After Getting Turned Down by Jim Mora, Washington Hires Chris Petersen

WoodenMania already fanshotted this but this is worth discussing on the frontpage. Big news is coming out of Seattle this am:

Boise State's Chris Petersen is expected to be named coach at Washington on Friday, sources have told ESPN.

According to a source, the contract will make Petersen one of the highest-paid coaches in the Pac-12.

Petersen, who has turned down other job offers, is ready for a new challenge, the source said.

Here is the comical (Trogan spin) part of the story from the network that is also the home for Southern Cal fan-site:

Petersen pursued the USC job and met with athletic director Pat Haden in Boise on Sunday morning. But Haden decided to hire Washington coach Steve Sarkisian, setting in motion Petersen's move to Seattle.

Sure tWWL, whatever you guys want to do to make yourselves feel better about the fact that Washington was rejected by their first choice  Jim Mora, and then in turn went with someone who from everyone else's pov rejected the Trojans to go with the Huskies.

Credit to Washington Huskies AD for pulling this off. He clearly had a plan in place. His choices were in order:

Jim Mora
Chris Petersen
And then Doug Neussmeier.

He struck out on Mora, who leverged the interest for better packakges for his assistants, locking in concrete commitment to new facilities, and a blockbuster PR week for UCLA. But, instead of desperately flailing at other candidates, he essentially lined up a good backup plan (for the Huskies) in Nussmeier, before focusing on Petersen.

It's going to be interesting to see how Petersen performs in the Pac-12 given the less than stellar record of previous Boise State head coaches who have failed in BCS conferences (Dirk Koetter at Arizona State and Dan Hawkins at Colorado). Regardless, it's a good day for the Huskies, frankly even a better one for the Bruins.

As for the Trojans, it appears under Pat Haden Southern Cal is no longer even the University of Second Choice.

GO BRUINS.