Washington athletic director Jen Cohen issued a statement in response to a sideline incident in which Huskies coach Jimmy Lake appeared to strike redshirt freshman linebacker Ruperake Fuavai during a 26-16 loss to Oregon.
"We are aware of an interaction between Head Coach Jimmy Lake and a student-athlete during the first half of Saturday's game," Cohen said in a statement. "We have high expectations of the conduct of our coaches and we are working to gather more information on this matter."
The incident took place shortly after Fuavai got into a brief tussle with an Oregon player following a first-half kickoff. Lake contends his intention was to break it up, but by the time he reached Fuavai, the Huskies player had already backed away from the opposing player.
A television replay showed Lake thrusting his right hand, which was holding a play sheet, toward Fuavai's helmet. The contact was minimal, and it appeared Lake proceeded to push Fuavai toward the bench.
"I went in to separate them and push them back," Lake said. "After that, we settled down a little bit. That was our deal all week long was, 'We got to have poise.' We knew this was going to be a very heated matchup and there was going to be a lot of trash talking. And when we stepped in there, we were glad that a penalty wasn't thrown on our guys to put us back even further on that kickoff return."
Asked if he regretted striking Fuavai, Lake replied: "I separated them. I didn't strike him. I separated them."
The incident came after Lake made headlines earlier this week for downplaying the recruiting rivalry between Washington and Oregon while taking a shot at the academic standards at Oregon compared with Washington.
"In our world, we battle more academically prowess teams," Lake said.
After the win, which was played in heavy rain, Oregon coach Mario Cristobal issued a thinly veiled response to Lake's comment.
"[I'm] proud of the way our guys came out and showed our prowess in handling inclement weather," Cristobal said.