commit Julian McMahan said of the deciding factor for his decision to select UW.

That’s been the theme song played time and time again by the prospects from either the high school or Transfer Portal ranks.

As I say in my upcoming book:

”Who is the coach that you would run through a brick wall for—the coach who can yell and scream the loudest or the coach that can reach in and grab you by the heart?”.

Judging from the words of McMahan and so many others tell me that Fisch and Co. are likely already onto Step 2 or beyond.

If the current players love the new staff the way the two dozen or so prospects do Washington will be just fine.