Some people believe that the Washington Huskies football program has been cursed ever since controversally firing coach Rick Neuheisel in June 2003. Prior to the 2003 season, the Huskies had 26 consecutive non-losing seasons (the lone non-winning season was 1998, where a bowl loss left them 6-6), which included 12 bowl wins (including 10 between 1978 and 1991), a split national title in the 1991 season, 7 Rose Bowl appearances, 8 seasons of 10 wins or more, and 8 Pacific-10 Conference titles (3 shared, 5 outright).
Neuheisel had a record of 33-16 in four seasons at Washington. But when he admitted to participating in a community pool for the 2003 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament (a violation of NCAA rules against gambling), Washington fired him, and a storm of legal action followed suit. His successor, Keith Gilbertson, started the 2003 season 3-1, but lost 5 of 8 afterwards, however they avoided a losing season, going 6-6 (their 27th non-losing season in a row). They did not get into a bowl game however (they had previously missed out in 1993 and 1994, due to probation). This was the beginning of trouble at the UW football program. In 2004, the Huskies posted a 1-10 record (including an 0-8 record in conference play). Not only was this Washington's first losing season since 1976, but, at the time, it was also their worst season ever. Gilbertson resigned after the season.
Gilbertson's successor, Tyrone Willingham, fared no better, despite having experience coaching in the Pac-10 (he was Stanford's coach from 1995-2001). The Huskies improved by only 1 win from 2004 in 2005 (finishing 2-9). Things seemed to get better in 2006, when the Huskies started 4-1, only 2 wins away from being bowl eligible. Then the Huskies lost 6 in a row to clinch an unprecedented third straight losing season (in the program's history), before winning their final game to finish 5-7 (their best finish in 3 years). Washington took another step backwards in 2007, falling to 4-9. Finally, in 2008, the Huskies went 0-12, which became the worst season in the program's history, their first winless season ever (in seasons of at least 8 games), and their fifth straight losing season overall. Furthermore, after losing to Willingham's previous school Notre Dame to fall to 0-7, Willingham was fired effective after the season - making him the first Washington football coach in years to be fired for lackluster performance (he was kept on for 2008 despite being the first coach in the program's history to have three consecutive losing seasons).
In short, some people view Washington's recent struggles as paying dearly for the firing of Neuheisel, who became UCLA's head coach in 2008. That season, Neuheisel made his first trip to the UW campus since his dismissal in 2003. UCLA won 27-7, thus some people view this as Neuheisel getting his ultimate revenge on the school that fired him 5 years ago.
Sports-related curses. (2009, January 17). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:35, January 17, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sports-related_curses&oldid=264598455
