Former UW Huskies Coach Steve Sarkisian to Replace Kyle Shanahan
By Ben Renner
Former UW Huskies coach and Pete Carroll protege Steve Sarkisian agreed to join the Atlanta Falcons as the Offensive Coordinator today.
The Pete Carroll NFL coaching tree grew another branch today as Steve Sarkisian agreed to terms with the Atlanta Falcons to become their Offensive Coordinator. With the much-heralded (in spite of his mistakes in Super Bowl 51) OC Kyle Shanahan headed to the NFC West to coach the San Francisco 49ers, the Falcons wasted no time installing Sark.
Steve Sarkisian is of course a former USC assistant coach under Pete Carroll with the Trojans. In 2008, he left Southern California to move north and coach the UW Huskies. His UW teams were strictly mediocre or just bad, but they seemed to have a special penchant for beating the USC Trojans, highlighted by a 16-13 win over no. 3 USC in 2009.
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Steve Sarkisian bolted UW in 2013 after earning the nickname “Seven Win Steve” for his habit of winning seven games every year with Washington. He returned to USC as head coach.
After an embarrassing 2015 episode in which he showed up to a practice drunk, Sark was fired early in the USC season. Nick Saban and his Alabama football machine scooped him up prior to this season. He eventually moved into the Offensive Coordinator role for the Tide just after Washington’s loss to Alabama in the Peach Bowl.
For some reason, probably due to Sark’s and Atlanta head coach Dan Quinn’s common relationship with Pete Carroll, Steve Sarkisian will get another shot in the NFL. He was a quarterbacks coach for the Oakland Raiders briefly early in his coaching career.
Although Sark has never called a single play in the NFL, he’ll get a shot to coordinate one of the best offenses in football. Even after the normal, expected losses the team will take this offseason, the Falcons will still boast an MVP-winning quarterback, two dynamic running backs, one of the best receivers in the league, and a dominant offensive line.
We’ll see how much of the Falcons’ success was due to the offensive wizardry of Shanahan and how much Sark can capitalize on Atlanta’s fully-stocked shelf of weapons next year.
To Sark’s credit, former Husky cornerback and Seattle royalty Desmond Trufant called him “A dope guy. A very strong guy. A leader.”
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The Pete Carroll coaching tree grows.