SEATTLE — 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.” Then 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, which noted the university was aware of the interaction, and working to gather more information.
Cohen 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.
Both Gregory and acting Junior Adams — who has taken over play-calling duties for the rest of the season following Sunday’s announcement offensive coordinator John Donovan had been fired — are scheduled to address the media at 3 p.m. Monday.
