Hook 'Em Horns: Pete Kwiatkowski Leaves Huskies for Texas
Pete Kwiatkowski, the University of Washington's football defensive architect, has taken his genius to Texas and joined Steve Sarkisian's coaching staff. He made it official by changing his social media accounts.
Kwiatkowski, 55, built his reputation as a top-notch defensive coordinator over seven seasons with the Huskies that was exceeded in modern times only by Jim Lambright and Jim Mora Sr.
To replace him, coaches who might show interest in making a move to Seattle and have past ties to the UW program include Louisville co-defensive coordinator Cort Dennison, a former Husky linebacker in 2008; California's defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon, a UW linebackers coach in 2012-13 and father of current Husky linebacker starter Jackson Sirmon; and Ray Horton, former UW cornerback in 1979-82 and a NFL defensive coordinator for the Titans, Cardinals and Browns, and out of football for one season.
On the current Husky staff, only inside linebackers coach Bob Gregory, who was the defensive coordinator at Cal in 2002-09 and previously spent one year in that role at Boise State, would be a ready candidate.
By raiding Jimmy Lake's staff for Kwiatkowski, Sarkisian only adds to the strong disconnect between him and the UW football program and its fan base.
Sarkisian remains the only coach to use the Husky job as a springboard to another coaching position over the past 64 years — since Darrell Royal left the UW for Texas — when he became the USC coach, was neglectful of his UW football duties at times with his admitted alcoholism and had continued to strongly recruit the Seattle area on behalf of Alabama.
Kwiatkowski came to Washington in 2014 with Chris Petersen from Boise State to replace Sarkisian's staff that left for USC, with Husky followers not exactly sure who he was or what he could do. He consistently fielded the Pac-12's top defensive scoring outfit.
In 2018, the coach generously suggested that he and current UW coach Jimmy Lake become co-defensive coordinators so Lake wouldn't be pirated away by some other program, which was a strong possibility at the time.
Kwiatkowski previously coached in defensive positions for eight seasons at Boise State, where he was a standout defensive lineman, six seasons at Montana State and two seasons at Eastern Washington.
It should be noted that Sarkisian once hired Nick Holt from USC to be his first UW defensive coordinator, promising him that they would do great things together. Three seasons later, he fired Holt following a 67-56 loss to Baylor and Robert Griffin III in the 2011 Alamo Bowl. Holt now coaches football in Italy, with Purdue his last college stop in 2019.
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