Huskies Insider Blog

A few views of Steve Sarkisian

There's a good discussion going on in the comments section of the Steve Sarkisian post below.

My first reaction is that the pick isn't an instant home run in the sense that it will instantly result in long lines at the UW 2009 season ticket counter.

But the real test of the pick will be what the lines look like for UW tickets in 2011 and 2112. There is rebuilding to be endured. The instant turnarounds like Jeff Tedford's at Cal are the exceptions. But I don't believe there is any reason to believe that the UW football program is fatally flaws and there's every reason to believe that the right coach, given reasonable time, can get them back to the level of Rose Bowls in the best seasons and Emerald Bowls in the down seasons.

Sarkisian is unproven, but so is everyone until they prove themselves. He's young. He's new. He knows the Pac-10 and Southern California. And he's learned under LaVell Edwards, Norm Chow and Pete Carroll.

Most of all, he represents change, something the program desperately needs.

But what kind of change?

Here's a bit from those who should know him pretty well: the Southern California newspapers:

Here's the story from the Los Angeles Daily News, which mentions that some USC fans won't mind losing him because they didn't like his play-calling. That shouldn't be too much of a red flag, since some percentage of fans always don't like the play calling.

And here's a little background from the Orange County Register and the LA Times.

Now, I'm off to Berkeley where there's a football game tomorrow.