198 thoughts on “Steve Sarkisian v. Chris Petersen: Who Made The Better Coaching Hire?

  1. The beauty here is USC paid for UW to significantly upgrade our HC….. I could not have asked for a better Christmas present. Now we can turn around the disaster of a recruiting year that Sark is responsible for.

    • I would be VERY worried to get Petersen as a HC versus Sark, go look up “Dan Hawkins” and tell me what you find. In my view, Petersen left Boise in a WORSE condition then when he got it, whereas Sark brought the Huskies from hard to believe 0-12 season (did that really happen??? wow, i must have not been paying attention, but that’s terrible isn’t it?)

      • Sark the sweetheart, has left UDUBs FB cupboard bare. Sark was looking at a sub .500 2014 FB season and would have been fired. Along comes P. Haden, desperate for anybody to accept SUC HC spot. It’s winds up lose-lose for SUC, Haden and SUC’s fickle fans.

        • That’s funny, Sark’s win-loss stats were on the rise last I checked – typical bRuin logic, BTW looks like your team is being charged for RAPE hahahaahaha good luck sUcla, just the beginning of your FALL from medicocrity

      • Hey as a Husky I will take 2 BCS wins in the last 7 years under Petersen versus the 0 the huskies have. How about Urban Meyer he was the lesser conference Utah coach and was promoted and he has not done too bad for himself. The fact is every hire is a little bit of a crap shoot but Petersen has gone 8-2 I believe against the pac 10/12, knocking off Oregon twice. Also I was at UW during the 90’s when we were world beaters so believe me your two year walk down Kiffin Lane is nothing compared to the disaster that culminated in the 0-12 season due to our at the time in over her head AD in Barbara hedges who made bad hire after another, and allowed our facilities to go down the toilet. Sark was probably the best hire we could have made at the time and he is a great cheerleader and he truly changed the culture and has done well in recruiting, but the reason his seat was somewhere between warm and hot this season was because of the fact that the huskies have had recruiting no worse than 4th, and no better than 2nd in the pac 12 four years running yet we are still unable to reach the top 5 in the pack 12. He also walked in with a lot of talent on the field. The 2006 recruiting he inherited was a top 14 rated class nationally, just bad…. painful to say Tyrone Willingham…. coaching. This in my opinion was in large part due to the play calling and poor game management by Sark. The huskies would have been far worse the last two seasons had it not been for the hire of Justin Wilcox. If SC gets him, then you will be thrilled. When I heard Sark was leaving my first thought was not about Sark, but about losing Wilcox. That guy is a stud. My opinion of SC however is you don’t need a good recruiter you need a good X’s and O’s coach with a good scheme and the right attitude. I think he hits on the recruiting and attitude and culture, its the game management and X’s and O’s that he struggles at. Seriously, go watch a re broadcast of the apple cup game and as Washington looked to be choking up and starting to look like they might lose, the announcer immediately begins talking about whether Sark should be fired at the end of the season. Again great hire for where we were at, but SC is top 5 coaching position in the country and Sark is the guy?

  2. Definitely the sexier hire on paper…

    We’ll have a good idea who the winner was 11 months from now.

      • We really appreciate what Sark has done because he inherited a disaster, but he just never was able to take the highly touted recruiting classes and get anywhere with it.

          • National sensation? Please. He was an RB out of necessity and shows a tendency to fumble. He is a novelty because of his ability to play on both sides, but anyone that knows football knows that he cannot remain in such a position, as I explained earlier. He isn’t going to have the stamina and ability to play at full strength on both sides during the entire game. They will use him sparingly on both, which harmed them at ASU.

            You must be out of touch, which makes sense given your affinity for Breitbart and intolerance of Muslims. Oops. Should’ve kept the activity private.

          • LOL. When someone spends their entire existence ranting on their rival’s blog and whining about religions (whilst not denouncing their own), they are going to get called for the pathetic life they lead. Period. (Especially when that someone is also whining on Breitbart – Joel is lame, I would know I worked with his friends).

            But, really. If you like intolerance, go hang out with HeySUCs – he loves to troll racial nits aimed at USC. We’ll make you an honorary bRuin.

          • I suppose that my previous post addresses your utter and subversive ignorance of Islam, but since you are a shameless liar, a few points need addressing still:

            -I do not spend my “entire existence” here. I have been a Bruins fan for a long time, and with the recent changes in fortunes for the two programs, your reactions and the ongoing interaction between fans here and at Inside UCLA have been (mostly) entertaining.

            -Islam is an ideology, not a race. Only the obtuse and mendacious confuse the two.

            Which one are you?

            -In light of nearly one and one-half millennia of “kill the pagans wherever you find them” (Qur’an 9:5), the subjugation and slaughter of Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Animists, and assorted other pagans, and 9/11 and twenty-two thousand documented jihad attacks since, only the senseless and the heartless can call pointing out those atrocities “whining.”

            Which one are you?

            -To suggest hypocrisy for not “denouncing” Christianity is a grave moral and intellectual error.

            Christ spoke only the truth, committed no sin, healed the sick, raised the dead, died for the sins of the whole world (including Muslims), and resurrected, commanding His people to love even their enemies and giving the world the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule.

            The greatest civilization in the history of Man is founded on His teachings.

            On the other hand, the genocidal pedophile Muhammad preached and practiced anti-Semitism, genocide, pedophilia, rape, slavery, torture, mutilation, polygyny, wife-beating, religious and gender apartheid, theft, arson, vandalism, sedition, and treason, warning his followers that “Allah made me do it, and you will too, or else!”

            What has Islam bring to the world that it didn’t steal or coerce from its conquered dhimmi populations?

            Suicide vests?

            There’s only one people on Earth detonating their shoes, underwear, intestines, and breasts in the name of a god.

            Please, be honest.

          • There may be moderate Muslims, but Islam itself is not “moderate.”

            It is neither “racism” nor intolerance — nor any other nescient Newspeak — to state facts plainly: Islam’s core “sacred” texts demand the enslavement or slaughter of all who refuse the “invitation” to convert. Along with that comes the sacralized and institutionalized view of all non-Muslims as “the worst of creatures” and “fuel for the fire.”

            Rather than view Muslims through his own biased, bigoted, and condescending lens, FightON ought to take their texts, tenets, and timelines at face value.

          • WRONG BLOG! This is a blog related to USC!

            Save the opinions for others that might listen……clueless!

            PS…did you forget to take your meds?

          • Generally, when national broadcasts show sustained fascination in something or someone, that qualifies as a “national sensation.”

            Don’t be jealous; USC’s had plenty, and I’m sure they’ll have plenty more.

            As for ASU, Jack was used only on offense. That may have affected the outcome, but it’s hard to tell since UCLA played only the second half against them.

            And absurd ad hominem? Can you really be so nescient? So dishonest? So cowardly?

            I am intolerant of genocide, anti-Semitism, pedophilia, rape, slavery, torture, mutilation, and assorted other atrocities in the name of a god.

            Why aren’t you?

            Perhaps you should have kept your craven ignorance private.

  3. UW has averaged a top 17 recruiting class nationally and was top 2 in pac 12 last year, then top four two years prior, and top 3 in 2010. We thought we were going to this year, but we never were able to break into the top 5 of the pack 12. The talk during the national broadcast of the apple cup game by Eddie George was whether UW would fire Sark if they lost to WSU

  4. Best choice for this situation.. USC fans wanted a “SEXY” hire, but there was no one out there. USC made the right decision for the best transition to compete right away. Sark knows the Pac 12, he has West coast ties, all the recruits know him and love him, He is familiar with USC, LA media, and Boosters and Alum. Sark is a very good offensive minded coach. Created an
    offense to help Price (Washington QB) be successful. Turned Locker into a Top 10 Draft pick. Turned a 0-12 team into a ecent 8 win team Sark has done more with lesser talent, than Kiffin did was better talent
    So I am not upset with this hire, and it makes sense..

    • Sark took good talent and made them good to mediocre. To win big at washington and most other pac 12 schools you need the coach that takes good talent and makes them great. That’s the only way to compete with SC. That was how UW dominated the 90’s and why they could only muster 7 wins under 7 win sark up until this year.

    • Yes…the more I read about Sark at Washington, I’m starting to feel better about the hire.

      If you look at all the losses of this season, they were all against ranked teams including a very close loss to Stanford (who they beat the year prior). Unlike Kiffin, he beat all the teams he was supposed to beat.

      I just hope he adapts his offense to adapt to our talent. Our best RB is Buck Allen, who’s likely at his best running from pro-style plays.

      For runs out of the spread formations, Justin Davis is probably better suited.

      • loosing too ranked opponents….hmmm. you mean getting embarrassed by ranked opponents. we should have won at Standford game and we did outplay them but other than that we were routinely spanked and consistently out coached. He is not Pete Carroll, which i have a huge appreciation for the attitude he has brought to the hawks

      • Good point.. Also Sark needs to build a legit staff.. right now he has all these young guys as assistant.. which will do well recruiting,
        He needs experience coaches that know the NFL and college.. to develop into NFL talent
        thats why I would like him to keep Pendergast.

    • what do you mean there was nobody out there? UW just got Petersen. A sexy hire. Not getting a sexy hire doesn’t mean there weren’t sexy hires to be made.

      • Petersen doesn’t fit for USC.. LA is too big for him.. He has the personality of a Lame Kiffin.. Media would kill him. Petersen doesn’t like dealing with boosters and Alum.. he just wants to coach. small schools fit for him.
        Only sexy hire would have been David Shaw..
        All other coaches in the loop had no west coach connections, no college experience and would have took them a couple years to compete..
        Sark was the smartest hire to compete right away.

    • Kiffin turned Barkley into a first round pick until he came back for unfinished business….

    • Really?…What is wrong with you knuckleheads…How many times are you gonna point to him inheriting a 0-12 team and improving? How do you not improve from 0-12? Sarkiffen is nothing better than a 500 coach just like Goat Boy. Heck…., Neuheisel was 33-16 overall while at Washington and 23-9 in conference! Why wasn’t he hired?
      KOOL Aid drinking RAH RAH’s never change….Sunshine pumpers for ever!
      fit UN!

  5. They both did for their respective programs. You can’t simply say one is better than the other because a number of other factors apply.

    If you were to use the criteria Haden use for the selection process, Sark edges Petersen:

    “Someone who can connect with people in a positive way, be it student-athletes, fans, parents and donors. Someone with passion and energy and can make adjustments in a game. Someone who can effectively communicate to the staff in order to win and has a true understanding of USC, it’s rich tradition and athletic heritage.”

    One not mentioned in one sentence is taking the existing makeup of the team and carrying the momentum built by Coach O.

    Haden’s comment summarizes how Sark is a better fit for USC: “In Steve we get a coach that really knows USC, its culture and its tradition. A coach that beat eight top-25 teams during his tenure, including USC twice. He is a proven evaluator of high school talent, a big time recruiter who knows southern California football, has relationships with local coaches and knows the Pac-12 and USC. He has shown a great commitment to academics during his tenure at UW. I believe he is uniquely positioned to have the smoothest and fastest transition to USC.”

    If Petersen were hired, he’d likely “blow it up” and start from scratch. Additionally, how would he have been received by the kids who just came out of an emotional meeting with Coach O?

    Bottom line is that Petersen is an OUTSIDER. With scholarship limitations and the likelihood of Juniors leaving if he was hired, that pushes the program back to a level that would likely have been unacceptable to fans and boosters.

    Pat made the right call……for THIS program.

  6. I gotta agree Wolf. This blog has been bad. I like the breaking news on here but your so down on Sark and its so obvious. We know u wanted James Franklin but come on. Be happy the Toxic Avenger is gone and let’s move forward. Sark knows what he’s doing and let’s give him the chance. By the way, does anyone else think Kessler is in trouble due to his lack of mobility?? I sure do. Wittek and Kessler might both transfer, with Wittek going first….

  7. Trust me, in three to four years USC will be glad they didn’t hire CP, but they will also be pissed that they hired Sark

    • No guarantee Lupoi & Wilcox are going to go to USC either, Justin Wilcox has been part of Peterson’s staff at Boise State (->Tennessee -> Washington). I’m sure Peterson is bringing most of his current staff, but he has long-standing ties with Wilcox.

  8. Let’s break this down: SC whiffs on Petersen, who ends up taking the vacated UW job so “7-Win Sark” can take the SC job. And in the process, Sarkiffin’s departure from UW helps Mora leverage more $$ for himself and his assistants, allowing him to fend off SC’s attempt to hire away our xlnt OL coach/recruiter Adrian Klemm? (Klemm walked away from money on the table from Sark.) This, plus blowing out the Trojans in the Coliseum… all in 6 days?! Wow.
    #BruinRevolution

    • Yay! Means NOTHING in terms of NCs or Heismans so who cares about your two wins in 15 years? Why dont you just go bRuin yourself silly?

      • You forgot the 8 consecutive wins before that! Something that SuC has never done! With a couple vacated wins, we have 12 wins in 23 years!

      • The signs sure have changed when now SuC is going after Bruin coaches and Bruin commits!

    • Let’s break this down on Mora:

      # of Pac 12 Titles: ZERO
      # of National Championships: ZERO
      # of Top 10 Finishes: ZERO
      # of Heismans: ZERO
      # of Butkus: ZERO
      # of victories over Top 10 teams: ZERO

      Yep, #bRuinrevolution

      • Analyze this Joey. SUC is voted the nations #1 2012 preseason FB team. SUC also has a bill board sign “Unfinished Business” planted in Westwood within sight of UCLA. But SUC trips, stumbles and falls to a glorious 7 – 6 season and set the record for most losses by a preseason # 1 in NCAA history. SUC winds up with a LOL season, and KiffyGoat get a black eye and assumes a new mysterious Shades and Sombrero persona.

    • Fuc dude, every time you come on this blog you’re trying to plead your case. No one gives a fuc! Move on, you look like a fool

  9. It’s funny how many of you were hating on Scott for his post earlier about taking a wait-and-see approach with Sark. But clearly, most of you feel that Washington came out better than USC on the coaching carousel

  10. This was never a USC blog, but a FUCLA troll blog…now its turning into a Fusky troll blog? Time to fine some real football journalism…

  11. Read Ted Miller’s post on ESPN called: “Petersen will be challenged in Pac-12.” Get some perspective, trolls, before you cream your pants…you won’t find perspective from your boy Wolfie…Troll on!

  12. I am going with REALITY on this one and I am going to say two words – DAN HAWKINS
    This was a guy, very similar to Petersen, coached Boise State with a .828 winning percentage and went on to share his coaching “prowess” with Colorado where he failed miserably with a 16-33 overall record
    This is akin to Bucket and Wolf in the sense that they both were big fish on campus in their respective special ed elementary schools, but when they got into the “real world” they were just more worms in the dirt.
    So there you go – C Petersen is no shoe in for success because of his record at Boise State, and he actually showed only marginal improvement to the team’s record following the foot steps of Hawkins, whereas Sark actually made a difference to a program and is by that right a “better HC.” CASE CLOSED
    FIGHT ON!!!

      • Sorry, I have a family member who is “special needs” I don’t mean to be offensive, i guess I should have just called the F@g$ 🙂

    • Sark made no difference to a program that couldn’t beat Oregon when he first showed up.

    • A few valid points TDOG. But you are missing something that all Boise State fans already knew way back when Hawkins was still the coach at Boise State. Chris Petersen was the real reason Dan Hawkins had success at Boise State. And when Hawkins left to Colorado without Petersen, Hawkins failed miserably while Petersen went on to win 2 BCS bowls and became the ONLY coach in history to win 2 Bear Bryant Coach of the year Awards. I will agree that Petersen is no shoe in for success at Washington. But the comparison to Hawkins falls short in my opinion. I personally think Petersen is a better coach than Sark. BUT…I think USC made the right choice with Sark and I think Washington was incredibly lucky to land Petersen. I think Sark will be a better recruiter than Petersen but I also think Petersen will maximize the talent at Washington better than Sark did our could in the future. It will be interesting to watch for sure. And for the record, I’m a mourning Boise State Fan so I don’t have a dog int he USC/Washington hunt. I will also be very interested in where Justin Wilcox ends up. If he doesn’t become the coach at Boise State, his decision to stay at Washington or move to USC will tell me all I need to know.

  13. Who made the better coaching hire?
    Selection Votes

    USC 30%191Washington 56%355Don’t know 14%86632 votes total

  14. And SUCWASH is on the hook for Sark and his staff’s buyout. It’s win-win for UDub: they get a superior HC and unload Sark (Mr .500) and SUC pays large $’s UDub good fortune. SUC: The Bidness kolledge.

  15. WOW!!…All the ruin trolls have their pretty little dresses on thinking they are something special, pathetic!

  16. Petersen is a better fit for Washington than he would be for SC. Hard to see him in L.A. Think he will do well in Seattle.

    Sark is a better fit for SC than Petersen. Excellent coaches up and down the entire PAC-12. This is the strongest this league has ever been from top to bottom.

    • We don’t need to hear your crap pal – Go look up Dan Hawkins and tell me Petersen is still a good coach, based on what? Only thing that made him better than Dan Hawkins is the BCS era

      • I said I think Petersen will do well. I know Hawkins flopped at Colorado. 2 different people. It’s just an opinion…and as the saying goes…everybody has one.

        • It has been a disappointing week for us, so this blog’s readers are lashing out like wounded animals. After the win against Stanford, people stormed the field because it seemed that the worst was behind us, and now it feels like the same disappointing three-or-four-season story is about to play out all over again.

          But you can see why most reasonable people eventually give up on this blog and move on; most of the regulars are like cartoon characters come to life, and all the worst aspects of anonymous internet commenting are usually on full display (from plenty of fans on both sides).

          • Dweeb…You’ve made TWO interesting, honest insightful post’s today. The rest of your Torgan SCUm brothers should pay attention.
            Chucker and me forgive you.
            fit UN!

          • WEBB: wolf’s blog is the hottest site in town!!! insofar your you assertion people move on, that is true of most blogs i’m sure, if anything the core of loons stick around here more than other blogs (i qualify that by saying i’ve only participated in this and Lev’s blogs, with an occasional foray into the Dohn/Gold/Wang UCLA blog.

            as you konw i’m normally a jovial, smiling commentator who makes a few casual observatons with a slightly humorous approach, but once in a while we Bruins gotta bring the hammer!!!

            dont give up on us, baby!!!

      • go look up Leinart, Butt-Fumble and Pick-6 Barfly and tell me SC will ever have a good QB again.

  17. This afternoon Petros Papadakis, around 3:15 pm, did a comparison of WA’s hire of Petersen and USC’s of Sarkisian. He stated Petersen is not really willing to ‘open up’ – the practices at Boise St. were ‘closed’ which he noted was also what Kiffin did at USC. Good riddance to that – a sign of paranoia. He also stated Petersen was offered the job at UCLA a while back and would be a much better fit there than at USC primarily because the legacy at USC varies widely from that at UCLA (expectations). He also noted what other scribes were beginning to comment – Boise appears to have had a great run but the end seems to be approaching – also smart for Petersen to leave now sensing that and go to a program not as pressure packed as USC is.

    This morning on Dan Patrick’s show he was talking to a national college football reporter who noted, at last year’s final regular season game for Boise St. against NV that he heard Petersen state his (Petersen) disgust and desire to be away from the crush of media for that game in Reno. The commentator on Patrick’s show then said “….more like a third of what would be at the Auburn – AL. game.”

    Petersen is not one who likes limelight or pressure. He also stated that after Hawkins crash and burn over at CO when he left Boise St. many stated it was Petersen who was the real brains behind that run.

    Petersen has gone where he can coach w.o. national pressure to produce and Sarkisian is back, having been a HC for the past 5 years, as his own man.

    Look for Kiffn to pop up next down in Florida – his house is on the block for a mere $6+ mil. – I remember when Neuheisel’s in Bel Air went up two years ago for about $3.5 mil..

    Florida makes sense – no income tax.

  18. Peterson sounds better because of his inflated WAC/MWC record. Let’s face it the W/L numbers are stupid but put them into perspective and he’s the best coach in a weak conference. Funny how he bails on BSU when the rest of the MWC is catching up to him (see San Jose St, SDST, Utah St, to name a few). Sark is a .500 coach in a tough Pac12 North.

    I believe the hires are about even. Sark now gets to coach better talent and Peterson gets to prove he’s a legit top coach and not just a big fish in a puddle (MWC isn’t even a pond compared to he Pac12). They btoth have 3 years to prove there worth.

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