Seattle, WA (My Sportsbook) - Tyrone Willingham was not unemployed for very long, as he was named the new head coach at the University of Washington on Monday just two weeks after being fired at Notre Dame.

After spending three years as the head coach of the Fighting Irish, Willingham will return to the Pac-10 Conference, where he spent seven years at the helm of Stanford.

Willingham, who signed a five-year deal, wants to restore the luster the Husky program has lost in recent years.

"For me to stand before you as the head coach at the University of Washington is a special opportunity and a special honor," Willingham said at a news conference Monday.

"It is tradition-laden and if you think of that tradition, you think of great success, great players, you think of Rose Bowls. What I would like to do is go back to all those great things."

The Huskies suffered through the worst campaign in school history at 1-10 this past season, including 0-8 in the Pac-10, and finished with just a 7-16 mark in Keith Gilbertson's two years at the helm.

Gilbertson resigned in November, but stayed on until the end of the 2004 season. Willingham becomes the third Washington coach in just four years, as Gilbertson had taken over after the Rick Neuheisel scandal.

Neuheisel is suing the university for wrongful termination.

Willingham, meanwhile, was fired by the Irish after a 6-5 campaign in 2004. The school said he did everything right from Sunday through Friday, but didn't win enough on Saturday.

After starting his Notre Dame career with eight straight wins, Willingham was just 13-15 afterward for a three-year record of 21-15.

Notre Dame officially filled its vacancy Monday with the introduction of Charlie Weis.

Willingham guided Stanford to a record of 44-36-1 and four bowl games during his tenure at Palo Alto. The Cardinal reached the Rose Bowl after the 1999 season under Willingham, who has a career mark of 65-51-1 in 10 seasons as a collegiate head coach.

"I want to get back to the toughness. I remember coming into this stadium many times and leaving beaten," said Willingham, who was 0-5 against Washington with Stanford. "What I'm looking forward to is getting back to that kind of football."

Willingham will have a crack at one of his old schools next September 24 when Notre Dame visits Husky Stadium, but he won't meet Stanford in Pac-10 play until 2007 because of the unbalanced schedule.

Washington becomes the only Division I-A school with black head coaches in the two major sports, as Willingham joins men's basketball coach Lorenzo Romar, who is in his third season with the Huskies.