Steve Sarkisian

Steve Sarkisian
Sarkisian during his tenure as offensive coordinator of USC.
Title	Head coach
College	Washington
Sport	Football
Born	March 8, 1974 (1974-03-08) (age 35)
Place of birth	Torrance, California
Career highlights
Championships
1 AP National College Football Champion (2003) 6 Pac-10 Conference Championships (2002-2003; 2005-2008) 2 WAC Conference Championships (1995-1996)
Playing career
1993-1994 1995-1996 1997-1999	El Camino (JC) BYU Saskatchewan Roughriders
Position	Quarterback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
2000 2001-03 2004 2005-06 2007–08 2009–	El Camino (QBs) USC (QBs) Oakland Raiders (QBs) USC (QBs) USC (QBs; OC; Asst. HC) Washington

Steve Sarkisian (born March 8, 1974 in Torrance, California)^[1] is a Armenian-American college football coach, currently the head coach of the Washington Huskies in Seattle. He played quarterback during college and in the CFL, and has worked with quarterbacks during most of his coaching career.

Playing career

After a standout baseball and football career at West High School in Torrance, California, Sarkisian began his collegiate athletic career in 1992 at USC as a member of the baseball team. He struggled playing NCAA Division I baseball, and transferred to El Camino College, a two-year community college in his hometown of Torrance. At the urging of El Camino head coach John Featherstone, Sarkisian re-started his football career. As a freshman in 1993, Sarkisian earned All-Mission Conference honors. In his sophomore season, he was named JC All-American after setting a national junior college record by completing 72.4 percent of his passes.

BYU

As a junior, Sarkisian transferred to Brigham Young University (BYU) for the 1995 season.^[2] He was recruited by DeWayne Walker, then an assistant coach at BYU.^[3] Sarkisian chose BYU primarily because it was viewed as his best opportunity to play immediately at the Division I-A level as a transferring redshirt junior. The previous starting quarterback, John Walsh, left school a year early to enter the 1995 NFL Draft, creating a void in the depth chart.

At BYU, Sarkisian was coached by offensive coordinator Norm Chow. As a junior, Sarkisian passed for 3,437 yards and 20 touchdowns, earning All-WAC honors. Sarkisian finished the season in spectacular fashion, completing 31-of-34 passes for 399 yards and 3 touchdowns in BYU's 45-28 victory over Fresno State. His completion percentage in the game (91.2 percent) set an NCAA record. It is notable that two of the three incompletions Sarkisian threw in the game were intentionally thrown out of bounds to avoid the pass rush.^{[citation needed]}

Sarkisian opened his senior season by passing for 536 yards and 6 touchdowns in the Cougars' 41-37 upset victory over Texas A&M in the Pigskin Classic. The 536 yards passing were the most ever by a player against Texas A&M's "Wrecking Crew" defense. Sarkisian finished the game with a 46-yard touchdown pass to K.O. Kealaluhi to seal the victory.^[4]

BYU finished the regular season with a 13-1 record, defeating Wyoming 28-25 in the WAC Championship Game. Sarkisian passed for 4,027 yards and 33 touchdowns during the regular season. His 173.6 passer rating led the entire NCAA. For his efforts, he was named WAC Offensive Player of the Year and a second-team NCAA All-American. Sarkisian gained enough national prominence that he was awarded the Sammy Baugh Trophy as the nation's top passer. He was also featured on the cover of TV Guide in December 1996. BYU finished the season with 19-15 win over Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl Classic. Sarkisian threw a pair of TD passes in the fourth quarter to lead the Cougars to the come-from-behind victory. BYU finished the season with a 14-1 record, ranked fifth in the nation in both the AP Poll and Coaches Poll. The Cougars became the first Division I-A team in NCAA history to win 14 games in a single season. Sarkisian's 162.0 career passing efficiency rating is third on the all-time NCAA list.

CFL

Sarkisian played professionally for three seasons, (1997 to 1999), for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was a starter in the 1999 season, finishing with 16 touchdown passes and 21 interceptions. His team finished with a dismal 3-15 record, prompting Sarkisian to end his playing career.

Coaching career

Sarkisian making the USC "V" for victory sign after a 2008 fall practice.

Sarkisian's coaching career began in 2000, when he returned to El Camino Junior College as its quarterbacks coach.

The following season he joined his former coach Norm Chow at USC (Chow was hired as USC's offensive coordinator by new head coach Pete Carroll in 2001). Sarkisian worked as an offensive assistant (2001), then as quarterbacks coach (2002-03).

In 2004, Sarkisian moved to the professional ranks as quarterbacks coach for the Oakland Raiders of the NFL. Oakland compiled more than 4,000 passing yards, ranking 8th (of 32 NFL teams) in the passing offense category.^[5]

He returned to USC for the 2005 season, now with the title of assistant head coach (in addition to his duties as quarterbacks coach).

In January 2007, Sarkisian interviewed with the Oakland Raiders for their vacant head coaching position but pulled himself out of the running and decided to stay at USC.^[6] Sarkisian was named to replace Lane Kiffin as USC's offensive coordinator when Kiffin took the head coaching job of the Oakland Raiders.

On December 6, 2008, the University of Washington introduced Sarkisian as the school's 23rd head football coach during a press conference on December 8, 2008 in the Don James Center at Husky Stadium.^[7] Sarkisian signed a contract that will pay him $1.75 million in 2009, rising to $2.3 million by 2013.[1] At USC, John Morton, the passing coordinator, became the new offensive coordinator.^[8]

Upon taking the reigns, Sarkisian quickly reignited an enormous but frustrated UW Football fanbase, and returned the program to national prominence by scoring a monumental 16 - 13 upset victory over his former USC team on September 19, 2009, in what was just his third game as a head coach. The victory earned the Huskies a #24 in the national AP poll; Their first time in the Top 25 in almost 6 years.

The victory was short lived as the Huskies went on to lose 5 of their next 6 games, including a tough 24-23 loss at UCLA. The loss extended the Huskies' regular season losing streak in the Rose Bowl to seven games, dating back to 1995. ^[9]

Personal

The youngest of seven children, Steve was the only one born in California; the older six were born in Massachusetts. Sarkisian's ethnicity is Armenian and Irish. His father is an ethnic Armenian, born and raised in Tehran, Iran, who immigrated to the U.S. at age 18 to attend college and stayed; Sarkisian's mother is an Irish-American.^[10] Although he attended Brigham Young University, a Mormon institution, Sarkisian is Catholic.^[2]He is married and has two daughters and a son.^[11]

Head coaching record

References

External links

• Go Huskies.com - Steve Sarkisian - head coach - bio
• USC Trojans.com - Steve Sarkisian - bio
• Daily Trojan.com - A Q&A with Steve Sarkisian - 14-Apr-2005
• BYU Cougars.com - player profile - Steve Sarkisian - 1995-96
• Sports Illustrated - feature - 07-Oct-1996
• The Seattle Times - Steve Sarkisian - 14-Dec-2008