The new Washington head coach is making changes in Seattle already.
When asked if his new head coach was always so quiet and calm, Washington offensive lineman Ben Riva looked across the room at his new head coach, Chris Petersen.
"I think he's a little worn out right now," he said. "I know I wouldn't want to be up there right now answering all those questions."
Petersen's jump from Boise State to the Huskies is part of a bookend narrative of job changes at Pac-12 Media Days. He took the place of former coach Steve Sarkisian, who left Seattle and "came home" to coach USC. The shift ended almost a decade of job speculation for Petersen, long the darling head coach of the mid-major ranks. Petersen will compete against longtime friend Mark Helfrich, redefining the historic Washington-Oregon rivalry as now one of the friendliest in college football, at least across the sidelines.
On Wednesday, Helfrich was emphatic in his defense of the pair's friendship, apropos of one of the Pacific Northwest's longest and nastiest feuds.
"My relationship with Pete will be great forever," Helfrich said. "I'm going to hate him on certain days and some days he'll hate me. Whether it's recruiting or on game day, but the guy's a lifelong friend of mine and that won't change. I know that's going to make both of our fan bases very unhappy."
"Here's the thing: You really don't like to play your friends," Petersen said on Thursday. "You don't want them on the schedule. But when they are, and when it's game time there's nobody you're trying to compete harder against than the people you're close to. You want to win, but in a respectful way."
It's not likely that Petersen's personal success against the Ducks (2-0) at Boise went unnoticed when he was hired at Washington, where the Huskies have lost 10 straight to the Ducks and are 4-16 in their last 20 meetings.
"I try to not talk about Boise things as much I can with the players," added Petersen. "That might have stood out to them but it's about here and now and Washington. They've done some good things as well. I don't think they really appreciate or care about things from the past."
Riva said he could understand Boise's success after the first round of offseason workouts and team building exercises. He said Petersen emphasizes outworking opponents regardless of talent disparities and building a better, more communicative team through relationship building games.
"When we talk about dynamics in a locker room, it's about cohesion," Riva said. "Guys getting along. You put 100 guys in a room and not everyone's going to like each other. I'm friends with guys now that I probably wouldn't have been so close with. We've got O-linemen hanging out with cornerbacks. He's had us doing cheesy stuff like playing icebreaker games, but it's got me talking to guys I haven't been talking to before. You're naming your favorite pair of shoes you ever had, your most embarrassing moment. It's like a freshman social, you could say."
When Petersen was named the new coach, Riva called an old high school football friend who knew Boise quarterbacks Kellen and Kirby Moore.
"I heard 'You're gonna love him, he's a great guy,' Riva said. "No one said a single bad thing about the guy. He stayed in touch with all his guys that had played for him. Once I heard that I knew we were set."
The Moore brothers' endorsement is in step with every other coach polled about Petersen.
"I know him really only by reputation, but as a former Husky I'm excited the program got such a quality coach," said former UW linebacker and current UCLA head coach Jim Mora, who was briefly rumored to be a candidate at Washington.
"I don't think Coach Petersen changes anything about our rivalry," Washington State head coach Mike Leach said Wednesday. "This thing has been going pretty strong for a long time. I don't think it changed when I came on board. I think he's a great coach, though."
Washington players at Thursday's event admitted that Sarkisian's exit was understandable given his past with the Trojans, but the former Huskies coach was quoted on Wednesday as saying he's never felt closer to a group of players than he does at SC.
![]()
More from our team sites ![]()
![]()
More from our team sites ![]()
"It's harder on some guys because these are the coaches who recruited you, who came into your home, called you every week and met your parents," Riva said. "To see that guy go it's hard for some kids ... it was harder for some players than others. There were highs and lows during all that, but I think we came out on top. It was the Monday or Tuesday after the Apple Cup and the AD brought us together. Sark said 'Hey I'm going to USC, but I love you guys.' And then our AD said, 'Don't worry about it, I'm gonna get you someone.' A week later he walked in and we were excited."
"I think it's like any other business relationship," said linebacker Hau'oliI Kikaha. "You have to understand that it's an individual business relationship, and whatever that man's contract is, that's what it is. We didn't treat it with much emotion."
"It's a hard time for everybody. It's a shocking time, really," Petersen said. "Everybody loves the drama of changing jobs outside of it, unless it's you. It's hard. Those kids are looking at you just like, 'What just happened?' And so you just try and calm the waters. I just try to be really honest to the players. Tell them exactly what I think."
So to Riva, a Seattle native, is the notoriously soft-spoken Petersen a Pacific Northwest guy?
"I'd say so. He's a Pacific Northwest guy," he said. "I can't really describe what that is. I know I get along with him really well. Just really honest, always down to earth. Really even."