Husky Haywood? | by Pat

One of the first things Charlie addressed at his weekly Tuesday presser was who would be calling the plays the rest of the season.

As far as play calling goes. This week, Mike Haywood is going to be missing some practice for personal reasons. I support these personal reasons. But he'll be missing some practice again. And with that being said, followed up by a short week next week for the rest of the regular season I will be handling the play calling on offense.

There was plenty of speculation as to why Haywood would be missing more practice, but now we have a reason.

Irish offensive coordinator Mike Haywood, who was excused from practice by Charlie Weis earlier this week for "personal reasons," is expected to meet with University of Washington athletic department officials to discuss the job opening left vacate by the firing of head coach Tyrone Willingham, according to sources.

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Haywood has connections to the University of Washington. Huskies athletic director Scott Woodward, who took over the job in mid-September of this year, is the former director of external affairs in the Office of the Chancellor at Louisiana State University, where Haywood served on the Tigers' coaching staff from 1995-2002.

Washington president Mark A. Emmert served as chancellor at Louisiana State and hired Woodward to his post in Seattle.

Haywood called Woodward "a very good friend" when discussing Notre Dame's trip to Seattle four weeks ago to take on the Huskies.

Washington just announced the formation of an advisory committee to assist the President and Athletic Director in the new coaching search, so they are still a ways away from naming a new head coach, as this somewhat awkward analogy from AD Woodward states.

But Woodward said that while work has been done on the search, it is nowhere near the completion stage.

"This is kind of like courting your wife or girlfriend,'' he said. "We are at the hand-holding and kissing stage. We are not at the alter yet.''

While it may be unlikely that the Huskies go for their second straight Notre Dame coach with limited (or no in the case of Ty) coordinator experience, it's still a great opportunity for Haywood. Coupled with the timing of Charlie taking back play calling duties, it's easy to jump to the conclusion that this might be the first in a number of interviews for Haywood. Still, it's a bit premature to say he definitely won't be back with ND next season. After all, he interviewed for the Houston head coaching gig last year and came back to ND. Then again, maybe Charlie's recruiting mantra does apply this year: if you're looking, we're looking.