UW, Sarkisian Honeymoon Over

Every dog is supposed to have his day. But if Steve Sarkisian is expecting to catch a break any time soon, he might want to break out a crossword puzzle to keep him busy while he waits.

Since being hired as head football coach at the University of Washington, the former USC offensive coordinator has been tested at every level as he tries to rebuild the program. In fact, the past two months have been a series of setbacks and ego checks for the Huskies’ supposed savior.

Scrambling to keep a recruiting class intact after the coaching change, Sarkisian signed 18 newcomers and gave himself a “C” for the effort, telling the Seattle Times that the class was “average.”

The group was ranked as one of the worst in the Pac-10 by the major recruiting services and featured just two players from the state of Washington. While it’s unfair to expect a coach to make recruiting inroads in just two months, if you can’t sell someone on spending four years of his life in Seattle instead of Pullman or Corvallis, you might not be the best salesman. In the words of Dave Chappelle, “Life is way harder than that.”

More troubling for Sarkisian, however, are the two recruiting violations that came to light in the past month. Both were secondary violations and won’t warrant much punishment, but they were bad publicity for a new coach whose school is still sporting a sizable black eye from last season.

Using a fog machine for recruits on an official visit and meeting with a recruit in the presence of a journalist aren’t exactly Cardinal sins, but they were both bizarre moves by Sarkisian given that they violate fairly common rules. Every coach has to take an excruciatingly in-depth test about NCAA recruiting regulations, so how did some of the simplest rules slip his mind? It’s like passing a test on quantum physics and then forgetting how gravity works.

But the incidents could be a gut check for a coach who’s still learning what it means to be the No. 1 guy at a school. As it turns out, what happens on the field only represents a part of the job description.

As mentors go, Pete Carroll is exemplary in demonstrating what a college football coach should do when he’s not prowling the sidelines. He has his hand in virtually every aspect of the program and never wants to be left in the dark. He also has a sterling reputation, appearing in front of booster groups and the media because he understands the totality of his responsibilities.

And he’s somehow able to do all of this because his veins pump Red Bull, although that can’t be verified scientifically just yet.

But Sarkisian might find Carroll hard to imitate at a time when the prevailing trend in college football is one of delegation to assistant coaches by the head coach. Most coaches don’t have the energy to do what Carroll does, and they end up missing the big picture for the minor details.

Strike one for Sarkisian then might be his insistence on calling his own plays in Seattle, at least at the start.

It’s a lot to put on someone who started off the decade as a junior college quarterbacks coach. Sarkisian is as ripe as they come, and even the most seasoned veterans have trouble handling the pressure. Given the demands of being a college coach, it’s surprising there aren’t more Butch Davis-like meltdowns.

Sarkisian will face enough pressure from the outside that he doesn’t need to keep adding weight to his own back. The Washington program is in shambles after a winless season, and after Sarkisian signed a $10-million deal over five years, Huskies fans aren’t going to be a patient bunch.

But that didn’t keep Sarkisian from raising the bar quickly.

“It's 2008 and about time for us to come back and compete for conference championships and national championships, no question,” Sarkisian said at his introductory press conference.

In my two years of covering USC football, I always found Sarkisian to be professional and personable, two traits needed for any college coach. His demeanor makes it easy to root for him, and the Pac-10 is always a better conference when Washington is a contender.

But even if Sarkisian somehow manages to revive the Huskies, all of the responsibilities will likely wear on him, and he’ll be forced to take a step back like the other 118 college football coaches who aren’t Pete Carroll.

Maybe I’m selling Sarkisian short. Maybe I’m wrong and he’ll turn the program around and become the Energizer bunny of northwest coaching. Maybe he’ll do all of this while juggling balls and whistling the Washington fight song.

But I’ll bet he gets a lot done on that crossword puzzle before it happens.

Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz is a junior at the University of Southern California majoring in print journalism and working as a football reporter for the Daily Trojan.

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