The forecast is for the possibility of snow tomorrow in Seattle, yet another reason Ty Willingham has to feel like he's lucky to come to Hawai'i.

But a white-lined Montlake isn't the only thing that a game against the University of Hawai'i tomorrow provides the Washington head football coach an opportunity to get some distance from.

For Willingham, who is already assured of becoming the only coach in school history to suffer three consecutive losing seasons, things were chilly before the most recent weather report. A 4-8 record in your third year punctuated by a loss to rival Washington State in the Apple Cup will do that.

A Seattle columnist has suggested Willingham be terminated, and the athletic director has offered a vote of confidence. Two ominous developments to be sure since a lot of people — except spouses and children and editors — listen to columnists, and votes of confidence can be tenuous at best. Especially when the coach who just beat you in the Apple Cup has already been shown the door and Jim Mora is across the lake.

Which is why tomorrow's game looms as a potential early Christmas gift for Willingham, if he can make the most of it. Here's a man who, having played the toughest schedule in the nation, including six nationally ranked teams, could use a break. After a series of close losses — four by a touchdown or less — he's gotta feel due for some good cheer.

And a victory over the unbeaten and seemingly Bowl Championship Series-bound Warriors would put a heap of merry into the Willingham Christmas. It would, for example, put some credence behind the argument that he has the Huskies on the right track after an 11-24 start. It would be the breakthrough victory he needs to demonstrate progress at a time when UW is getting ready to hit up high-rollers for an estimated $415 million renovation of Husky Stadium.

Never mind, of course, that Willingham's contract still has two seasons to run after he took over a sinking ship sent floundering by the Rick Neuheisel debacle. Or that the Pac-10 isn't a place where you turn around such fortunes overnight, at least without stomping upon NCAA rules.

You wonder if Notre Dame would be in such desperate straits today if the Floundering Irish hadn't sent Willingham packing after year three of their deal. What has happened at Missouri and Kentucky this season should be testament to what a little patience can produce in the right hands.

So, you hope that UW athletic director Todd Turner can be a man of his word and Willingham, a man of character and a coach of quality when he has the chance, will get to see the project through.

But knowing the what-have-you-done-for-me-today world of college athletics, the suspicion is that the $3 million price tag on a buyout might be the biggest — if not only — thing keeping Willingham in place. For the moment, anyway.

Which is why UH fans shouldn't think for a minute Willingham and the Huskies are here just to play out the string on a disappointing season. And why these dawgs are still capable of biting.

Tomorrow's game against the Warriors, while it is the 13th game of the longest regular season in UW history, is hardly just another one for Willingham and the Huskies.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.