Revisiting Steve Sarkisian's Washington tenure ahead of Texas' playoff matchup vs. Huskies
Steve Sarkisian on Monday will take part in the biggest, most consequential game of his head coaching career when his Texas team competes in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. A win will send the Longhorns to the College Football Playoff national championship game.
The team that stands in the way of accomplishing that is a familiar one for Sarkisian.
For five seasons, from 2009-13, Sarkisian was Washington’s coach, making Monday's CFP semifinal game a matchup of Sarkisian’s current employer against his former one.
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Sarkisian’s time in Seattle stands as something of a mixed bag a decade later. He finished with a winning record and rescued the Huskies from the wreckage he inherited, but he never brought them particularly close to the national relevance and glory they had achieved in their not-so-distant past.
It’s not the first time he has been in this position — after all, it was only last year that Texas lost to Washington in the Alamo Bowl — but the stakes of this year’s contest make his time in Washington that much more interesting and relevant.
Here’s everything you need to know about Sarkisian’s Washington tenure:
Steve Sarkisian's Washington hire, revisited
In 2008, Washington’s proud football program found itself in a dire situation.
Fewer than 20 years after winning a national championship, the Huskies weren’t just bad: They were non-competitive. In 2008, they went 0-12 and lost nine of those games by at least 20 points. It was not only the first winless season in program history, but also the nadir of a five-year stretch in which the Huskies went 12-47 overall and 6-37 in what was then the Pac-10.
After that season, Washington was in search of not just a head coach, but a savior. In Sarkisian, it believed it had one.
At just 34 years old at the time of his hiring, Sarkisian had already built a lengthy and impressive resume, much of which was spent at USC. Sarkisian had been a part of Trojans teams that had won Pac-10 championships and competed for national titles. In his final two years there, from 2007-08, he was the offensive coordinator, helping guide USC to a 23-3 record and a pair of Rose Bowl victories.
On Dec. 8, 2008, he was introduced as the Huskies’ next coach.
“It wasn’t any one thing. It was everything together: the way he thought about football, the attitude he had toward it, the values that he was espousing that were manifest in his behavior,” then-Washington president and future NCAA president Mark Emmert said at the time. “Obviously, his energy level is terrific — that was impressive. His knowledge of and his ability to recruit on the West Coast — especially in California, as well as Washington state. Those things all figured into it very highly and moved him up on our list very fast.”
As he stepped into his first head-coaching position, Sarkisian was confident about what he could accomplish.
“It’s about time for us to get back to the Rose Bowl,” he said at his introductory news conference. “It’s about time for us to get back competing for conference championships; it’s about time for us to get back competing for national championships, and that’s what our goal is.”
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Steve Sarkisian Washington tenure
It didn’t take long for Washington to show significant improvement under its new coach.
In just their third game since Sarkisian took over, the Huskies rallied from a 10-0 deficit and forced three turnovers to upset then-No. 3 USC 16-13 on a last-second field goal from Erik Folk.
"It's unbelievable," Sarkisian said after the game. "It's a great moment for our program and hopefully sends a message of where we're headed."
Washington finished that season 5-7, a five-win jump from 2008. The following year, behind quarterback Jake Locker, a first-round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, the Huskies won the Holiday Bowl to finish with a winning record for the first time in eight years.
From there, however, the program’s fortunes plateaued. After bringing in a 2011 recruiting class featuring future NFL players Danny Shelton, Marcus Peters, Bishop Sankey, Austin Seferian-Jenkins and James Sample, the Huskies didn’t improve on their win total in each of the next two seasons.
Washington still had many of the ingredients of a successful program: It recruited well and continued to make bowl games, qualifying for the postseason in each of Sarkisian’s final four seasons after failing to get the necessary six wins for seven consecutive seasons before his arrival.
It failed, however, to take that next step and reach the kind of goals Sarkisian had previously referenced: Rose Bowl appearances and national championships, things that his predecessors Don James and Rick Neuheisel achieved. After winning seven games in three consecutive seasons, Sarkisian’s shortcomings earned him a moniker among his detractors: “Seven-Win Steve.”
What he managed to accomplish in Seattle, though, impressed at least one potential suitor.
Why did Steve Sarkisian leave Washington?
Early in his stay at Washington, Sarkisian had an opportunity to leave.
In January 2010, Pete Carroll, Sarkisian’s former boss at USC, left the Trojans to become the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. Given his professional and personal ties to the region — he’s from nearby Torrance, California — Sarkisian emerged as a strong candidate for the position as a Carroll protégé who could hopefully continue the program’s extraordinary success.
Had he pursued the job, it could have very well been his. But ESPN reported at the time that Sarkisian “clearly had reservations about leaving Washington after just one year.” The position ultimately went to Lane Kiffin, another former USC offensive coordinator who ESPN reported was “more open to the idea” of leaving his employer, Tennessee, after a single season at the helm.
Nearly four years later, after Kiffin had been fired, the opportunity to return to Southern California once again presented itself. This time, it was too much to pass up. After going 8-4 in 2013, his highest win total in his time at Washington, Sarkisian accepted the Trojan6s’ offer.
"He embodies many of the qualities for which we looked," USC athletic director Pat Haden said in a statement at the time. "He is an innovative coach who recruits well and develops players. He is a proven and successful leader. He connects with people. He has energy and passion. He knows how to build a program and create a culture that we value. He is committed to academic success and rules compliance. And he understands the heritage and tradition of USC."
Sarkisian spent 18 games as USC’s coach, going 12-6 in that time, before being fired midway through the 2015 season after showing up to the team’s facility and a university function apparently under the influence of alcohol. Sarkisian has since sought and received treatment.
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Steve Sarkisian Washington record
Over the course of his five seasons at Washington, Sarkisian’s teams went 34-29 overall and 24-21 in conference play. He helped lead the program to four bowl games, where it went 2-2, though he had left for USC by the time of the final one of those games (a victory in the Fight Hunger Bowl in 2013).
Here’s a year-by-year look at his record with the Huskies:
2009: 5-7 (4-5 in Pac-10 play)
2010: 7-6 (5-4 in Pac-10 play)
2011: 7-6 (5-4 in Pac-12 play)
2012: 7-6 (5-4 Pac-12)
2013: 8-4 (5-4 Pac-12)
Steve Sarkisian Washington recruiting rankings
Washington’s improvement under Sarkisian was due in part to an influx of talent.
Here is how the Huskies finished in 247Sports’ Composite team recruiting rankings over Sarkisian’s tenure:
2009: No. 75
2010: No. 19
2011: No. 24
2012: No. 24
2013: No. 18
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Revisiting Steve Sarkisian's Washington tenure ahead of Texas CFP game
