Washington Huskies football


The Washington Huskies football team represents the University of Washington in college football. Washington competes in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Big Ten Conference, having been a charter member of the Pac-12 Conference between 1915 and 2024. The 70,138-capacity Husky Stadium, located on campus in Seattle, has been the Huskies' home field since 1920.
Washington was one of four charter members of what became the Pac-12 Conference and, along with California, was one of only two schools with uninterrupted membership until the 2024 conference realignment. Washington has won 18 conference championships, seven Rose Bowls, and claims two national championships recognized by NCAA-designated major selectors. The 1960 team defeated that year's AP and UPI national champions, Minnesota, on the field in the 1961 Rose Bowl and were recognized as national champions by the Helms Athletic Foundation. Their most recent national title was in 1991, when the Huskies finished the season undefeated at 12–0 with a No. 1 ranking in the Coaches' Poll and defeated Michigan in the 1992 Rose Bowl.
From 1977 through 2003, Washington had 27 consecutive non-losing seasons—the most of any team in the Pac-12 and the 14th longest streak by an NCAA Division I-A team. The Huskies finished out its Pac-12 legacy with a perfect 12–0 regular season before defeating rival Oregon in the last Pac-12 Championship Game and Texas in the Sugar Bowl. The team finished 14–1 after being defeated in the 2024 NCAA Championship Game by Michigan in a rematch of the 1992 Rose Bowl.
Washington's 422 conference victories rank second in the legacy Pac-12's history. The school's all-time record ranks 22nd by win percentage and 18th by total victories among FBS schools as of 2023. Washington holds the FBS record for the longest unbeaten streak at 64 consecutive games, as well as the second-longest winning streak at 40 wins in a row. There have been a total of 13 unbeaten seasons in school history, including eight perfect seasons. Washington is often referred to as a top "Quarterback U" due to the long history of its quarterbacks playing in the National Football League. Dating back to Hall of Famer Warren Moon in 1976, 17 of the last 23 quarterbacks who have led the team in passing for at least one season have gone on to play in the NFL.
The Huskies have donned several purple-gold combinations in their history, with the current and most widely-known scheme featuring purple jerseys with gold pants and helmets. There are several team symbols: the fight song, "Bow Down to Washington"; the Husky Marching Band; and two official mascots. Washington's fiercest and most prominent rivalry is with Oregon, a game informally known as the Cascade Clash. They also contest the Apple Cup with Washington State.

History

Early history (1889–1907)

Although an informal game was played by a "University Eleven" as early as 1889, organized team football came to the University of Washington in 1892.
Ten different men served as Washington head coaches during the first 15 seasons. While still an independent, the team progressed from playing 1 to 2 games per season to 10 matches per season as the sport grew in popularity. The school initially used a variety of locations for its home field. Home attendance grew from a few hundred to a few thousand per home game, with on-campus Denny Field becoming home from 1895 onward. The 1900 team played in-state rival Washington State College to a 5–5 tie, in the first game in the annual contest later known as the Apple Cup.

Gil Dobie era (1908–1916)

left North Dakota Agricultural and became Washington's head coach in 1908. Dobie coached for nine remarkable seasons at Washington, posting a 58–0–3 record. Dobie's career comprised virtually all of Washington's NCAA all-time longest 64-game unbeaten streak and included a 40-game winning streak, second longest in NCAA Division I-A/FBS history. In 1916, Washington and three other schools formed the Pacific Coast Conference, predecessor to the modern Pac-12 Conference. In Dobie's final season at Washington, his 1916 team won the PCC's inaugural conference championship. Dobie was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 as a charter member.

Hunt-Savage-Allison era (1917–1920)

Following Dobie's tenure, Washington turned to a succession of coaches with mixed results. Claude J. Hunt went a cumulative 6–3–1 highlighted by the school's second PCC championship in 1919, Tony Savage 1–1, and Stub Allison 1–5.
This era concluded with the team's move from Denny Field to its permanent home field of Husky Stadium in 1920. Washington athletics adopted the nickname of "Sun Dodgers" in 1920 and used it until 1921, before becoming the "Huskies" from 1922 onward.

Enoch Bagshaw era (1921–1929)

graduated from Washington in 1907 as the school's first five-year letterman in football history. After leading Everett High School from 1909 to 1920, including consecutive national championships in 1919 and 1920, Bagshaw returned to Washington as the first former player turned head coach in 1921, ultimately overseeing the program's second period of sustained success.
Bagshaw's tenure was marked by 63–22–6 record and the school's first two Rose Bowl berths, resulting in a 14–14 tie against Navy in the 1924 Rose Bowl and a 19–20 loss to Alabama in the 1926 Rose Bowl. His 1925 team won the school's third PCC championship. Bagshaw left the program after his 1929 team had a losing season, only the second such season in his tenure. Bagshaw died the following year at the age of 46.

James Phelan era (1930–1941)

succeeded Bagshaw for the 1930 season. The Notre Dame graduate guided the Huskies to a 65–37–8 record over 12 seasons. His 1936 team won the school's fourth PCC championship, but lost in the 1937 Rose Bowl to Pittsburgh 21-0. Phelan guided the Huskies to their first bowl game victory, beating Hawaii 53–13 in the 1938 Poi Bowl. In later years, he became the first former Husky head coach to take the same role in professional football. Phelan was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1973.

Welch-Odell-Cherberg-Royal era (1942–1956)

Following Phelan, Washington fielded a succession of teams under four coaches without either great success, or failure. Washington participated in one bowl game and tallied no conference championships during this period with an overall record of 65–68–7.
Ralph Welch played at Purdue under head coach James Phelan, whom he followed to Washington to become an assistant coach in 1930. In 1942, Welch was promoted to succeed Phelan as Washington's head coach and served until 1947, compiling a record of 27–20–3. World War II limited both the 1943 and 1944 seasons of the PCC, reducing team participation from ten team down to just four. Welch's 1943 team accepted the school's third Rose Bowl bid, but lost to PCC champion USC 29–0 in the 1944 Rose Bowl. Welch's first five teams all fielded winning records, but final 1947 team did not.
Howie Odell joined Washington in 1948 from Yale. In his five seasons from 1948 to 1952, he compiled a record of 23–25–2 with two winning seasons.
John Cherberg, a Washington player and then assistant from 1946 to 1952, became head coach in 1953. He compiled a 10–18–2 record from 1953 to 1955, before being removed due to a payoff scandal. Cherberg went on to become Washington state's longest serving Lieutenant Governor, from 1957 until his death in 1989.
Darrell Royal was retained and led the 1956 team to a 5–5 record, before leaving to coach at Texas where he won three national championships, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983, and had the school's football stadium renamed in his honor as Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium.

Jim Owens era (1957–1974)

In 1957, Jim Owens came to Washington after stints as an assistant with Paul "Bear" Bryant at Kentucky and Texas A&M. According to legend, after the 1956 season, when the Huskies were looking for a head coach, Bryant indicated to reporters that Owens "will make a great coach for somebody some day." Over 18 seasons, Owens compiled a 99–82–6 record.
After a pair of unremarkable initial seasons, Owens led his 1959, 1960, and 1963 teams to three AAWU championships and associated Rose Bowl berths: a 1960 Rose Bowl 44–8 win over Wisconsin, a 1961 Rose Bowl 17–7 win over Minnesota, and a 17–7 loss to Illinois in the 1964 Rose Bowl. The Helms Athletic Foundation named the 1960 team the national champions, the school's first such title in football.
Owens' later teams did not match this level of success, partly owing to a conference prevention of a second bowl team representative until 1975. Owens concurrently served as the athletic director at Washington from 1960 to 1969. Owens resigned as head coach of the Huskies following the 1974 season, as the Pac-8's third winningest coach of all time. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1982.

Don James era (1975–1992)

came to Washington from Kent State. During his 18-year tenure, James' Huskies won four Rose Bowls and one Orange Bowl. His dominating 1991 Washington Huskies finished a perfect 12–0 season and shared the national championship with Miami.
The Huskies won 22 consecutive games from 1990 to 1992. James' record with the Huskies was 153–57–2. James won national coach of the year honors in 1977, 1984 and 1991 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997. Sports columnists and football experts have recognized the 1991 Washington Huskies among the top 10 college football teams of all time.
During the 1992 season, it was revealed that several of James' players received improper benefits from boosters. The Huskies received sanctions from both the NCAA and then Pacific-10 Conference. Although James and his staff were not personally implicated in any violation, James resigned on August 22, 1993 in protest of the harsh sanctions the Pac-10 imposed on top of the NCAA's sanctions against his team. Though then University President William Gerberding and then Athletic Director Barbara Hedges had presented James the final list of penalties that all Pac-10 parties had agreed best for the football program and athletics, Gerberding argued in favor of altering the penalties against the program from a two-year TV revenue ban and one-year bowl ban, to a one-year TV revenue ban and two-year bowl ban.
In a 2006 interview with columnist Blaine Newnham of The Seattle Times, Don James said his resignation from head coaching "probably saved his life". According to those who knew him, Don James was a great leader, a coach of character, a man of honor and integrity.
Don James died on October 20, 2013, at the age of 80. A week later, the Huskies honored James during the game against California, which they won 41-17. On October 27, 2017, when the University of Washington unveiled a bronze statue of the legendary coach in the northwest plaza of Husky Stadium, "the Dawgfather" finally returned home.