Boise State Dude Talks About Petersen from Xs and Os Perspective

- He runs his program his way. Now this is where I expect there to be a bit of potential friction between Pete and his new home. I think the reason he stayed at Boise for so long is that they let him run the program his way, and nobody up until UW was willing to give him the same level of control. So I’m kinda assuming that his program at UW will be similar to the one at Boise for this section. When I said Pete don’t give a damn before, I meant it. We lose a couple players each year for “unspecified violations of team rules” – and these aren’t bad players, they’re in some cases core guys at positions without depth (one of our cuts got picked up by Baylor earlier this year). Titus Young got suspended for almost an entire season. With the increased level of talent he’s going to be dealing with at UW, it seems to potentially raise the stakes for this approach – is Pete going to be able to retain the support of the fanbase if/when he cuts a really good player? Rumor has it he has little patience for dealing with boosters, so will he be able to keep their support if things get choppy? On the flip side, this is one of the reasons folks love him - he doesn’t let players get away with things or make excuses – they’re expected to be 110% committed to football and they move on if they’re not.

- He’s also pretty opaque from a media perspective. Players aren’t allowed to tweet. Freshmen aren’t allowed to meet with the media. Most practices are closed, and there are heavy restrictions on reporting from the parts of practice that are open. In his interviews, he’s usually pretty curt and close-to-the-vest. He’s nowhere near Harbaugh-levels of dickishness, but he has better things to do than answer your cliched questions about football thank you very much. (One of my favorite anecdotes, when Kellen was unexpectedly spotted with a knee brace a couple years ago, Pete just said “oh it’s just a doctor thing” and moved on.) Winning cures all, so I don’t expect these things to be issues, but I think the off-the-field changes will be more significant for Pete than the on-the-field changes.

The upshot

Those things being said, in his years in Boise, Pete was totally loved by the community, media, players, etc. His kids went to local schools, he’s involved in local community and philanthropic activities. He’s a pretty low-key guy, he doesn’t like excessive media attention or the bells and whistles that come with coaching, he really just wants to coach his team and go home at the end of the day. His son battled cancer a few years back, and while it sounds like he’s mostly beyond it, I’m sure the Seattle-area hospitals didn’t hurt the recruiting pitch. In all, you just got one of the best coaches in college football, both on and off the field. Take it from a Bronco fan – the days ahead are bright for the Huskies.