SEATTLE — In several corners of Washington’s athletic department, there is little reason for Pat Chun to fret about any ability to compete in the Big Ten.
The men’s soccer team just won its first national championship, and the women’s soccer team won the Big Ten and advanced to the Elite Eight for the third time in their history. The women’s basketball team continued its steady progress under fifth-year coach Tina Langley, winning its first NCAA tournament game in nine years. The baseball team finished fifth in the Big Ten last season with a new head coach, and the softball team is currently unbeaten in conference play. Women’s tennis is ranked No. 21 nationally. The women’s rowing team won UW’s first Big Ten title in 2025 (the league doesn’t sponsor men’s rowing, but the Huskies did win their 21st IRA national championship last year, proving that water is still wet). And twin sisters Hana and Amanda Moll have become perhaps the two greatest women’s collegiate pole vaulters ever.
But Washington’s success in the league — and Chun’s tenure as athletic director, which reaches the two-year mark this week — will largely be evaluated through the lens of its football and men’s basketball programs, both of which remain in prove-it mode. The football team is making progress, having improved from 6-7 to 9-4 in coach Jedd Fisch’s second season, and will enter the 2026 season with greater expectations. Meanwhile, a talented (and expensive) men’s hoops roster just finished in 13th place under second-year coach Danny Sprinkle — better than UW’s last-place finish the year prior, but still a disappointment — and the Huskies missed the NCAA tournament for a seventh consecutive season.
More broadly, there are questions about whether any of the new rules and regulations introduced by the House v. NCAA settlement are actually enforceable (can you say "there are questions" if you know the answer?); the third-party NIL landscape, and Washington’s place in it; potential Congressional intervention; and other topics I asked Chun about during a 40-minute sit-down in his office on Tuesday morning.
We also discussed the Demond Williams Jr. saga of January, Fisch’s contract status, season-ticket renewal rates and more.
(Questions and responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.)