UW coach Jimmy Lake suspended for Arizona State game following sideline incident
Washington Huskies coach Jimmy Lake has been suspended for one game following a sideline incident with a player during the Oregon game, the university announced Monday morning.
Lake, who is in his second season, will be suspended without pay for Saturday’s game against Arizona State, per the release, and the suspension includes “all football-related activities.”
The suspension will be lifted Sunday, the release says, with defensive coordinator Bob Gregory taking over as the program’s acting head coach this week.
During the first quarter against Oregon, the national telecast showed an exchange between Huskies walk-on linebacker Ruperake Fuavai and an Oregon defender on a special teams play.
Lake hurried over on the sideline and appeared to push his right hand into the face mask of Fuavai and then shove him as he walked away.
Lake said postgame he “went in to separate them and push him back.” Asked if he regretted “striking” him, Lake said, “I separated them. I didn’t strike him. I separated them.”
UW athletic director Jen Cohen released a statement after the Oregon game.
“We are aware of an interaction between Head Coach Jimmy Lake and a student-athlete during the first half of Saturday’s game,” the statement read. “We have high expectations of the conduct of our coaches and we are working to gather more information on this matter.”
Cohen then released the following statement Monday morning:
“Our staff has spent the last 24-plus hours reviewing video of the incident, as well as speaking with Coach Lake, the involved student-athlete and several other student-athletes and members of the staff, and I have made the decision to suspend Coach Lake for next Saturday’s game against Arizona State.
“President (Ana Mari) Cauce, our Faculty Athletics Representative, Alexes Harris, and members of our executive staff are in agreement that while we do not believe that his actions were intentional or deliberate, we can have no tolerance for a coach interacting with a student in the manner Coach Lake did. We have high expectations of conduct for our coaches, and we will not shy away from those expectations.”
Lake was not made available for his regular Monday press conference and will not be available to the media for the rest of the week, but issued a statement on his Twitter account Monday afternoon.
“I want to apologize to every member of our team, and in particular to Ruperake Fuavai, for my actions during our game on Saturday,” the statement reads. “I also want to apologize to President Cauce and Jen Cohen for putting the University in this position. I fully accept the decision that was made. Our team has a right to expect better than what I displayed on Saturday, and I’m committed to doing just that — being better so our program will reflect all that’s good about being a Washington Husky.”
Meanwhile, Gregory and acting offensive coordinator Junior Adams — who has taken over play-calling duties for the rest of the season following Sunday’s announcement former offensive coordinator John Donovan has been fired — addressed the media together Monday afternoon.
Gregory said he was unaware of the incident on the sideline during the game, and found out later, when he “was at home and a buddy of mine texted me.”
“It’s an unfortunate incident,” Gregory said.
“It was an unfortunate situation and I feel bad for both sides,” Adams said.
Also asked what the sense is from players regarding Lake, Adams said, “All I know is this — is that we are here for those guys in that locker room.”
“We’ve got some really good kids, really good guys in that locker room,” he continued. “We love these guys. And it’s unfortunate, the last 24 hours, what they’ve had to go through at the age of 18-to-22 years old.
“And all Coach Gregory and the staff and I can do is just wrap our arms around these guys and build them up, and encourage them, and keep the energy up and make sure they’re smiling when they come in the building tomorrow and get ready to play some football.”
Their next game a few days away, the Huskies now turn their attention to preparing for Arizona State.
“I think we lock our arms and we go,” Gregory said. “ ... Everybody’s good in the good times, right? I mean, we all know that. It’s how are we going to react to the tougher times? And this is a great challenge for all of us. It’s a great challenge for myself and for (Adams), all of our coaches, a great challenge for our players.”
Arizona State (6-3) visits Husky Stadium at 4 p.m. Saturday. The Huskies (4-5) have three games remaining on their regular season schedule, and likely need two wins to advance to a bowl game.
This story was originally published November 8, 2021 at 11:02 AM with the headline "UW coach Jimmy Lake suspended for Arizona State game following sideline incident."
