This is the question that always comes up when a new coach is hired. Some coaches come in and make wholesale changes and hires, while others sit down and evaluate each staff member and allow them to interview.
With Kalen DeBoer, this is an interesting topic because he is still young in his tenure as a head coach.
There was a lot of Jeff Tedford flavor left on the Boise State staff after he stepped down in 2019, but DeBoer made several of his own hires when he took over.
On the Washington staff, however, there are some coaches that DeBoer needs to keep under high consideration to be retained.
Why? Because of recruiting prowess, to retain current players and committed recruits, and to reassure the current key players that there will still be some level of continuity.
Junior Adams is one of those coaches. His receiver group was the strongest group on the field this past season, despite the struggles with the quarterback.
Adams is loved by his players, and Washington cannot risk losing guys like Jalen McMillan, Rome Odunze, Taj Davis, or the true freshmen. They also cannot afford to lose a recruit such as Germie Bernard.
Adams is a very good receivers coach, and he has an excellent eye for recruiting and developing his players.
Keith Bhonapha is another guy that DeBoer has to take a serious look at. Bhonapha has done an amazing job recruiting in Texas and, if not for the poor performance from the Husky O-line, his running backs have done good things under his tutelage at Washington.
Again, Washington cannot risk losing any current tailbacks, particularly new guys such as Emeka Megwa; the 4-star recruit out of Texas or fellow Texan, Caleb Berry.
Ikaika Malloe is a valuable asset to the Washington staff. Not only is he an alum who totally understands what it means to be a Dawg, but he’s also an incredible recruiter with Polynesian athletes from Utah and Hawai’i. Malloe can identify talent and upside in prospects that others have overlooked.
Look at the early performance from Voi Tunuufi of East High School in Utah. This kid was only a 3-star but made his presence known during the past season.
But one thing that needs to be said about Malloe is that the inconsistent performance of the d-tackles in 2021 didn’t occur because of anything he did or didn’t do as a coach. Remember, Malloe was moved away from the d-tackles and assigned the outside linebackers by Jimmy Lake. This was a position that Pete Kwaitkowski coached while he was on staff.
Malloe was replaced as a d-tackle coach by Rip Rowan, and no disrespect to Rowan, but the d-tackles seemed to regress in 2021.
The Huskies’ offensive performance in 2021 was grossly mired by the underachieving play of the offensive line, so this needs to be a high priority for DeBoer as he fills out his staff.
But rather than blame all of that on coaches, I want to continue to stress how important the strength and conditioning program needs to be.
Remember, these coaches spend more time with the players than the assistant coaches do and their role is vital. I have always liked Tim Socha and had a lot of respect for his work, but something was wrong with the Huskies in 2021.
Several linemen seemed out of shape, while we didn’t see a high level of physicality on the field. And, of course, injuries plagued the team all year.
There are some coaches on DeBoer’s Fresno State staff I am intrigued by; one in particular is defensive coordinator, William Inge.
As for the others, I am not familiar enough with their body of work as assistant coaches to form any conclusion. Many of them are young coaches without long resumes, except for JD Williams, but Williams was a Tedford-guy and so it’s hard to say if he would go with DeBoer or not.
Tedford is rumored to be joining the staff as an offensive coordinator, but he’s also rumored to be taking the reins back at Fresno.
