Athletic director Chris Hill was about the first person many fans thought about when they heard that his counterpart at the University of Washington will leave his job next month.

After all, Hill nearly took the Husky job 3 1/2 years ago.

But it doesn't seem to make much more sense for Hill to jump to the Huskies now that Todd Turner -- the guy the Huskies hired after Hill turned them down -- has been forced out, even if the Seattle Times joined the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in listing him among the potential candidates, along with Oregon's Bill Moos and Kentucky's Mitch Barnhart, among others.

Why not?

For starters, Hill already has turned the Huskies down once -- would the Huskies risk a second rejection? -- and it hardly sounds like the atmosphere on Montlake has grown much more welcoming for a guy like Hill.

Back in 2004, the Huskies were digging out of a scandalous era. Now, Turner has complained loudly that he's leaving because of a "win-at-all-costs" mentality, and it strikes me as extremely doubtful that Hill would want to step into a potential snake pit like that, which might well include firing football coach Ty Willingham among his first major moves.

He hardly needs that kind of pressure, at this stage of his career.

Additionally, this might not be a good time -- on a personal level -- for Hill to contemplate career decisions.

According to a school spokeswoman, Hill left town on a red-eye flight last night to attend to his ill mother back in New Jersey. There was no specific word on the gravity of the illness, but with that situation in mind, we did not attempt to contact Hill directly about the UW job, though we all know he would not have said anything about it, anyway.

Regardless, here's sending best wishes to Hill and his family. Hope everything turns out as well as it can ...