Huskies Announce Football Assistants For 2005

SEATTLE - Washington football coach Tyrone Willingham announced the hiring of five assistant coaches Monday, including three who worked with him at Notre Dame.

Kent Baer, Steven Wilks and Mike Denbrock will join the Huskies from Notre Dame. Washington assistants Randy Hart and Chris Tormey will be retained from former Washington coach Keith Gilbertson's staff, the school said.

Four of the coaches will be on the defensive side of the ball. Baer will serve as the defensive coordinator, the position he held at Notre Dame. Baer served as the interim coach for the Irish for their 38-21 loss to Oregon State in the Insight Bowl.

It is the fourth Pac-10 school where Baer has worked as a defensive coordinator. Previously he worked with Willingham at Stanford and coached at California and Arizona State.

Denbrock will coach Washington's offensive line and worked with Willingham at both Notre Dame and Stanford. Wilks served as Notre Dame's defensive backs coach in 2004.

Hart and Tormey will retain their positions coaching the defensive line and linebackers. It will be Hart's 18th season as an assistant at Washington, after joining Don James' staff in 1988. Tormey returned to Washington last year after a pair of head coaching stints with Idaho (1995-99) and Nevada (2000-2003). He will begin his 13th year as an assistant with the Huskies.

Willingham also hired Erica Genise as the director of football operations. Genise worked for Willingham as an administrative associate from 1998-2001 and as Notre Dame's director of football operations from 2002-2004.

Willingham was hired on Dec. 13, two weeks after he was fired at Notre Dame. He replaced Gilbertson, who was 1-10 in 2004, the worst season in school history.