Huskies Hire Sarkisian as New Head Coach

The University of Washington are in the news for two reasons - both of which they wish did not occur. Hours after losing to California and completing a winless season, reports confirmed that Steve Sarkisian, the offensive coordinator for the University of Southern California, would replace Tyrone Willingham as head coach.

Washington's athletic director Scott Woodward had secretly been looking for a new coach for a few weeks now. He had not released any names or potential coaches until recently. Other names that were reported were Pat Hill and Mike Leach, who coach for Fresno State and Texas Tech respectively. By December 4^th, Sarkisian's name came up as the choice that had been made. Both teams agreed to wait until their regular seasons were completed before they confirmed any reports.

Sarkisian will become the 23^rd coach in Washington's history and will be the third youngest coach in college football. The Huskies, which lost 48-7, dropped to 0-12. Their last win was in November 2007. Sarkisian will replace Willingham, who seemed to be out a job just weeks into the season. Since October, he has been highly scrutinized and agreed to step down when the season completed. In his four years as at Washington, Willingham led the Huskies to an 11-37 record.

Sarkisian will become the fifth Washington coach in the last ten years. He follows Willingham, Keith Gilbertson, Rick Neuheisel and Jim Lambright. His biggest challenge may be off the field, though. The Washington fan base has been severely damaged during Willingham's term. Sarkisian said he was excited to join the Huskies in an interview after the USC Trojans beat the UCLA Bruins. He will remain at USC until after the Rose Bowl, but will be recruiting players and coaches for Washington during this time, too.

Sarkisian played college at BYU and led the Cougars to a 13-1 season in 1996. He played three seasons in Canada. He played for Saskatchewan in the Canadian Football League. He joined the USC coaching staff in 2001 and has been rapidly shooting up the ladder. Currently 34 years old, he has been the offensive coordinator at USC for two seasons.

The Huskies fell to the California Bears to complete their first winless season in school history. They also became the first Pac-10 team to finish a season winless and have lost their last fourteen games. Attitudes are optimistic, however, as star quarterback Jake Locker's early season injury sustained a huge blow to their offense. From there, the wheels were off the wagon and the season went spiraling down. Perhaps the worst came after an excessive celebration call that ended up costing the Huskies a win. Willingham hinted that Washington has institutional problems that held back effectiveness, but was sure to make no excuses or blamed anyone in particular.

Washington Huskies introduce new coach Steve Sarkisan, ESPN.com