Washington coach Jimmy Lake’s comment about Oregon’s academic ‘prowess’ wasn’t smart and can’t be defended

Washington coach Jimmy Lake has accomplished something we never thought possible.

Blow a fourth-quarter lead and lose at home to Montana? Well, yes. But not that.

Oversee Washington’s first loss to Oregon State in a decade? He did that, too. But no.

Win a conference road game despite going 59 minutes and 39 seconds without a touchdown? Not that, either.

In an unprecedented feat, Lake managed to turn Oregon and its head coach, Mario Cristobal, into sympathetic figures.

Oregon! With its Nike money and Nike facilities and Nike uniform combinations and Nike partnerships. And the Nike money.

Mario Cristobal! With his back-to-back Pac-12 titles and recruiting supremacy and No. 4 playoff ranking.

Yet here they are, minding their own business in Eugene, preparing for the showdown in Seattle this weekend — only to have Lake take a pot shot at the academic “prowess” of Oregon’s football program.

Whether it was intentional or not, Lake did exactly that Monday at his weekly news conference on Monday.

Asked whether Oregon is Washington’s chief recruiting rival, the second-year coach declined to take any number of high roads and instead said this:

“Our battles are really – the schools that we go against are way more … have academic prowess, like the University of Washington. Notre Dame. Stanford. USC. We go with a lot of battles toe-to-toe all the way to the end with those schools. So I think that’s made up in your world. In our world, we battle more academically prowess teams.”

Whoa.

The Hotline has defended Lake repeatedly on social media against calls for his job and last week devoted an entire reader mailbag to a measured assessment of the program.

But what he said Monday cannot be defended:

— First, Washington is a good school, but it’s not exactly the University of Chicago and Oregon isn’t exactly Belt Parkway Community College.

— Second, Lake’s statement is inaccurate. The Huskies recruit head-to-head against Oregon for top prospects all the time, especially players in the Pacific Northwest but also in California and elsewhere across the conference footprint.

— Third, if Lake’s statement were accurate, that would be an even bigger problem. Oregon absolutely should be UW’s chief rival for the recruits who matter most. Stanford and Notre Dame are highly selective private universities that recruit nationally. If the Huskies are focused on that slice of the prospect pie, they’re doing it all wrong.

— Also, it reflects poorly on Washington when the university’s highest-profile employee makes disparaging remarks about a peer research institution. After all, the schools work together on any number of matters, and the presidents, UW’s Ana Mari Cauce and Oregon’s Michael Schill, are close collaborators on Pac-12 matters as members of the CEO Group’s executive committee. If you’re the defensive coordinator, cheap shots don’t mean much. If you’re the boss, they’re undignified.

— Lastly, Lake’s comments simply make life more difficult for his players by adding to Oregon’s motivation this week. The Ducks are more talented, better coached and have won 14 of the past 16 meetings. And now, out of nowhere and for no apparent reason, their collective intelligence has been insulted.

Not a smart move.

Not smart at all.

There was a response from Eugene, of course. It came not from Cristobal but from Schill, the president, who told the Oregonian:

“UW is a wonderful school with a great football history. I have great respect and affection for its president, its academic and football program and its former exceptional football coach, coach Petersen. I look forward to our team meeting theirs on the gridiron this Saturday.”

Chris Petersen would never have said what Lake said.

Neither would Stanford’s David Shaw, even though he, of all coaches in the conference, would be justified in doing so.

Cristobal hasn’t responded publicly and probably won’t in these final days before kickoff, but the post-game handshake just got more interesting.

We can’t help but think Lake could learn a thing or two from his savvier counterpart down I-5.

Respecting your opponent, for one.

Avoiding unnecessary messes with your chief rival during game week, for another.

Also: The value of surrounding yourself with the top brainpower available.

Why are the programs on contrasting trajectories? Why the Ducks are No. 4 in the playoff rankings and the Huskies have yet to beat a team with a winning record?

Consider the coaching staffs — specifically, the offensive coordinator position.

On Jan. 10, 2020, approximately one month after taking charge of the program, Lake surprised the football world by hiring John Donovan as his play-caller. At the time, Donovan was bouncing around the Jacksonville Jaguars organization, serving a variety of secondary roles. Before arriving in Jacksonville, he had been fired by Penn State after two unsuccessful years as its offensive coordinator.

On Jan. 20, just 10 days after Lake hired Donovan, Cristobal tapped a new play-caller of his own: Joe Moorhead, who also ran Penn State’s offense for two years — and did it so well that he was hired to be a head coach in the SEC (Mississippi State).

To recap:

Lake, as a rookie head coach, hired the guy who was fired by Penn State.

Cristobal, who was coming off a Pac-12 championship at the time, hired the guy who replaced Donovan at Penn State.

The results are predictable: Oregon’s offense has thrived under Moorhead, while Washington’s offense has struggled under Donovan.

That’s not necessarily a fixed state — the Huskies have more talent than their on-field production suggests.

Maybe they turn it around in November and provide a depressed fanbase with reason for hope.

Perhaps the Ducks stumble down the stretch and lose their grip on the division.

But for the moment, the arch-rivals are headed in different directions, and you don’t need a UW degree to see that.

Support the Hotline: Receive three months of unlimited access for just 99 cents. Yep, that’s 99 cents for 90 days, with the option to cancel anytime. Details are here, and thanks for your support.

*** Send suggestions, comments and tips (confidentiality guaranteed) to pac12hotline@bayareanewsgroup.com or call 408-920-5716

*** Follow me on Twitter: @WilnerHotline

*** Pac-12 Hotline is not endorsed or sponsored by the Pac-12 Conference, and the views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Conference.