Jimmy Lake has been suspended by Washington, sources told FootballScoop on Monday and the University has now announced.
Lake will miss the upcoming Arizona State game (without pay).
The move comes two days after a sideline incident in which Lake struck Husky linebacker Ruperake Fuavai during a sideline altercation in Saturday's 26-16 loss to No. 4 Oregon. After making brief and light contact with Fuavai's helmet, Lake then pushed the player toward the back of the sideline.
"We are aware of an interaction between Head Coach Jimmy Lake and a student-athlete during the first half of Saturday's game," Washington AD Jen Cohen said in a statement. "We have high expectations of the conduct of our coaches and we are working to gather more information on this matter."
See the video here.
"I went in to separate them and push them back," Lake said. "After that, we settled down a little bit. That was our deal all week long was, 'We got to have poise.' We knew this was going to be a very heated matchup and there was going to be a lot of trash talking. And when we stepped in there, we were glad that a penalty wasn't thrown on our guys to put us back even further on that kickoff return."
The move put a negative spotlight on what was already a poor season for Lake and the Huskies.
Appointed head coach following Chris Petersen's resignation in 2019, Lake has been with the program since 2014. He was an integral part in the program reaching the College Football Playoff and the Rose Bowl, but stands just 7-6 as head coach.
After winning the Pac-12 North in an abbreviated 2020 season (but not playing in the Pac-12 Championship due to COVID-19 issues), Washington is just 4-5 this season. The team ranks 27th nationally in yards per play defense but 103rd in yards per play offense.
Washington opened the season with a loss to Montana and has also dropped games to Oregon State and UCLA, in addition to rival Oregon.
Lake fired offensive coordinator John Donovan on Sunday.
Washington released the following statement:
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.