Huskies Draw Alamo Bowl and Reunion with Ex-Coach Sarkisian
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Nine years ago, Steve Sarkisian tried to explain to a room full of angry University of Washington football players why he wasn't going with them to the Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco, that he'd been hired by USC, and naturally that didn't go over well.
They yelled at him, he invited anyone to come to his office and talk this out and instead he was last seen speeding away from Montlake in his donor car.
Now three jobs and one rehab later, Sarkisian will reintroduce himself to the UW and face his former team in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29 in San Antonio.
On Sunday, Kalen DeBoer's University of Washington football team (10-2) was paired with the Sarkisian-coached Texas Longhorns (8-4), with both programs trying to push an expedient remodel and return to national prominence.
The announcement came right before halftime of the UW-Colorado basketball game, with DeBoer taking the floor during a timeout to confirm the news.
"I'm a little bit overwhelmed right now," the coach said to cheers after leaving a Dempsey Indoor practice.
DeBoer is in his first season with the Huskies, Sarkisian in his second with the 'Horns after a somewhat disappointing 5-7 debut showing in 2021.
Sarkisian, 48, coached the Huskies to modest 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 and 8-4 seasons from 2009 to 2013, for a 34-29 record overall, and to four bowl games, again only three of which he attended.
And then he was gone, spending a season and a half at USC, guiding the Trojans to 9-4 and 3-2 records, before self-admitted alcoholism issues surfaced to the point he was fired at midseason in 2015.
After working as an offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons and in the same role for Alabama and Nick Saban back on the college level, Sarkisian earned another chance to be a head coach at Texas.
Sarkisian, of course, couldn't make this move without impacting the UW in some manner. He brought two former Husky assistant coaches with him to Austin in defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, a seven-year UW assistant who was part of the new Chris Petersen staff that replaced Sarkisian's crew and who spent one season with Jimmy Lake's ill-fated staff; and defensive-line coach Jeff Choate, a two-season coach for Petersen while replacing Sarkisian's crew.
The Huskies, who finished tied for second in the Pac-12 with Utah and Oregon, had hoped for a Rose Bowl berth as they awaited the postseason pairings to shake out, but USC didn't cooperate, losing to the Utes 47-24 in Friday night's Pac-12 championship game.
"We feel we can play with anyone," DeBoer said.
His team has a chance to become just the fifth Husky entry to win 11 games in a season. By beating the Longhorns, they would join Don James' 1984 Orange Bowl-winning club (11-1) and his 1991 Rose Bowl- and national championship-winning (12-0) team, Rick Neuheisel's 2000 team that captured the Rose Bowl (11-1) and Chris Petersen's 2016 club (12-2) that advanced to the CFP.
Texas, the Big 12's third-place finisher, and the UW previously have faced each other four times, twice in bowl games, but haven't played in 21 seasons. Texas leads the series 3-1.
They first met in 1974 in Austin, when an Earl Campbell-led Texas team won 35-21, and played again the following year at Husky Stadium against Don James' first UW team and won again, 28-10. Both Longhorns teams were coached by Darrell Royal, a former Husky coach in 1956.
The Huskies and Texas faced off a third time in the 1979 Sun Bowl with James' team taking a hard-fought 14-7 victory.
These schools last met on the football field in the 2001 Holiday Bowl, where the Mack Brown-coached Longhorns outlasted the UW and Rick Neuheisel for a 47-43 win.
Concern over this being a home game for Texas is well justified, with Austin just 80 miles up the road from San Antonio.
The Huskies have played in the Alamo Bowl, just once, with Sarkisian coaching, and lost to Baylor 67-56 in a scoring fest in 2011.
The UW football team has six players from Texas in sophomore wide receiver Ja'Lynn Polk from Lufkin; redshirt freshman running backs Will Nixon and Jay'Veon Sunday from Waco and sophomore running back Aaron Dumas from El Paso; junior offensive tackle Victor Curne from Houston, and freshman defensive back Jaivion Green from Houston.
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