January 9, 2026 • 38 mins
In the third hour, Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain replay their conversation earlier this afternoon with Jedd Fisch about Demond Williams, talk with Mike DeCourcy about Sam Darnold and Demond, then former Seahawks kicker Steven Hauschka joins the show.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, Well, let's get to it. A busy couple
of days over at you du Man, lots of stuff
to talk about. We're going to focus, obviously on the
Demand Williams situation. Jeedfish, head coach over at Washington, and
I kind of feel bad for interviewing Jed. I don't
want to disrupt what's happening over there, but we need
answers and he's going to provide him and the head
(00:21):
coach of the Dogs joined us right now on the
radio show from montleg Jetfish with us. Jed Coach, how
are you? What's going on over there?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hell? What's offee? How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I'm good.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I apologize for the phone call here. I know it's
been a quiet, relaxing couple of days for you guys
over there at you dub So. I apologize for the
for the interruption, But why don't we just start there? Coach,
it's been a crazy few days, I know for everybody there,
crazy for us as fans here on the air. Obviously,
how would you characterize the last forty eight seventy two
(00:52):
hours that you've been through.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah, you know, it's it's been a really interesting learning experience.
The last really I guess since January second, and probably
before that when the portal opened, but even really since
our season ended, trying to retain a team, dealing with
(01:16):
a lot of contract stuff that I've never dealt with
before at this level. There's been a ton of communication
with agents recently, and it's been a wild month or
whatever it's been, I guess from December thirteenth on, and
then it kind of culminated this week with a very
interesting week of learning.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Well, a week ago, we were all excited. We saw
that Demon Williams signed his deal to come back. Husky
Nation was fired up, and then you know, kind of
all hell broke lose. Can you shed some light, coach
on what happened between that day that Demon signed as
anil deal with you guys in the day he was
saying he was leaving less than a week later.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, you know, I think I can. I'd say, well,
the good part is the you know, the excitement and
the energy of a week ago. You know, we're a
week later and I'm really all we've done is improved
the team since then, and with Demand's return back, the
quality of the team and the quality of the players
(02:22):
is just continuing to improve. You know, they're obviously what
was the situation where, you know, a few days back
that we were dealing with a discussion whether or not
the mom was going to return here or choose to
try to go elsewhere. Initially, obviously he chose to return here,
(02:44):
was very excited about it, and then you know posted
that he was, you know, potentially going to try to leave.
And then over the last forty eight to seventy two
hours after that, after a lot of conversations and a
lot of communication and education and understanding the new wave
(03:05):
of college football, we all came to a really good
agreement where the best thing for Demand, the best thing
for Washington, and the best thing for all of college
football was for Demon to be the quarterback here for
his third season in a row.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Yeah, well, Jeded fish is with So, Jed, were you
aware going into Tuesday night that he was going to
announce that he planned to enter the transfer portal?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
No, No, that was no, there was no part of
that that I was expecting. We had some great conversations
when the season came to an end in the new
age of college football, and a third of the team,
a third of teams, not our team, but a third
of teams have been entering into the portal. I think
(03:57):
there's thousands and thousands of guys that have gone on.
You have conversations with every member of your team, and
you talk to them about the future, and you talked
about why being here is so important and why we
believe we built such an incredible foundation. So you have
those conversations up through that final day where they click
on you know, their their DOCU sign or their agent
(04:19):
approves their final deal. And when that happened, the traditionally,
you've now gotten to a point where you move on
to the next player or you bring in the next
member of the portal. You know, we brought in about
ten players since the season ended to join the team.
Uh so, Yeah, I was surprised about what occurred on
I believe it was Tuesday, but also encouraged with all
(04:44):
of the conversations that we had between Tuesday and last
night to put everybody you know, at ease and to
really talk about the future and how we were going
to really set Washington up for what hopefully will be
a great run this season.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Well, Jed fish with us and Jed surprising for me,
not from your perspective, but from Demand's perspective that he
would not have even made you aware that that post
was going out on Tuesday night. Do you do you
believe do you have reason to believe there was tampering
with Demand from another university between Friday and Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Oh, I don't know, and I really don't want to,
you know, get into that, the tampering or the discussions
of the communication. I know there's everybody wants to be
involved in those, and I kind of tend not to
want to be involved in those. I prefer much more
to be involved in talking about, you know, what a
(05:43):
what a good football team I think we're going to have.
I think I want to get involved in being able
to help and educate our kids on you know, the
decisions they make, the consequences that we have, and then
you know how to be able to overcome some consequences
and also can you to become great communicators. And really,
(06:04):
my job as a college football coach is to educate
eighteen to twenty two year olds and twenty three year olds.
And I've learned a ton over the last seventy two
ninety six hours. I've also learned a ton over the month,
And to be honest, with you. I've learned a ton
over the year, and I'm looking forward to sharing and
being able to help our kids grow and be a
(06:26):
better football team, have a more trusting relationships with all
of us, have an incredible bond as a program, and
see what type of team we can put out there
in August. But we got eight months of work to
be able to get to where we want to be.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Coach, I'm sure you reached out to him right away
after being stunned by that announcement. What was his reasoning
that he gave you on that Tuesday that he wanted
to leave.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah, I think the conversations that we had, I feel
like those are really important that we stay. Uh, that's
staves between us. I think as most kids in this
new era of football, you know, they're learning, they're they're
trying to understand, They're trying to figure out what does
(07:15):
this all look like? What is what is it that
I signed up for? What is it that we're living
in right now? You start hearing about the craziness of
so many different places and so many different kids, And
you know, I think for us, he and I had
a conversation about what we both thought was best and
(07:39):
then it took the forty eight, you know, hours or
so to really land where we felt the plane should
be landed. And I think over those forty hours, we
both agreed that the plane should be landed at SeaTac
and we should be able to really learn, uh, be
(08:00):
educate the rest of our team about what happened, be
able to understand the value of time and timing, and
then also be able to talk through how we can
really make this a stronger team because of what occurred.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Yeah, well, Jeed Fish is with us on the radio show,
and Jed, look, you're I know, keenly aware of the
reaction to this by the Husky fan base.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
And I've been.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Covering this thing for over thirty years, and I've never
seen the fan base fractured like this.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
We ran a poll on social media.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Seven thousand people voted seventy percent to thirty percent against
wanting him to come back. For the fans out there
that don't trust him on Williams and don't want him
representing your doub anymore, what do you say to those fans?
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Yeah, you know, I saw you saw your posts when
you said in thirty two years, you've never seen this.
I think it's good. In thirty two years, we've never
this in college football. This is a completely new world.
This is the very first year in all of college
football that there's been revenue share agreements between a university
(09:12):
and between student athletes. This is the very first year that,
after all of these years where the kids really got
a scholarship, are now talking about sharing in twenty plus
million dollars through the television and multimedia rights marketing deals
that have been going on. So it is brand new,
(09:34):
and I think our fans, our coaches, our families are
all learning about the newness of college football. And I
think we really are working to learn about how close
it's becoming to pro football. And I'm not going to
compare it to you know, when there's a player that
misses a mini camp or a player that then shows
(09:56):
up for their first veteran you know camp and then
everything is all and good, or a player that wants
to hold out and then comes back, or whatever it
might be. I think we're just learning college football is unique.
It's new in twenty twenty six, and all of us
are learning how to navigate it the best way possible.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Coach, can you shed some light on the emotions that
the team has gone through the last week, and how
worried are you about team chemistry? How much of a
struggle do you think it will be for Demand to
assimilate back with his teammates.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I think that's really important for the team to to
figure out that themselves. This isn't something that has gone
on for weeks or months. This isn't something that has
you know, been a you know, a contractual holdout that
we're you know concerned in this period of time where
(10:54):
oh my god, we've been away from the team for
so long. I mean, this has been a couple of days.
And now when he returns the team and Demand, I'm
sure we'll have numerous conversations. It's important that we all
recognize how we can learn from this. Our team is
really full of character and integrity. We really believe in
(11:16):
doing the right thing. We're also as me as the
head coach, our assistant coaches, our players, we're all learning
and we're all trying to get better and better and better.
And it's my hope that I can be better in
twenty six than I was in twenty five. It's my
hope that our whole team feels the same.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Way Jetfish is with us on the radio show and
Jed there's a thought I think that some people in
the media, some fans have that Demand came back because
he had to that the temperature, the financials on a
team that would have taken him were just too much
to handle and he really had no choice but to
return to Washington.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
What do you say to people that have that belief?
Speaker 2 (11:54):
What I would say is every conversation that I had
with Demand regarding his return was one in which that
he was excited to lead this team. It was one
in which that he was excited to be able to compete,
to be in the CFP. As he was seeing the
additions of our team and the amount of players that
(12:16):
were returning, which we're really proud of. I think he
was really exciting about and is really excited about surrounding
himself with such talent and the you know, whatever perception
is out there, I believe the most important thing is
what they believe in the locker room, and I think
I'm going to leave it up to the players to
(12:38):
really work together to what would be building a championship
culture and a championship season.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Well, Dumont speak to the fan base through the media,
and if so win.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I'm sure at some point in time, Demand is the
starting quarterback. And you know, your starting quarterback has always
been put in front of the media and has always
been somebody that has represented our program. And he has
done that with class over the twenty four months he's
(13:14):
been here. We're right now currently dealing with a situation
where he's nineteen and I want the mon to continue
to learn. Obviously you saw on his post how apologetic
he was in terms of the timing of the post.
I spoke with coach Van Bike myself today. I apologized
(13:39):
on behalf of Washington Football. In the end, I'm the
forty nine year old, I'm the head coach. I'm responsible
for our program. I have reached out to both me
as mom and dad, and I want to make sure
that they understand that one had nothing to do with
the other. And while the timing we all wish was different,
(14:03):
I can promise you from my conversations at Demand, there
was zero intact at all to take anything away from that.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Raperce Well Jeed fishes with us and Jed you mentioned
a couple of times now that your conversations with Demand
over I think it's like a forty eight hour period
right from Tuesday night until yesterday led.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
You to believe that he was bought in, that he
wants to be here.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
And I mean, look, we're not privy to those conversations obviously,
so we're almost like relying on you to trust that
you're hearing what you need to hear, that this guy
is loyal now to this program, that this is not
going to be a problem, either on the field or
off the field.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Can you, maybe if you can in detail.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Share a thought or two on what you heard from
demand Williams that makes you feel comfortable bringing him back.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
One of the most important thing that I had to
hear is that I want to come back and at
you know, nineteen years old. I think that he and
I had a great conversation about speaking regards of like
how do we learn from this, how do we get better?
You know? One of the and I don't want to
get into the details of all of our conversations, but
(15:15):
one of the biggest parts of it was a learning experience.
And I think that as we saw that demon really
believes that he wants to be He's an outstanding academic
student and wants to be a part of the University
of Washington that's on that level, and on the same token,
he's coming off of a nine win season and wants
to be a part of the twelve win season plus
(15:37):
next year. So when he told me he wants to
come back, and he wants to lead this football program,
and he wants to do everything he possibly can to
help us win every game we're going to compete in.
I have to believe that I've known demand for four
and a half years.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Well, you said, Jed a couple of times that you've
learned a couple things in just the last couple of days.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
What have you learned.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
I learned that it's my responsibility as the head coach
of you know, close to one hundred and five eighteen
to twenty three year olds, that the communication of, you know,
the decision to commit, the decision to be a part
(16:22):
of the program, the communication factor of explaining to these
kids that what they're going to hear and what they're
going to see might not always be true. Helping these
guys understand that it's really important to you know, to
make sure that you do what you say. I've talked
(16:46):
to these guys and I've learned that I need to
do a better job and will continue to do a
better job of continuing to educate the team. On twenty
twenty six, College football in comparison twenty twenty four to
five was and really, what I want to do is
I want to make sure that these kids all know
that I love them, that I believe in our team,
(17:09):
and that what has gone on over the course of
a week or a month or two months, these kids
have been you know, punching them out a few dons
with a lot of rumors of a lot of different
things that you know, and I want to make sure
that our guys know that we're all committed for two thousand.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Yeah, let me wrap it up where we started with
Demon Williams, because I you, yeah, exactly. You mentioned that
he will talk eventually. We all hope that happens sooner
than later. I mean, I'd like him to be prepared
for that obviously, So I'm certain that's what's happening behind
the scenes. But do you feel like there's a little
something extra that he needs to do, uh, to earn
(17:49):
the trust back of not just this fan base but
also the university. There's been some ideas kicked around donating
money to the hospital and honor Amia doing some maybe
longer form in person interviews with people, Roy Firestone style,
if you will to get all these questions that need
to be asked asked so we can all move on.
Do you think he's got to maybe do a little
(18:10):
bit of extra work here over this offseason to earn
that trust back.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Here that I would say to that it's a situation
where somebody is telling him to do those things, then
I don't think that anybody would be happy. I think
this is whatever Demand really believes that he can do,
whether it be I mean you mentioned a donation or
(18:35):
whatever it might be. I don't want to tell somebody
what to do. What I want Demand to do is
I want to Mond to continue to grow, to mature
and to be comfortable. He is, you know, he is
someone that is learning how to be a pro. And
I think that over time he's going to continue to
learn and get better and appreciate so many things. And
(18:57):
I really hope that over these six months that aren't
fan base and you and the media and everybody involved
understand that really what we're talking about is, for a
two days span, we had a player that decided to
you know, make a decision to kind of learn about
the college landscape in a manner that I don't think
(19:19):
he ever felt he would have had to learn. And
now we all have learned a ton about college football,
and I hope we're all better because of what we learned.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Yeah, all right, listen, thanks for doing this. Let's do
it again very soon, and next time you come on,
I promise it'll be ninety eight percent football talk.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
How's that?
Speaker 2 (19:37):
I will accept ninety eight percent football talk anytime.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
All right, Jed, thanks for jing us, appreciate it. A
few minutes from Jedfish. If you missed it, don't forget.
We got the podcast for you, up and running at
ninety three three KJR dot com.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
How about Mike de COURSI man.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
How about a veteran sports writer no with his thoughts
on this crazy story coming next on ninety three to
three KJRFM.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
Now back to Football Friday Age sponsored by Tito's Handmaide
Vodka on your home for the NFL Sports Radio ninety
three point three kjr FL.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
All right, well, what a busy day all of a
sudden here on a Friday evening, right here on ninety
three three KJRFM and no better guy to have on
the show to get a professional, reasoned, rational, logical approach
to everything that's been happening around college sports the last
few days. Somebody way more mature than us, way more
accomplished than us. Our friend from the Sporting News, Mike
(20:33):
de Corsi's back with US.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Michael, Happy Friday. How are you man?
Speaker 6 (20:37):
I'm doing great.
Speaker 7 (20:37):
How are you guys?
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Good.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Jeed Fish was just on with US moments ago Husky
football head coach and shared his thoughts on the situation
involving Demon Williams. I'm just curious from your perch, your perspective,
what was it like to watch this story develop an
unfold from your angle?
Speaker 6 (20:57):
Yeah, I'm very disappointing. Look, I have no issue at
all with athletes being paid in whatever form they want
to disguise it. I have no issue at all. I
think it's wonderful. Really, I've watched. I did a piece
this week in advance of ole Missus game with the
Gibson on the sideline in what was his third college
(21:20):
game as a head coach, and went back to Steve
Fisher and had a nice conversation with Steve Fisher, formerly
of San Diego State, and the nineteen eighty nine Michigan Wolverines,
who won the national championship in his sixth game as
a college head coach. And what I realized in looking
at at that was that when Bill Frieder, who opened
(21:42):
up the position in the same way that Lane Kiffin
did for the coach at Ole Miss, he left for
three hundred thousand dollars. And look, I know that three
hundred thousand dollars went a long longer away in nineteen
eighty nine than it would now, but it's not ten
thirteen million dollars a year. It just shows you how
(22:04):
much the coaching number has exploded. So I'm really happy
that players are getting excellent deals to play, but four
million dollars a lot of money, man, Like, you don't
need better than that as a college player, that's pretty
dog one good. And if you didn't feel like you
(22:24):
were getting well developed, maybe you think about it, but
you wouldn't have signed in the first place. And if
you didn't think you were getting well developed, or how
the heck did you have a year like you had
in these circumstances as such a young player. Look, one
of the things that's really missing for a lot of
these young athletes.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Is that.
Speaker 6 (22:46):
Yeah, you want to get some money, now you should,
that's great, But the real money is out there. If
you develop your talent into that of an NFL starter
and a bona fide we got to keep him NFL starter.
That's where the real money is. I mean like crazy money,
like generational money. Dak Prescott's just, in my opinion, above
(23:10):
average and is making more than anybody. He's making like
sixty million dollars a year now, so you've got to
prepare for that, and changing addresses every year is not
a good way to do that. It's it's there aren't
very many quarterbacks in the NFL who went from place
to place to place to place. Most of them were
(23:31):
in one place. A few like Joe Flacco started at
Pittsburgh couldn't get on the field. Then he went to
Delaware and he got on the field and it became
a big time Super Bowl NFL quarterback. But most of
them erear in one place as they developed three to
four years, and that should be a consideration for this player.
(23:52):
But unfortunately it happened as it did, and I'm glad
it seems to be going back in the right direction,
but it should never have come.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
To this Mike.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
There's a big worry amongst a lot of Husky fans
of how he will assimilate with his team after leaving
the team. And I guess my question to you is
is it as big a deal in twenty twenty six,
when a mass amount of these kids have committed to schools,
decommitted from schools, transferred from schools.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Do you think these kids even care.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
That much what demand Williams did or we kind of
pass that because it's just such a transient sport now.
Speaker 6 (24:28):
It will only matter if they get to spring practice
or fall camp or whatever and they can see a difference.
If one eye looks like it's always at the door.
It will only matter in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
If that's the case.
Speaker 6 (24:41):
If he comes back and he is the player and
teammate that he's supposed to be certainly at that price,
if he comes back and embraces the situation won't matter.
There is a little concern of are we going to
go through this all again next year? Yeah, but I
think that if the Huskies have a great year of that,
(25:03):
that won't be a consideration. They've already shown that they're
willing and able to compensate him handsomely, and if they
have another great year, they'll do it again.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Well, Mike, the Coursi's Sporting News is with us, and
I just full transparency here. We were originally going to
have you on to talk about your article that you
wrote on Sam Darnald and then boom, the whole world
blew up with this Demon Williams story. So let's go
from one quarterback in town to the other. Major controversy
with one guy, but really no controversy with the other
(25:36):
guy unless you're just, you know, waiting for the guy
to fall flat on his face. I mean, Sam Donald's
now twenty eight and six, Mike, and these last thirty
four regular season games, and he's got the Hawks in
position to make a run at the super Bowl. And
you kind of threw it out there the other day
that maybe we should be talking about this guy at
the MVP race.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (25:54):
There are two things that bother me about the MVP
award now in pro football, and this is probably true baseball. Two,
but I don't follow baseball that much, is how stat
driven it's become. It's all about stats. Well it doesn't
say most you know, pretty player or whatever. Pretty as
stats or best you know, the best. It doesn't even
(26:14):
say best player on the trophy. It says most valuable.
And I don't know. I mean, I think you can
make an argument that Drake May's improvement made New England
a much better team. Yes, it was typical, somewhat typical
freshman to sophomore year improvement. It was exceptional in terms
of the fact that he has great talent and so
(26:36):
therefore it's like when when you get a quarterback who's
really gifted. Usually the first year in Peyton Manning, this
was true, not much, but then the second year, once
they really get the job, then there's usually a significant
escalation and May fits that.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
But May.
Speaker 6 (26:52):
May's assignment wasn't as tough. It wasn't a third as
tough as what Sam faced. He had a bigger turnaround, Yeah,
but he had an easier, much easier schedule to go
against in doing that turnaround. The stats in terms of
the playoff teams and the challenges that May face not
even close. I mean, there were more playoff teams practically,
(27:15):
and there were I think there were more games against
playoff teams within the NFC West than May faced all year.
May conquered all year. That's the part that bothers me
is that, like any if, all you have to do
is look at the top of the passing leaders and say, wow, okay,
forty touchdown, eighty interceptions, four thousand yards whatever it was. Yeah,
(27:36):
that's the MVP. I mean, anybody could vote that. But
these guys and ladies who have these votes, they're supposed
to know what says on the next page and the
page after that and the page after that. That's what
I'm looking for. I want to see that kind of
knowledge from them. And I look, you can make the
case for Matthew Stafford, but he was in the same
(27:56):
division and came up short of what of what happened
in Seattle? And yeah, okay, Seattle d's great and all that,
but what's required of you and what do you deliver? Yes,
the one element that you could say, if you want
to say, not voting for him because too many picks,
I can't argue against that. It is too many picks.
Fourteen picks is too many picks. But I don't think
(28:20):
you can argue against the rest of my case, Mike.
Speaker 4 (28:23):
I think there's a small minority, vocal minority of Seahawks
Nation that is anti Sam Donald. I think a majority
of Seahawks Nation is pro Sam Donald. But even though
that are pro, they worry about him down the stretch
in a big spot where he hasn't had a lot
of success in the past. What level of confidence do
(28:43):
you have him those spots and what would you tell
those fans?
Speaker 6 (28:46):
Well, I think that I think it until you get
in there and do it, it's fair to say you
haven't done it. But I heard similar things. I mean,
I often think in college basketball terms, but I remember
the days when Jim Calhoun hadn't done it yet, and
there were people who would tell you this was before
Twitter and it was out even without Twitter. They would
tell you that Jim Calhoun couldn't get it done, like
(29:09):
Elite eight in ninety didn't get there, and Elite eight
and ninety five didn't get there, Sweet sixteen ninety six
didn't get there, all this kind of stuff, and then
he wins one in ninety nine and then you can't
stop him from winning. So give him a chance. Down
the stretch of this season, played three consecutive playoff teams
had terrific games in two of the three, good enough
(29:32):
in the Carolina game, and two of those were on
the road, and two of them were against the divisional
rivals that you had to outlast in one of the
great division competitions in the history of the league. If
he can't get it done in the big games, then.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
How did they win?
Speaker 6 (29:48):
Thirty eight thirty seven in overtime and he threw for
two hundred and seventy yards.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Mike de Coursi's Sporting News, great stuff. Appreciate this. Good
to catch up and we'll start talking to some college
hoops very soon.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Appreciate this man.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
It is always a pleasure to be with you guys
in the latter part of the season. I really look
forward to it.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Love it. Mike Decursi, Sporting News.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
With us on the radio show We're Gonna break a
lot more to get to on a busy Friday on
ninety three three KJRFM.
Speaker 5 (30:16):
Now back to Football Friday sponsored by Tito's Handmade Vodka
on your home for the NFL Sports Radio ninety three
point three kJ r FL.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Well joining us right now.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Dick on a Friday Night is a guy who used
to be number one in field goals made in Seattle
until a guy named Jason Myers unfortunately passed him earlier
this year, but they say records are meant to be broken.
And for six years this guy was money. His nickname
was what Nick fae Housh, Money Housch.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Money Baby. Steven Houska, who's got a.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Big ping pong tournament coming up on Wednesday at the
Queen Ann Beer Hall benefiting some great causes, is joining
us right now talking some Hawks, talking some NFL playoffs.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Even, how are you pal? What's going on?
Speaker 7 (31:02):
Hey, I'm great, man, Thank you, thank you for having
me on. When was the last time we talked?
Speaker 6 (31:06):
Man?
Speaker 3 (31:06):
God?
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Well you have your last year was twenty sixteen? Is
that correct in Seattle?
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yes?
Speaker 7 (31:13):
Yeah, okay, so it's been a while. Man, it's good
to hear your voice. Well, how you been.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
We're good man, It's great to have you back on
the show. And obviously great timing now with the Seahawks
and the number one seed and got a big ping
pong event benefiting some charities coming up on Wednesday at
the Queen Ann Beer All that we'll talk about in
a minute. But you know, Dick and I were just
talking there a little bit about how you know, Jason
Myers got you with the field goals made record.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
But I gotta tell you, man, my.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
My favorite Stephen Houchkimoman, I was talking to Dick about
this off the AAR has nothing to do with a
field goal that you made. It's got everything to do
with a field goal that you passed up on.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Do you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 7 (31:51):
By the way, Oh yeah, Oh of course I do.
Not many fans know about this one either. How do
you know that one?
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Well, because I was at the game for I'm talking.
I just want to make sure we're talking about the
same thing. I'm talking about. Twenty fifteen NFC Championship. You're
looking at like a fifty three yard field goal on
fourth and five or fourth and six or whatever, and
you went out there, you gauge the win, you gauged everything.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
And said, nap, I'm going to pass on this.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
And then and then the next play, boom, Russell Wilson
to Jermaine Curse to take the lead.
Speaker 7 (32:26):
You know, sometimes things just happen in your favor. I
really went out there and I was like, I've never
passed up a kick. That was the only kick I
passed up my whole career. So I was just feeling.
It was a gut instinct. I was like, this is
not a good idea to kick this coach got us
to the super Bowl. That game was but then hey,
we had I did have to make one a few
(32:47):
us a few minutes later from forty seven, I think
to put us up six because then the Niners had
to drive down and try to score a touchdown because
we were up six points. And that's when Term kipped
the ball.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
I think he did.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
No question about any soft you mentioned that the record
Jason broke. But I'll tell you what I'm looking at, percentages.
Jason Myers does not hold a candle to Steven Hauschka
in field goal made percentage as a member of the
Seattle Seahawks. So you still have have that crown. Well,
let's let's compare that team. Let's compare that team that
you played on the back to back Super Bowl team
(33:21):
to to what you're seeing right now.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
This is the first time since you've been a.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
Seahawk that we've had a legitimate Super Bowl championship contender.
Speaker 7 (33:30):
You know, when they played the Rams a couple of
weeks ago, I was telling people, it's like, I think
that's the biggest win the team's had, it felt like
the old days. I watched that game. I was so
so pumped up. It felt like the old days. I
mean that it's it's it's fun to see the city
come alive too. And just you know, I'm not I'm
(33:54):
not one of those guys holding on to the old days.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
You know.
Speaker 7 (33:58):
I'm really supporting this team and excited for all their success.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Stephen Hawskin with us and Steven.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
The last time the Hawks had the number one seed
twenty fourteen season, you were on that team and you
played in the Super Bowl. And there's already starting to
become some comparisons to that Lob defense, to the dark
Side defense that we're seeing now in Seattle. Do you
see any comps between the two defenses in your mind?
Speaker 7 (34:20):
You know what I'll say about this defense, I'm just
a kicker, man. I didn't I didn't know anything about football,
to be honest. So you guys, you guys see it though,
like there's some incredible players out there. But I got
to say, these guys have come together. They play as
a team, and they never quit. They're so they're relentless.
(34:42):
I know it's a word Coach Nike uses a lot,
but they just keep coming in waves, and you know
it's it's what he's been trying to create since day one.
Is this this unstoppable force, and you can really feel
it out there. It's it's it's fun to watch, and
you know he's got such a tests that's a brilliant
mind to get all these incredible players in there, and
(35:04):
obviously John Schneider getting all those players in there with
unique talents. It's it's cool to see it all happen.
Speaker 4 (35:12):
Take us back to the bye weeks. You went through
two of them in twenty thirteen and in twenty fourteen,
and this team now has to wait. They don't know
who they're gonna play yet. They got two weeks.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Was it?
Speaker 4 (35:23):
What was that like? Was it you know, did it
feel like forever for the two weeks or did it
go by pretty quick?
Speaker 7 (35:29):
It was a nice little break. It's it's kind of
you need the time for your body, but it's also
it's challenging. It doesn't feel like a bye weekend season.
Bye weekend season. You feel like, hey, I can like
shut it down a little bit. There's plenty of time
to get back into it. But this time of year,
if you let your body or mind shut it down,
it's going to be hard to get it back online,
(35:52):
so you kind of kind of stay in it. But
I think one of the years I went up to
Whistler and probably it was a dumb idea, but we
went out to dinner and turns out the dinner was
up the mountain, and we took we went snowballbiling up
the mountain. And this was like a week before our
(36:12):
game and I was somehow snowmobiling up a mountain. I
had no idea what I was doing. So, you know,
urging the guys to make smart decisions this weekend.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Yeah, no question, no doubt, man, No, No, it's.
Speaker 7 (36:25):
An odd it's an odd time of year to have,
you know, three you know, have a handful of days
off right, no.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Question, you know.
Speaker 7 (36:34):
But it's it's they you know, these guys will I'm
sure handle it the right way. They've they're so committed,
you can tell, right.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
Great to see that you're doing some stuff still around town.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Tell me about what's going on Wednesday night at the
Queen Anne Beer Hall, buddy.
Speaker 7 (36:50):
Yeah, well this is you know, this is something that
I was running as a bit little ping pong charity
tournament back in the day when I was playing there
and uh ran it a couple of years and had
to had to leave town unfortunately to Buffalo. I wish
I could have stayed in Seattle at the time, but
ended up being a fun, fun journey in Buffalo. But anyway,
(37:12):
just bring this back to Seattle. Got a lot of
feedback and ran ino some people and they're like, hey, man,
you should you should start that thing up again and
get some of the guys around. So there'll be a
few few former Hawks there, you know, a few local
celebs and you know, it's just a great, great way
to support a local charity. And yeah, it'll be it'll
(37:32):
be a fun night, so hopefully people can join.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Yeah, the Rise Above Foundation, man, just phenomenal people over there.
So Wednesday night, Queen n Beer Hall, seven to ten,
feel free to show up and watch. And who knows,
maybe you might run into one of the greatest legs
in Seattle sports history. And our friend Steven hauschkis so hey, man,
great to hear your voice. Don't be a stranger and
we'll talk soon, buddy.
Speaker 7 (37:54):
Appreciate it, man, Yeah, thank you guys so much.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
All right, here you go Steven Houch Get Housh Money
with us on the radio show Really really big show
today if you missed anything including Jedfish was on today
was Yeah. Talked about the Demon Williams stories, So check
it out of the podcast. I thought some really interesting
and good stuff from Jed. That's it for us and
we'll talk to you Monday at two o'clock right here
(38:17):
on ninety three three KJRFM by Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
Coming to
All right, Well, let's get to it. A busy couple
of days over at you du Man, lots of stuff
to talk about. We're going to focus, obviously on the
Demand Williams situation. Jeedfish, head coach over at Washington, and
I kind of feel bad for interviewing Jed. I don't
want to disrupt what's happening over there, but we need
answers and he's going to provide him and the head
(00:21):
coach of the Dogs joined us right now on the
radio show from montleg Jetfish with us. Jed Coach, how
are you? What's going on over there?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hell? What's offee? How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I'm good.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I apologize for the phone call here. I know it's
been a quiet, relaxing couple of days for you guys
over there at you dub So. I apologize for the
for the interruption, But why don't we just start there? Coach,
it's been a crazy few days, I know for everybody there,
crazy for us as fans here on the air. Obviously,
how would you characterize the last forty eight seventy two
(00:52):
hours that you've been through.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah, you know, it's it's been a really interesting learning experience.
The last really I guess since January second, and probably
before that when the portal opened, but even really since
our season ended, trying to retain a team, dealing with
(01:16):
a lot of contract stuff that I've never dealt with
before at this level. There's been a ton of communication
with agents recently, and it's been a wild month or
whatever it's been, I guess from December thirteenth on, and
then it kind of culminated this week with a very
interesting week of learning.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Well, a week ago, we were all excited. We saw
that Demon Williams signed his deal to come back. Husky
Nation was fired up, and then you know, kind of
all hell broke lose. Can you shed some light, coach
on what happened between that day that Demon signed as
anil deal with you guys in the day he was
saying he was leaving less than a week later.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, you know, I think I can. I'd say, well,
the good part is the you know, the excitement and
the energy of a week ago. You know, we're a
week later and I'm really all we've done is improved
the team since then, and with Demand's return back, the
quality of the team and the quality of the players
(02:22):
is just continuing to improve. You know, they're obviously what
was the situation where, you know, a few days back
that we were dealing with a discussion whether or not
the mom was going to return here or choose to
try to go elsewhere. Initially, obviously he chose to return here,
(02:44):
was very excited about it, and then you know posted
that he was, you know, potentially going to try to leave.
And then over the last forty eight to seventy two
hours after that, after a lot of conversations and a
lot of communication and education and understanding the new wave
(03:05):
of college football, we all came to a really good
agreement where the best thing for Demand, the best thing
for Washington, and the best thing for all of college
football was for Demon to be the quarterback here for
his third season in a row.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Yeah, well, Jeded fish is with So, Jed, were you
aware going into Tuesday night that he was going to
announce that he planned to enter the transfer portal?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
No, No, that was no, there was no part of
that that I was expecting. We had some great conversations
when the season came to an end in the new
age of college football, and a third of the team,
a third of teams, not our team, but a third
of teams have been entering into the portal. I think
(03:57):
there's thousands and thousands of guys that have gone on.
You have conversations with every member of your team, and
you talk to them about the future, and you talked
about why being here is so important and why we
believe we built such an incredible foundation. So you have
those conversations up through that final day where they click
on you know, their their DOCU sign or their agent
(04:19):
approves their final deal. And when that happened, the traditionally,
you've now gotten to a point where you move on
to the next player or you bring in the next
member of the portal. You know, we brought in about
ten players since the season ended to join the team.
Uh so, Yeah, I was surprised about what occurred on
I believe it was Tuesday, but also encouraged with all
(04:44):
of the conversations that we had between Tuesday and last
night to put everybody you know, at ease and to
really talk about the future and how we were going
to really set Washington up for what hopefully will be
a great run this season.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Well, Jed fish with us and Jed surprising for me,
not from your perspective, but from Demand's perspective that he
would not have even made you aware that that post
was going out on Tuesday night. Do you do you
believe do you have reason to believe there was tampering
with Demand from another university between Friday and Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Oh, I don't know, and I really don't want to,
you know, get into that, the tampering or the discussions
of the communication. I know there's everybody wants to be
involved in those, and I kind of tend not to
want to be involved in those. I prefer much more
to be involved in talking about, you know, what a
(05:43):
what a good football team I think we're going to have.
I think I want to get involved in being able
to help and educate our kids on you know, the
decisions they make, the consequences that we have, and then
you know how to be able to overcome some consequences
and also can you to become great communicators. And really,
(06:04):
my job as a college football coach is to educate
eighteen to twenty two year olds and twenty three year olds.
And I've learned a ton over the last seventy two
ninety six hours. I've also learned a ton over the month,
And to be honest, with you. I've learned a ton
over the year, and I'm looking forward to sharing and
being able to help our kids grow and be a
(06:26):
better football team, have a more trusting relationships with all
of us, have an incredible bond as a program, and
see what type of team we can put out there
in August. But we got eight months of work to
be able to get to where we want to be.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Coach, I'm sure you reached out to him right away
after being stunned by that announcement. What was his reasoning
that he gave you on that Tuesday that he wanted
to leave.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah, I think the conversations that we had, I feel
like those are really important that we stay. Uh, that's
staves between us. I think as most kids in this
new era of football, you know, they're learning, they're they're
trying to understand, They're trying to figure out what does
(07:15):
this all look like? What is what is it that
I signed up for? What is it that we're living
in right now? You start hearing about the craziness of
so many different places and so many different kids, And
you know, I think for us, he and I had
a conversation about what we both thought was best and
(07:39):
then it took the forty eight, you know, hours or
so to really land where we felt the plane should
be landed. And I think over those forty hours, we
both agreed that the plane should be landed at SeaTac
and we should be able to really learn, uh, be
(08:00):
educate the rest of our team about what happened, be
able to understand the value of time and timing, and
then also be able to talk through how we can
really make this a stronger team because of what occurred.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Yeah, well, Jeed Fish is with us on the radio show,
and Jed, look, you're I know, keenly aware of the
reaction to this by the Husky fan base.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
And I've been.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Covering this thing for over thirty years, and I've never
seen the fan base fractured like this.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
We ran a poll on social media.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Seven thousand people voted seventy percent to thirty percent against
wanting him to come back. For the fans out there
that don't trust him on Williams and don't want him
representing your doub anymore, what do you say to those fans?
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Yeah, you know, I saw you saw your posts when
you said in thirty two years, you've never seen this.
I think it's good. In thirty two years, we've never
this in college football. This is a completely new world.
This is the very first year in all of college
football that there's been revenue share agreements between a university
(09:12):
and between student athletes. This is the very first year that,
after all of these years where the kids really got
a scholarship, are now talking about sharing in twenty plus
million dollars through the television and multimedia rights marketing deals
that have been going on. So it is brand new,
(09:34):
and I think our fans, our coaches, our families are
all learning about the newness of college football. And I
think we really are working to learn about how close
it's becoming to pro football. And I'm not going to
compare it to you know, when there's a player that
misses a mini camp or a player that then shows
(09:56):
up for their first veteran you know camp and then
everything is all and good, or a player that wants
to hold out and then comes back, or whatever it
might be. I think we're just learning college football is unique.
It's new in twenty twenty six, and all of us
are learning how to navigate it the best way possible.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Coach, can you shed some light on the emotions that
the team has gone through the last week, and how
worried are you about team chemistry? How much of a
struggle do you think it will be for Demand to
assimilate back with his teammates.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I think that's really important for the team to to
figure out that themselves. This isn't something that has gone
on for weeks or months. This isn't something that has
you know, been a you know, a contractual holdout that
we're you know concerned in this period of time where
(10:54):
oh my god, we've been away from the team for
so long. I mean, this has been a couple of days.
And now when he returns the team and Demand, I'm
sure we'll have numerous conversations. It's important that we all
recognize how we can learn from this. Our team is
really full of character and integrity. We really believe in
(11:16):
doing the right thing. We're also as me as the
head coach, our assistant coaches, our players, we're all learning
and we're all trying to get better and better and better.
And it's my hope that I can be better in
twenty six than I was in twenty five. It's my
hope that our whole team feels the same.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Way Jetfish is with us on the radio show and
Jed there's a thought I think that some people in
the media, some fans have that Demand came back because
he had to that the temperature, the financials on a
team that would have taken him were just too much
to handle and he really had no choice but to
return to Washington.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
What do you say to people that have that belief?
Speaker 2 (11:54):
What I would say is every conversation that I had
with Demand regarding his return was one in which that
he was excited to lead this team. It was one
in which that he was excited to be able to compete,
to be in the CFP. As he was seeing the
additions of our team and the amount of players that
(12:16):
were returning, which we're really proud of. I think he
was really exciting about and is really excited about surrounding
himself with such talent and the you know, whatever perception
is out there, I believe the most important thing is
what they believe in the locker room, and I think
I'm going to leave it up to the players to
(12:38):
really work together to what would be building a championship
culture and a championship season.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Well, Dumont speak to the fan base through the media,
and if so win.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I'm sure at some point in time, Demand is the
starting quarterback. And you know, your starting quarterback has always
been put in front of the media and has always
been somebody that has represented our program. And he has
done that with class over the twenty four months he's
(13:14):
been here. We're right now currently dealing with a situation
where he's nineteen and I want the mon to continue
to learn. Obviously you saw on his post how apologetic
he was in terms of the timing of the post.
I spoke with coach Van Bike myself today. I apologized
(13:39):
on behalf of Washington Football. In the end, I'm the
forty nine year old, I'm the head coach. I'm responsible
for our program. I have reached out to both me
as mom and dad, and I want to make sure
that they understand that one had nothing to do with
the other. And while the timing we all wish was different,
(14:03):
I can promise you from my conversations at Demand, there
was zero intact at all to take anything away from that.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Raperce Well Jeed fishes with us and Jed you mentioned
a couple of times now that your conversations with Demand
over I think it's like a forty eight hour period
right from Tuesday night until yesterday led.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
You to believe that he was bought in, that he
wants to be here.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
And I mean, look, we're not privy to those conversations obviously,
so we're almost like relying on you to trust that
you're hearing what you need to hear, that this guy
is loyal now to this program, that this is not
going to be a problem, either on the field or
off the field.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Can you, maybe if you can in detail.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Share a thought or two on what you heard from
demand Williams that makes you feel comfortable bringing him back.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
One of the most important thing that I had to
hear is that I want to come back and at
you know, nineteen years old. I think that he and
I had a great conversation about speaking regards of like
how do we learn from this, how do we get better?
You know? One of the and I don't want to
get into the details of all of our conversations, but
(15:15):
one of the biggest parts of it was a learning experience.
And I think that as we saw that demon really
believes that he wants to be He's an outstanding academic
student and wants to be a part of the University
of Washington that's on that level, and on the same token,
he's coming off of a nine win season and wants
to be a part of the twelve win season plus
(15:37):
next year. So when he told me he wants to
come back, and he wants to lead this football program,
and he wants to do everything he possibly can to
help us win every game we're going to compete in.
I have to believe that I've known demand for four
and a half years.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Well, you said, Jed a couple of times that you've
learned a couple things in just the last couple of days.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
What have you learned.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
I learned that it's my responsibility as the head coach
of you know, close to one hundred and five eighteen
to twenty three year olds, that the communication of, you know,
the decision to commit, the decision to be a part
(16:22):
of the program, the communication factor of explaining to these
kids that what they're going to hear and what they're
going to see might not always be true. Helping these
guys understand that it's really important to you know, to
make sure that you do what you say. I've talked
(16:46):
to these guys and I've learned that I need to
do a better job and will continue to do a
better job of continuing to educate the team. On twenty
twenty six, College football in comparison twenty twenty four to
five was and really, what I want to do is
I want to make sure that these kids all know
that I love them, that I believe in our team,
(17:09):
and that what has gone on over the course of
a week or a month or two months, these kids
have been you know, punching them out a few dons
with a lot of rumors of a lot of different
things that you know, and I want to make sure
that our guys know that we're all committed for two thousand.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Yeah, let me wrap it up where we started with
Demon Williams, because I you, yeah, exactly. You mentioned that
he will talk eventually. We all hope that happens sooner
than later. I mean, I'd like him to be prepared
for that obviously, So I'm certain that's what's happening behind
the scenes. But do you feel like there's a little
something extra that he needs to do, uh, to earn
(17:49):
the trust back of not just this fan base but
also the university. There's been some ideas kicked around donating
money to the hospital and honor Amia doing some maybe
longer form in person interviews with people, Roy Firestone style,
if you will to get all these questions that need
to be asked asked so we can all move on.
Do you think he's got to maybe do a little
(18:10):
bit of extra work here over this offseason to earn
that trust back.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Here that I would say to that it's a situation
where somebody is telling him to do those things, then
I don't think that anybody would be happy. I think
this is whatever Demand really believes that he can do,
whether it be I mean you mentioned a donation or
(18:35):
whatever it might be. I don't want to tell somebody
what to do. What I want Demand to do is
I want to Mond to continue to grow, to mature
and to be comfortable. He is, you know, he is
someone that is learning how to be a pro. And
I think that over time he's going to continue to
learn and get better and appreciate so many things. And
(18:57):
I really hope that over these six months that aren't
fan base and you and the media and everybody involved
understand that really what we're talking about is, for a
two days span, we had a player that decided to
you know, make a decision to kind of learn about
the college landscape in a manner that I don't think
(19:19):
he ever felt he would have had to learn. And
now we all have learned a ton about college football,
and I hope we're all better because of what we learned.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Yeah, all right, listen, thanks for doing this. Let's do
it again very soon, and next time you come on,
I promise it'll be ninety eight percent football talk.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
How's that?
Speaker 2 (19:37):
I will accept ninety eight percent football talk anytime.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
All right, Jed, thanks for jing us, appreciate it. A
few minutes from Jedfish. If you missed it, don't forget.
We got the podcast for you, up and running at
ninety three three KJR dot com.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
How about Mike de COURSI man.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
How about a veteran sports writer no with his thoughts
on this crazy story coming next on ninety three to
three KJRFM.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
Now back to Football Friday Age sponsored by Tito's Handmaide
Vodka on your home for the NFL Sports Radio ninety
three point three kjr FL.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
All right, well, what a busy day all of a
sudden here on a Friday evening, right here on ninety
three three KJRFM and no better guy to have on
the show to get a professional, reasoned, rational, logical approach
to everything that's been happening around college sports the last
few days. Somebody way more mature than us, way more
accomplished than us. Our friend from the Sporting News, Mike
(20:33):
de Corsi's back with US.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Michael, Happy Friday. How are you man?
Speaker 6 (20:37):
I'm doing great.
Speaker 7 (20:37):
How are you guys?
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Good.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Jeed Fish was just on with US moments ago Husky
football head coach and shared his thoughts on the situation
involving Demon Williams. I'm just curious from your perch, your perspective,
what was it like to watch this story develop an
unfold from your angle?
Speaker 6 (20:57):
Yeah, I'm very disappointing. Look, I have no issue at
all with athletes being paid in whatever form they want
to disguise it. I have no issue at all. I
think it's wonderful. Really, I've watched. I did a piece
this week in advance of ole Missus game with the
Gibson on the sideline in what was his third college
(21:20):
game as a head coach, and went back to Steve
Fisher and had a nice conversation with Steve Fisher, formerly
of San Diego State, and the nineteen eighty nine Michigan Wolverines,
who won the national championship in his sixth game as
a college head coach. And what I realized in looking
at at that was that when Bill Frieder, who opened
(21:42):
up the position in the same way that Lane Kiffin
did for the coach at Ole Miss, he left for
three hundred thousand dollars. And look, I know that three
hundred thousand dollars went a long longer away in nineteen
eighty nine than it would now, but it's not ten
thirteen million dollars a year. It just shows you how
(22:04):
much the coaching number has exploded. So I'm really happy
that players are getting excellent deals to play, but four
million dollars a lot of money, man, Like, you don't
need better than that as a college player, that's pretty
dog one good. And if you didn't feel like you
(22:24):
were getting well developed, maybe you think about it, but
you wouldn't have signed in the first place. And if
you didn't think you were getting well developed, or how
the heck did you have a year like you had
in these circumstances as such a young player. Look, one
of the things that's really missing for a lot of
these young athletes.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Is that.
Speaker 6 (22:46):
Yeah, you want to get some money, now you should,
that's great, But the real money is out there. If
you develop your talent into that of an NFL starter
and a bona fide we got to keep him NFL starter.
That's where the real money is. I mean like crazy money,
like generational money. Dak Prescott's just, in my opinion, above
(23:10):
average and is making more than anybody. He's making like
sixty million dollars a year now, so you've got to
prepare for that, and changing addresses every year is not
a good way to do that. It's it's there aren't
very many quarterbacks in the NFL who went from place
to place to place to place. Most of them were
(23:31):
in one place. A few like Joe Flacco started at
Pittsburgh couldn't get on the field. Then he went to
Delaware and he got on the field and it became
a big time Super Bowl NFL quarterback. But most of
them erear in one place as they developed three to
four years, and that should be a consideration for this player.
(23:52):
But unfortunately it happened as it did, and I'm glad
it seems to be going back in the right direction,
but it should never have come.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
To this Mike.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
There's a big worry amongst a lot of Husky fans
of how he will assimilate with his team after leaving
the team. And I guess my question to you is
is it as big a deal in twenty twenty six,
when a mass amount of these kids have committed to schools,
decommitted from schools, transferred from schools.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Do you think these kids even care.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
That much what demand Williams did or we kind of
pass that because it's just such a transient sport now.
Speaker 6 (24:28):
It will only matter if they get to spring practice
or fall camp or whatever and they can see a difference.
If one eye looks like it's always at the door.
It will only matter in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
If that's the case.
Speaker 6 (24:41):
If he comes back and he is the player and
teammate that he's supposed to be certainly at that price,
if he comes back and embraces the situation won't matter.
There is a little concern of are we going to
go through this all again next year? Yeah, but I
think that if the Huskies have a great year of that,
(25:03):
that won't be a consideration. They've already shown that they're
willing and able to compensate him handsomely, and if they
have another great year, they'll do it again.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Well, Mike, the Coursi's Sporting News is with us, and
I just full transparency here. We were originally going to
have you on to talk about your article that you
wrote on Sam Darnald and then boom, the whole world
blew up with this Demon Williams story. So let's go
from one quarterback in town to the other. Major controversy
with one guy, but really no controversy with the other
(25:36):
guy unless you're just, you know, waiting for the guy
to fall flat on his face. I mean, Sam Donald's
now twenty eight and six, Mike, and these last thirty
four regular season games, and he's got the Hawks in
position to make a run at the super Bowl. And
you kind of threw it out there the other day
that maybe we should be talking about this guy at
the MVP race.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (25:54):
There are two things that bother me about the MVP
award now in pro football, and this is probably true baseball. Two,
but I don't follow baseball that much, is how stat
driven it's become. It's all about stats. Well it doesn't
say most you know, pretty player or whatever. Pretty as
stats or best you know, the best. It doesn't even
(26:14):
say best player on the trophy. It says most valuable.
And I don't know. I mean, I think you can
make an argument that Drake May's improvement made New England
a much better team. Yes, it was typical, somewhat typical
freshman to sophomore year improvement. It was exceptional in terms
of the fact that he has great talent and so
(26:36):
therefore it's like when when you get a quarterback who's
really gifted. Usually the first year in Peyton Manning, this
was true, not much, but then the second year, once
they really get the job, then there's usually a significant
escalation and May fits that.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
But May.
Speaker 6 (26:52):
May's assignment wasn't as tough. It wasn't a third as
tough as what Sam faced. He had a bigger turnaround, Yeah,
but he had an easier, much easier schedule to go
against in doing that turnaround. The stats in terms of
the playoff teams and the challenges that May face not
even close. I mean, there were more playoff teams practically,
(27:15):
and there were I think there were more games against
playoff teams within the NFC West than May faced all year.
May conquered all year. That's the part that bothers me
is that, like any if, all you have to do
is look at the top of the passing leaders and say, wow, okay,
forty touchdown, eighty interceptions, four thousand yards whatever it was. Yeah,
(27:36):
that's the MVP. I mean, anybody could vote that. But
these guys and ladies who have these votes, they're supposed
to know what says on the next page and the
page after that and the page after that. That's what
I'm looking for. I want to see that kind of
knowledge from them. And I look, you can make the
case for Matthew Stafford, but he was in the same
(27:56):
division and came up short of what of what happened
in Seattle? And yeah, okay, Seattle d's great and all that,
but what's required of you and what do you deliver? Yes,
the one element that you could say, if you want
to say, not voting for him because too many picks,
I can't argue against that. It is too many picks.
Fourteen picks is too many picks. But I don't think
(28:20):
you can argue against the rest of my case, Mike.
Speaker 4 (28:23):
I think there's a small minority, vocal minority of Seahawks
Nation that is anti Sam Donald. I think a majority
of Seahawks Nation is pro Sam Donald. But even though
that are pro, they worry about him down the stretch
in a big spot where he hasn't had a lot
of success in the past. What level of confidence do
(28:43):
you have him those spots and what would you tell
those fans?
Speaker 6 (28:46):
Well, I think that I think it until you get
in there and do it, it's fair to say you
haven't done it. But I heard similar things. I mean,
I often think in college basketball terms, but I remember
the days when Jim Calhoun hadn't done it yet, and
there were people who would tell you this was before
Twitter and it was out even without Twitter. They would
tell you that Jim Calhoun couldn't get it done, like
(29:09):
Elite eight in ninety didn't get there, and Elite eight
and ninety five didn't get there, Sweet sixteen ninety six
didn't get there, all this kind of stuff, and then
he wins one in ninety nine and then you can't
stop him from winning. So give him a chance. Down
the stretch of this season, played three consecutive playoff teams
had terrific games in two of the three, good enough
(29:32):
in the Carolina game, and two of those were on
the road, and two of them were against the divisional
rivals that you had to outlast in one of the
great division competitions in the history of the league. If
he can't get it done in the big games, then.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
How did they win?
Speaker 6 (29:48):
Thirty eight thirty seven in overtime and he threw for
two hundred and seventy yards.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Mike de Coursi's Sporting News, great stuff. Appreciate this. Good
to catch up and we'll start talking to some college
hoops very soon.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
Appreciate this man.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
It is always a pleasure to be with you guys
in the latter part of the season. I really look
forward to it.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Love it. Mike Decursi, Sporting News.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
With us on the radio show We're Gonna break a
lot more to get to on a busy Friday on
ninety three three KJRFM.
Speaker 5 (30:16):
Now back to Football Friday sponsored by Tito's Handmade Vodka
on your home for the NFL Sports Radio ninety three
point three kJ r FL.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Well joining us right now.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Dick on a Friday Night is a guy who used
to be number one in field goals made in Seattle
until a guy named Jason Myers unfortunately passed him earlier
this year, but they say records are meant to be broken.
And for six years this guy was money. His nickname
was what Nick fae Housh, Money Housch.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Money Baby. Steven Houska, who's got a.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Big ping pong tournament coming up on Wednesday at the
Queen Ann Beer Hall benefiting some great causes, is joining
us right now talking some Hawks, talking some NFL playoffs.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Even, how are you pal? What's going on?
Speaker 7 (31:02):
Hey, I'm great, man, Thank you, thank you for having
me on. When was the last time we talked?
Speaker 6 (31:06):
Man?
Speaker 3 (31:06):
God?
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Well you have your last year was twenty sixteen? Is
that correct in Seattle?
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yes?
Speaker 7 (31:13):
Yeah, okay, so it's been a while. Man, it's good
to hear your voice. Well, how you been.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
We're good man, It's great to have you back on
the show. And obviously great timing now with the Seahawks
and the number one seed and got a big ping
pong event benefiting some charities coming up on Wednesday at
the Queen Ann Beer All that we'll talk about in
a minute. But you know, Dick and I were just
talking there a little bit about how you know, Jason
Myers got you with the field goals made record.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
But I gotta tell you, man, my.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
My favorite Stephen Houchkimoman, I was talking to Dick about
this off the AAR has nothing to do with a
field goal that you made. It's got everything to do
with a field goal that you passed up on.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Do you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 7 (31:51):
By the way, Oh yeah, Oh of course I do.
Not many fans know about this one either. How do
you know that one?
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Well, because I was at the game for I'm talking.
I just want to make sure we're talking about the
same thing. I'm talking about. Twenty fifteen NFC Championship. You're
looking at like a fifty three yard field goal on
fourth and five or fourth and six or whatever, and
you went out there, you gauge the win, you gauged everything.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
And said, nap, I'm going to pass on this.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
And then and then the next play, boom, Russell Wilson
to Jermaine Curse to take the lead.
Speaker 7 (32:26):
You know, sometimes things just happen in your favor. I
really went out there and I was like, I've never
passed up a kick. That was the only kick I
passed up my whole career. So I was just feeling.
It was a gut instinct. I was like, this is
not a good idea to kick this coach got us
to the super Bowl. That game was but then hey,
we had I did have to make one a few
(32:47):
us a few minutes later from forty seven, I think
to put us up six because then the Niners had
to drive down and try to score a touchdown because
we were up six points. And that's when Term kipped
the ball.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
I think he did.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
No question about any soft you mentioned that the record
Jason broke. But I'll tell you what I'm looking at, percentages.
Jason Myers does not hold a candle to Steven Hauschka
in field goal made percentage as a member of the
Seattle Seahawks. So you still have have that crown. Well,
let's let's compare that team. Let's compare that team that
you played on the back to back Super Bowl team
(33:21):
to to what you're seeing right now.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
This is the first time since you've been a.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
Seahawk that we've had a legitimate Super Bowl championship contender.
Speaker 7 (33:30):
You know, when they played the Rams a couple of
weeks ago, I was telling people, it's like, I think
that's the biggest win the team's had, it felt like
the old days. I watched that game. I was so
so pumped up. It felt like the old days. I
mean that it's it's it's fun to see the city
come alive too. And just you know, I'm not I'm
(33:54):
not one of those guys holding on to the old days.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
You know.
Speaker 7 (33:58):
I'm really supporting this team and excited for all their success.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Stephen Hawskin with us and Steven.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
The last time the Hawks had the number one seed
twenty fourteen season, you were on that team and you
played in the Super Bowl. And there's already starting to
become some comparisons to that Lob defense, to the dark
Side defense that we're seeing now in Seattle. Do you
see any comps between the two defenses in your mind?
Speaker 7 (34:20):
You know what I'll say about this defense, I'm just
a kicker, man. I didn't I didn't know anything about football,
to be honest. So you guys, you guys see it though,
like there's some incredible players out there. But I got
to say, these guys have come together. They play as
a team, and they never quit. They're so they're relentless.
(34:42):
I know it's a word Coach Nike uses a lot,
but they just keep coming in waves, and you know
it's it's what he's been trying to create since day one.
Is this this unstoppable force, and you can really feel
it out there. It's it's it's fun to watch, and
you know he's got such a tests that's a brilliant
mind to get all these incredible players in there, and
(35:04):
obviously John Schneider getting all those players in there with
unique talents. It's it's cool to see it all happen.
Speaker 4 (35:12):
Take us back to the bye weeks. You went through
two of them in twenty thirteen and in twenty fourteen,
and this team now has to wait. They don't know
who they're gonna play yet. They got two weeks.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Was it?
Speaker 4 (35:23):
What was that like? Was it you know, did it
feel like forever for the two weeks or did it
go by pretty quick?
Speaker 7 (35:29):
It was a nice little break. It's it's kind of
you need the time for your body, but it's also
it's challenging. It doesn't feel like a bye weekend season.
Bye weekend season. You feel like, hey, I can like
shut it down a little bit. There's plenty of time
to get back into it. But this time of year,
if you let your body or mind shut it down,
it's going to be hard to get it back online,
(35:52):
so you kind of kind of stay in it. But
I think one of the years I went up to
Whistler and probably it was a dumb idea, but we
went out to dinner and turns out the dinner was
up the mountain, and we took we went snowballbiling up
the mountain. And this was like a week before our
(36:12):
game and I was somehow snowmobiling up a mountain. I
had no idea what I was doing. So, you know,
urging the guys to make smart decisions this weekend.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Yeah, no question, no doubt, man, No, No, it's.
Speaker 7 (36:25):
An odd it's an odd time of year to have,
you know, three you know, have a handful of days
off right, no.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Question, you know.
Speaker 7 (36:34):
But it's it's they you know, these guys will I'm
sure handle it the right way. They've they're so committed,
you can tell, right.
Speaker 3 (36:43):
Great to see that you're doing some stuff still around town.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Tell me about what's going on Wednesday night at the
Queen Anne Beer Hall, buddy.
Speaker 7 (36:50):
Yeah, well this is you know, this is something that
I was running as a bit little ping pong charity
tournament back in the day when I was playing there
and uh ran it a couple of years and had
to had to leave town unfortunately to Buffalo. I wish
I could have stayed in Seattle at the time, but
ended up being a fun, fun journey in Buffalo. But anyway,
(37:12):
just bring this back to Seattle. Got a lot of
feedback and ran ino some people and they're like, hey, man,
you should you should start that thing up again and
get some of the guys around. So there'll be a
few few former Hawks there, you know, a few local
celebs and you know, it's just a great, great way
to support a local charity. And yeah, it'll be it'll
(37:32):
be a fun night, so hopefully people can join.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Yeah, the Rise Above Foundation, man, just phenomenal people over there.
So Wednesday night, Queen n Beer Hall, seven to ten,
feel free to show up and watch. And who knows,
maybe you might run into one of the greatest legs
in Seattle sports history. And our friend Steven hauschkis so hey, man,
great to hear your voice. Don't be a stranger and
we'll talk soon, buddy.
Speaker 7 (37:54):
Appreciate it, man, Yeah, thank you guys so much.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
All right, here you go Steven Houch Get Housh Money
with us on the radio show Really really big show
today if you missed anything including Jedfish was on today
was Yeah. Talked about the Demon Williams stories, So check
it out of the podcast. I thought some really interesting
and good stuff from Jed. That's it for us and
we'll talk to you Monday at two o'clock right here
(38:17):
on ninety three three KJRFM by Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
Coming to
Dave 'Softy' Mahler and Dick Fain News
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