Washington Football Culture Change—"Death March" Style

I think it will take two seasons to bring the talent level back up to where it needs to be with recruiting. It will also take two long tough years of conditioning to mold the current team into a championship contending squad. Don't expect the record to turn around overnight because it likely won't. What you need to keep an eye in is the effort put forth each week and the bruises the opponents feel after playing a game against Washington.

I was surprised when Washington hired Steve Sarkisian but everything I have seen this week indicates that they made the right choice. When Don James was in his third season and things weren't going well he moved into his office and stayed there 24 hours a day till it turned around. Expect the same type of effort from Sarkisian. He isn't here to pick up a pay check like Willingham. He is hear to win football games and continue coaching for the next thirty years.

I've seen Sarkisian do more positive things in his first week than Willingham did his first two years on the job. He seems to get it. He seems to understand what needs to be done to turn this thing around. He understands the history of college football because the eight sacks he suffered as a BYU quarterback in Husky Stadium are a poignant reminder to him of that past Husky glory.

The first thing he did after his initial press conference was head over to Bellevue and Skyline high schools to meet the head coaches who never had much of a relationship with Willingham. The next day he was talking with Monte Koehler over at O'Dea who commented that he expected a call but was impressed that it happened in only Sarks second day on the job. Make no mistake about it he is going to put a fence around the state of Washington from day one.

Sarkisian is the real deal and if he can come up with a couple of great assistant coaches like Jim Owens did he is going to do some great things at Washington. Old timers remember the names of Tom Tipps, Chesty Walker, and Bert Clark who were coaches from the Southwest that helped comprise Owens original staff.

Keep an eye on how Sarkisian develops this first staff. I expect it will have a serious USC flavor to it. That is OK by me because all the Trojans have done under Pete Carroll is win football games. I expect Steve Sarkisian to do the same thing at Washington.

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