Over the past few years it’s been no secret that Jimmy Lake was one of the hottest commodities in the country; in fact, if he was a recruit he would have been a five star prospect.
Why?
We could go over all of his coaching and recruiting attributes, and we’ll get to that — but also just look at this guy: His smile is contagious.
In conversation it’s easy to see how driven he is, but he also has a calming affect that puts you at ease and makes you feel like you’re talking to an old friend.
There is nothing phony or contrived about the personality of Jimmy Lake.
His players love him, and he is highly respected by all of his co-workers on the Washington staff — and sometimes in college football there can be ego clashes.
Case in point: After the 2017 season Jimmy Lake was offered the defensive coordinator job at Alabama, also he’d been offered a job at Florida State and a head coaching job at California.
And that was when he was still the defensive back coach.
But the respect he had earned from his peers on Chris Petersen’s staff, Pete Kwiatkowski basically stepped aside so that Lake could move into the position of defensive coordinator (play-calling) at Washington.
That kind of sacrifice is a rarity in the business of coaching.
That, in itself, speaks volumes of how much Lake is respected and well-liked.
Personally, I’ve been covering recruiting for 20 years — and Washington has seen its share of excellent recruiters: Rick Neuheisel, Tosh Lupoi, Demetrice Martin…but Jimmy Lake is arguably one of the best I’ve seen.
What makes Lake special is his love for the game, his passion for his players, and his downright dogged competitiveness.
After this last weekend of official visits, the same adjectives came up over and over again when asking recruits what they thought of Lake: Aggressive. Competitive. Energetic.
We, in the media, do get to know these coaches quite well the longer they stay on staff — and they are busy and in grind-mode 24/7, but Jimmy Lake always is willing to give those few minutes if the media requests it. He truly loves what he’s doing.
On several occasions the past few years, Lake has said straight up that he truly believes Washington can win a national title, and during the press conference (when he was introduced) he talked about knowing Coach Petersen’s “secret sauce.”
After working alongside Petersen for seven years, there’s no question that Lake didn’t soak up like a sponge everything Petersen was doing in his system, as a recruiter, a game-planner, a detailer, and guy who oversees 85-plus young people on a daily basis.
“I can’t think of someone better than Jimmy to take over this program,” Petersen said when he passed the baton to Lake, “His energy and ability to relate to our players is unmatched. Jimmy is a great teacher of the game and his track record of developing young men both on and off the field speaks for itself. He is ready to take this step and I have full confidence that he will continue to build on the foundation that has been set here and he will elevate the program to new heights.”
Over the weekend I spoke to a higher tier booster at Washington — he had attended some gatherings held by the Tyee Club. I asked what the general consensus was among the booster club about Lake.
I won’t name names, but this individual told me that the overall verdict is that Jimmy Lake is a “breath of fresh air”.
Not because Chris Petersen was not a great head coach anymore, but because there was a sense that Petersen was burned out and had lost a little bit of fire the past year.
No one loved Coach Petersen (aside from his players and family) more than the UW booster club members. But they also now love him and respect his decision to step down and work on himself.
That’s a hard thing to do and a pride-swallowing move for a man who’s won two Bear Bryant awards and sits among the list of the most winningnest coaches in college football of the modern era.
So the idea that Lake’s appointment was a “breath of fresh air” makes sense.
So now, where is Washington Football at?
The cupboard definitely isn’t bare. In fact, West Coast Football recently put out a list of schools who had the most four or five star commits over the past four years (2017-2020 using 247 Composite).
Washington topped the list with 43 (USC was second and Oregon third).
Here’s the entire list:
1. Washington – 43
2. USC – 39
3. Oregon – 37
4. Stanford – 29
5. UCLA – 18
6. ASU – 15
7. Utah – 9
8. Colorado – 7
9. Cal – 4
10. WSU – 3
11. OSU – 2
11. Arizona – 2
What does this mean, exactly?
It means you’ll start seeing an uptick in the amount of four-star players in starting positions on gameday.
Right now the 2020 class is ranked 14th in the country and atop the Pac-12. What Jimmy Lake learned from Chris Petersen, in addition the Lake’s own energy, passion and drive, there’s no doubt that Washington will be competing for the Pac-12 championship every year.
And if that’s what’s on Lake’s agenda, don’t bet against him.
As Coach Petersen said: He couldn’t leave the program in better hands than in the hands of Jimmy Lake.
And again, as someone who’s been covering Husky Football for 20 years, I can’t think of a better coach to take over the reins. It wasn’t handed to Lake — he earned every bit of it. And I’m glad to be covering the ride.
No one will out work this guy — no one.
Not bad for a kid from Spokane.
