Chris Petersen to Washington
Chris Petersen expected to be named Washington head coach today. Will be one of highest paid in PAC-12.
— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) December 6, 2013
December 6th, 2013 at 9:02 AM ^
December 6th, 2013 at 9:04 AM ^
This makes Kalen Ballage to MSU likely. Ugh.
December 6th, 2013 at 12:25 PM ^
That was my thinking too. Clearly the universe is conspiring to inflict as much pain as possible upon Michigan this year, while favoring rivals with unearned benefits.
Then again, maybe Ballage takes a look a UW now.
December 6th, 2013 at 9:06 AM ^
washington has coach poached, gets better coach.
December 6th, 2013 at 9:31 AM ^
Petersen picked up where Hawkins left off, then Hawkins promptly fell on his face at Colorado. Of course Petersen was the OC for all of Hawkins' success, so maybe that is an endorsement for Petersen
December 6th, 2013 at 9:09 AM ^
December 6th, 2013 at 9:14 AM ^
December 6th, 2013 at 9:18 AM ^
Hear me out, the places that came calling, for the most part, were programs with extremely high expectations that often required rebuilding (not necessarily USC, but still) where at the first signs of everything not coming up Milhouse you get canned.
At Washington he has a decent base left from the previous staff, but still has time to build his program the way he wants and isn't required to get 9-10 wins every year. It's a step up where the program has pretty damn good potential, he knows how to recruit to that area in general, but is also quite safe. So it kind of gives him the best of all worlds.
December 6th, 2013 at 11:09 AM ^
December 6th, 2013 at 9:27 AM ^
Watch out, Pac 12. That north division is wide open with Oregon and Stanford having peaked.
December 6th, 2013 at 10:38 AM ^
Also, its incredible how the power has shifted in the conference over just a few short years. Next year, the South is looking like the stronger division with ASU, UCLA, USC, and even Arizona.
In the North, Stanford loses a ton of starters. Oregon will be good again, but after them there is not much depth. Assuming Stanford takes a step back, who is the second best team in the North? Maybe Washington? WSU? OSU? Lots of meh there.
December 6th, 2013 at 12:29 PM ^
December 6th, 2013 at 9:46 AM ^
December 6th, 2013 at 12:26 PM ^
December 6th, 2013 at 9:57 AM ^
Remember when Dirk Koetter was all the rage after his stint at Boise? And Dan Hawkins? And Brent Pease was supposed to take all that Boise magic with him to Florida?
I'm going to let this one play out before I call it a home run hire.
December 6th, 2013 at 10:44 AM ^
I wrote out a long response similar to this and then when I went to submit, it magically disappeared into the intertubes.
The other thing to consider is that Boise had a pretty down year (for them) and perhaps Petersen saw this as a sign of things to come and that his heyday was starting to wind down.
December 6th, 2013 at 12:39 PM ^
BSU did have a pretty young team this year, and they lost their starting QB and backup RB to injuries about halfway through the season. It will be interesting to see what they are able to do next year.
December 6th, 2013 at 9:57 AM ^
December 6th, 2013 at 10:36 AM ^
December 6th, 2013 at 9:58 AM ^
Hopefully this means no more Blue Turf on my teevee. Hurts my eyes. My perfectly manicured lawn is green not blue.
December 6th, 2013 at 9:58 AM ^
...good move for both sides.
December 6th, 2013 at 10:08 AM ^
I guess now we just have Jon Gruden as the coach rumor board now. To be honest though i thought he was never leave Boise but it seems like a good fit for Washington its not a win now school and they will let him do build it his way doesnt have to feel like he was going to be micromanage. Now I wonder if Sark will try to poach Nussmeier from Bama to USC.
December 6th, 2013 at 10:58 AM ^
I think Peterson will win now at UW. He doesn't have to change offensive philosopihes as they are already pro style, Sark has recruited very well there and they looked poised to break out in the next year or two. I think Peterson recognized this as a awesome opportunity and jumped on it. All the other PAC jobs were messes he would have to step into. This one is set up already.
December 6th, 2013 at 10:21 AM ^
I was in Chicago the weekend that Washington played Illinois at Soldier Field. I was amazed at how the Washington faithful turned out. There were more of them running around than Illini "fans". Must be a great job on the west coast.
December 6th, 2013 at 10:31 AM ^
December 6th, 2013 at 10:32 AM ^
December 6th, 2013 at 10:35 AM ^
#narduzzitoboise
December 6th, 2013 at 11:08 AM ^
Every single team has a good coach now. Or, at least, has a coach considered to be a good up and comer. If the Big Ten is going to compete they need to start having their middling teams hire good coaches, hopefully it started with Minnesota and Kill. (It also needs Michigan to have a top staff, but that's for a different post).
I also don't get the shock over him leaving for Washington. Washington has great facilities, one of the loudest stadiums in the country, has tradition (second most PAC 12 Rose Bowls after USC), and good recruiting. It's also in a pretty cool city. It's not like he went to Oregon State or Wazzu.
December 6th, 2013 at 11:08 AM ^
Color me shocked. I live in Seattle right now and can't wait to get out. The main reasons for me are the weather, the traffic and the depressed people. Other than that it's a cool city.
December 6th, 2013 at 1:05 PM ^
"other than that"?
December 6th, 2013 at 11:19 AM ^
I don't understand the people saying You-Dub is a bad move...it's a good school w/ better facilities than most, an historically successful program with a MNC within the last 25 years, and it's located in a beautiful city. If a guy can recruit reasonably well and coach AT ALL (and Petersen can seemingly do both) there's no reason he shouldn't do well there.
December 6th, 2013 at 11:25 AM ^
of the "bad move" folks are too young to remember when Washington was consistently good when Don James was the coach.
From the late 70's to early 90's Washington was USC's equal on the left coast. Those teams in 90,91 and 92 were something else.
December 6th, 2013 at 11:24 AM ^
2014 at Hawaii, then home to Eastern Washington, Illinois, Georgia State.
He'll be all the rage with a 4-0 start, then it gets serious.
December 6th, 2013 at 11:29 AM ^
December 6th, 2013 at 11:38 AM ^
December 6th, 2013 at 11:57 AM ^
December 6th, 2013 at 2:09 PM ^
I guess I have two big questions here: Where does Boise go from here? And after all the jobs that have courted/been rumored to have courted Petersen, why this one, and why now?
I mean, I like it. Washington is a great program that could probably be quite easily resurrected into a power in a conference verging on being the SEC West. The ceiling was probably hit at BSU like four years ago, and you can only recruit on the SmurfTurf Effect for so long before you want something more. But what made Petersen pick this moment?
December 6th, 2013 at 2:22 PM ^
December 6th, 2013 at 2:32 PM ^
People who are downplaying Petersen's success at Boise because they play in a weak conference or comparing him to Dan Hawkins are not accounting for how Boise performed against BCS schools. Here's a list of who Boise beat under Petersen: Washington, Georgia, Arizona State, Virginia Tech, Oregon State (twice), Oregon (twice), and Oklahoma (who can forget that one). Dan Hawkins' resume at Boise was not nearly as impressive.
Dude is legitimately one of the best coaches in the game. If I was a Washington fan, I would be having a party right now.
December 6th, 2013 at 3:04 PM ^
I know I was hoping he'd've gotten the Michigan gig when RichRod was fired. I don't think we as fans would have regretted such a hire.
December 6th, 2013 at 3:27 PM ^
About 1 or 2 a year then.
December 6th, 2013 at 4:52 PM ^
A very good situation for Peterson to walk into. Sark has recruited very well, and UW is in better shape now than at any time in the last 10 years. I think he would have left earlier, had his predecessor at Boise, Hawkins, not flamed out at Colorado.
December 6th, 2013 at 5:47 PM ^
It always seemed like CP would either wait it out for a big, big job or stay at Boise. Washington seems like he's settling. They used to be good?
December 6th, 2013 at 8:40 PM ^
December 6th, 2013 at 7:29 PM ^
Don't know if the guy is worth 3.6 million a year though. Makes him the highest paid coach in the PAC-12.