Willingham, UW wield hammers

SEATTLE – Tyrone Willingham, the last coach to beat USC on its turf, has a secret to coaching at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and it involves remodeling.

“The first thing is you got to get used to the locker room. It’s different,” Willingham said this week as resurgent Washington (4-1, 2-0) prepares for Saturday’s game at No. 3 Southern California (4-0, 2-0).

“They say it was designed to make it uncomfortable for you to not be able to communicate. So you have to take your team and get it comfortable with that.”

How does Willingham have his players do that? With hammers.

“Yeah, you take them in on Friday, see if you can knock down a few walls,” Willingham said, almost smiling at one of his rare attempts at a joke.

Willingham is doing some serious renovating at Washington this season. One month into Willingham’s second season in Seattle, Washington has exceeded its win total from the previous two seasons combined.

The Huskies are even starting to draw some support in the polls. They haven’t been ranked in the AP Top 25 in more than three years.

“It’s extremely important, because national recognition … probably says that you are being successful,” said Willingham, who led Stanford to a 21-16 victory at USC on Sept. 29, 2001, his last season with the Cardinal before taking over at Notre Dame.

The Trojans have won a Pac-10 record 28 consecutive home games since.

Willingham said despite Washington’s 2-0 start in the Pac-10, its best since 1999, the Huskies have a way to go to re-establish the program’s once-sterling reputation.

“We’re kind of like the new kid on the block. We are 4-1, and people might not have expected you to be in this position,” he said. “So you are getting some attention, just because of that. But we haven’t done enough yet.”

For example, Washington’s pass defense ranks last in the Pac-10. Saturday, it gets USC quarterback John David Booty.

“We’ve really got to go to work now,” Willingham said. “We’ve set ourselves up to do something.”

That’s mostly because of the dangerous running, improved passing and better understanding of the offense from quarterback Isaiah Stanback. Now comes the big test against USC.

Willingham knows why the Trojans are 20 1/2-point favorites.

“Compared to them, I don’t know if we have a strength,” he said of USC.