The UW’s football program truly is exceptional. For UW fans, however, it’s in the worst possible way.

Never has a program fallen so far, so fast as the Huskies. The UW football program has 15 Pac-10 titles, seven Rose Bowl victories and makes claims for four national titles. It ranks 20th in the nation as far as winning percentage and 21st in victories. In 2001, the program was the third-best in the nation, went 11-1 and was crowned Rose Bowl champions. In 2008, the Huskies were dunked in the Toilet Bowl, capping the program’s only winless season with a humiliating defeat to WSU in what was justly christened the Crapple Cup.

There are many possible causes for this meteoric decline, starting with the resignation of Don James after Barbara Hedges went all Benedict Arnold. But Miami underwent similar restrictions during the same era and has re-emerged as a national powerhouse. The worst season they endured since their sanctions were imposed in 1995 was a 5-7 2007 campaign.

Rick Neuheisel’s controversial dismissal in 2003 might have been part of the problem, but, again, many programs have gone through similar travails, including WSU’s loss of Mike Price prior to the 2003 season. In fact, Wazzu is the closest rival the UW has in the Hinden Bowl (my title for the program with the most notable crash and burn). WSU went 10-2 in 2001, ending the season ranked 10th in the nation after a victory in the Sun Bowl. This year’s Cougars are making a strong case for the title of “Worst FBS Team Ever.”

This column isn’t about dwelling on the past nor an apologist intervention explaining the program‘s decline. Neither is it about lauding the Huskies for their exciting and tantalizing 2009 performance. My concern is for the future of the program and what steps need to be taken to ensure that the UW regains its status as an elite football program.

There’s more at stake than pride. UW football helps to fund almost every other sport on campus with the exception of men’s basketball. Before the sanctions of 1993, UW football — and by extension the athletic department — was flush with money. Cutting its prestigious swimming programs would have seemed absurd. Last year, it became a harsh reality. Regaining national prominence and an almost-annual bowl invitation will ensure no other athletes have to endure this tragedy.

It’s easy for me to imagine the UW as a nationally relevant team. I was born and raised in Seattle where I was steeped in the Husky tradition. For recruits, especially out-of-state recruits, that’s not the case anymore.

The last time the UW was relevant was 2001. For a recruit in the class of 2012, that was when he or she was 10. Dynasties are perpetuated through the cycle of recruitment as the best players go to successful programs, thereby continuing that pattern of success. It often takes years and years of hard work to establish your program as an elite one, one whose greatest asset is itself. We need to kick-start the process again.

High-profile high-school football recruits view college as a gateway to the NFL. The more verisimilitude between the NFL experience the UW can provide to them, the more prepared for the big leagues they’ll be. For this reason alone, we should be investigating the possibility of hosting the Apple Cup, as well as some other marquee match-ups, at Qwest Field.

There was talk about this possibility for Apple Cups after this year’s, but the UW walked out of negotiations when WSU demanded an equal ticket split. Husky Stadium is the largest venue in the Northwest, seating 72,500. Qwest tops out at 67,000. Yet less than 69,000 people attended the Apple Cup this year, making the seating discrepancy negligible.

The Spokesman-Review stated that hosting the game at Qwest could generate $2 million a year in revenue for each school. The average revenue for an Apple Cup under the current format is just more than $500,000 each.

With the pending construction in the E-11 and E-12 parking lots, there will already be considerable congestion in the Montlake area, and students won’t be able to tailgate anyway. The UW could use some of the considerable windfall to sponsor buses to shuttle students to and from Qwest, providing a service for the city of Seattle as well by reducing the chance of drunk drivers.

There is an incredible exigency to this argument. The more distanced the program becomes from its history of success, the less relevant it will be to high-profile recruits. Something needs to change before the current middling stagnation becomes ossified. The only thing the Huskies stand to lose by such an arrangement is the weight of an eight-year bowl drought. Steve Sarkisian, go Qwest, young man.

Reach columnist Zachary Gussin at sports@dailyuw.com.