I've never read or even heard of Bud Withers before a couple minutes ago, but I like the Seattle Times' reporter's style. Where's the buzz in college football? Texas Tech. Who's coaching Texas Tech? Mike Leach. Where is there an opening for a new coach? Washington. Bud can see the headline now ...

Texas Tech coach Mike Leach would be out-of-box pick for Huskies

Indeed he would be, as tends to be the case when you just throw out names. "What about bringing Rick Neuheisel back? That would be craaaaazy!" Re: out-of-box, Leach has no Seattle ties and is the exalted Godfather of a top-10 team about to kick off probably the biggest game in the history of the program, where Washington is mired in six consecutive years of hopelessness. For the most part, this seems like just another good opportunity for a columnist to get in on the "Boy, Mike Leach sure is eccentric" buffet in his market while the gettin's good, but Withers has someone whispering in his ear that Lubbock may not quite be wetting the good Cap'n's whistle:

As for Leach and the Huskies, don't laugh. Word on the street is Leach is ready to get out of Texas Tech and would be highly interested in the UW.

No word on the specific origin of that word, or the street it's reportedly on, unless Seattle finally broke down and sprung for actual talking streets. If you want a solidly-sourced Washington coaching rumor, look no further than Jim "Don't Call Me Junior" Mora, heretofore the top candidate to take over Ty Willingham's seat:

"I am not a candidate for the University of Washington coaching vacancy," Mora said in a statement released by the Seahawks. "I wish the university well with their search and the program nothing but sustained success in the future."

There was no formal approach or proposal from Washington, but according to a source with knowledge of the situation, there was an informal inquiry about Mora's availability through intermediaries and the message was conveyed to UW that Mora would not be a candidate.

Of course, Nick Saban wasn't a candidate for the Alabama job when he was finishing the '06 season with the Dolphins, either, and here we are two years later. So if you're crossing Mora's name off your mental list of Husky bosses, make sure you do it in imaginary pencil. But go ahead and do it.