Steve Sarkisian Steve Sarkisian ( born March 8 , 1974 ) is an American football coach and former player of American and Canadian football . He is currently the head football coach at the University of Washington , a position he has held since the 2009 season . Sarkisian played college football as a quarterback at Brigham Young University and professionally with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League . He has worked with quarterbacks during most of his coaching career . Playing career . USC and El Camino College . After a standout baseball and football career at West High School in Torrance , California , Sarkisian ' s size ( 6 ' , 165 lb ) did not attract any college football offers . He began his collegiate athletic career in 1992 at USC as a non - scholarship middle infielder on the Trojans baseball team . He struggled playing NCAA Division I baseball and transferred after a semester to El Camino College , a two - year community college in his hometown of Torrance , where he played shortstop . At the urging of El Camino head football coach John Featherstone , one of his instructors , Sarkisian restarted his football career . As a redshirt freshman in 1993 , Sarkisian earned All - Mission Conference honors . In his sophomore season , he was named a junior college All - American after setting a national junior college record by completing 72 . 4 percent of his passes . Brigham Young University . 1995 . As a junior , Sarkisian transferred to Brigham Young University in Provo , Utah , for the 1995 season . He was recruited by DeWayne Walker , then an assistant coach at for the BYU Cougars . Although Kansas State and Washington State showed interest , Sarkisian chose BYU primarily because it was viewed as his best opportunity to play immediately at the Division I - A level as a transferring redshirt junior . The previous starting quarterback , John Walsh , was also from Torrance and a friend of Sarkisian . Walsh left school a year early to enter the 1995 NFL Draft , creating a void in the depth chart ; Sarkisian accepted a scholarship with BYU in December 1994 . At BYU , Sarkisian was coached by offensive coordinator Norm Chow under head coach Lavell Edwards . As a junior , Sarkisian passed for 3 , 437 yards and 20 touchdown s , earning All - Western Athletic Conference honors . Sarkisian finished the season in spectacular fashion , completing 31 of 34 passes for 399 yards and three touchdowns in BYU ' s 45 – 28 victory over Fresno State . His completion percentage in the game ( 91 . 2 percent ) set an NCAA record . Two of the three incompletions Sarkisian threw in the game were intentionally thrown out of bounds to avoid the pass rush . 1996 . As a senior , Sarkisian opened BYU ' s 1996 season by passing for 536 yards and six touchdowns in the Cougars ' 41 – 37 upset victory over Texas A & M in the Pigskin Classic . The 536 yards passing were the most ever by a player against Texas A & M . Sarkisian finished the game with a 46 - yard touchdown pass to K . O . Kealaluhi to seal the victory . BYU finished the regular season with a 13 – 1 record , defeating Wyoming , 28 – 25 , in the WAC Championship Game . Sarkisian passed for 4 , 027 yards and 33 touchdowns during the regular season . His 173 . 6 passer rating led the entire NCAA . For his efforts , he was named WAC Offensive Player of the Year and a second - team All - American . Sarkisian was also awarded the Sammy Baugh Trophy as the nation ' s top passer , making him the seventh BYU quarterback to win the honor . He was also featured on the cover of " TV Guide " in December 1996 . BYU finished the season with 19 – 15 win over Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl Classic . Sarkisian threw a pair of touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to lead the Cougars to a come - from - behind victory . BYU finished the season with a 14 – 1 record and ranked fifth in the nation in both the AP Poll and Coaches ' Poll . The Cougars became the first Division I - A team in NCAA history to win 14 games in a single season . Sarkisian ' s 162 . 0 career passing efficiency rating is third on the all - time NCAA list . Sarkisian earned his bachelor ' s degree in sociology from BYU in 1997 after receiving his associate ' s degree in general studies from El Camino in 1994 . Canadian Football League . Sarkisian played professionally for three seasons , 1997 to 1999 , for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Canadian Football League ( CFL ) . He was a starter in the 1999 season , finishing with 16 touchdown passes and 21 interceptions . His team finished with a dismal 3 – 15 record , prompting Sarkisian to end his playing career . Coaching career . El Camino College . Sarkisian ' s coaching career began in 2000 when he returned to El Camino College as its quarterbacks coach . USC and Oakland Raiders . The following season , Sarkisian joined his former coach , Norm Chow , at USC . Chow was hired as USC ' s offensive coordinator by new head coach Pete Carroll . Sarkisian worked as an offensive assistant in 2001 and then as quarterbacks coach in 2002 and 2003 . In 2004 , Sarkisian moved to the professional ranks as quarterbacks coach for the Oakland Raiders of the NFL . Oakland compiled more than 4 , 000 passing yards , ranking eighth out of 32 NFL teams in passing yardage . Sarkisian returned to USC for the 2005 season with the title of assistant head coach added to his duties as quarterbacks coach . In January 2007 , Sarkisian interviewed with the Raiders for their vacant head coaching position , but pulled himself out of the running to stay at USC . Sarkisian was named to replace Lane Kiffin as USC ' s offensive coordinator when Kiffin took the head coaching job with the Raiders . Washington . The University of Washington introduced Sarkisian as its 23rd head football coach during a press conference in the Don James Center at Husky Stadium on December 8 , 2008 . Sarkisian signed a contract that paid him $ 1 . 75 million in 2009 , with a salary increasing to $ 2 . 3 million by 2013 . Down in Los Angeles , John Morton succeeded Sarkisian as offensive coordinator at USC . In Sarkisian ' s first year as head coach in 2009 , Washington scored a huge upset of Sarkisian ' s former team , defeating # 3 USC 16 – 13 with a last second field goal . Washington then lost six of their next seven games , but finished the season in strong fashion , dominating rival Washington State , 30 – 0 , to claim the Apple Cup , and scoring another upset with a rout of # 19 California , 42 – 10 . Washington finished the year with a 5 – 7 record , a dramatic improvement over the previous season , a winless 0 – 12 . With Pete Carroll ' s departure from USC to coach the Seattle Seahawks on January 9 , 2010 , Sarkisian was discussed in the media as a potential replacement , but Sarkisian stated that he had not received an offer to become head coach of the Trojans . Despite his public comments , Sarkisian was still considered a top candidate for the position by USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett . However , Sarkisian expressed reservations about leaving Washington after one year , and decided not to pursue the position . Ultimately , Lane Kiffin was hired for the position . In his second season as head coach of Washington , the Huskies went 6 – 6 in 2010 . The Huskies defeated USC again with a game - ending field goal , this time in Los Angeles . At mid - season , UW had alternated losses and wins and was 3 – 3 , then were outscored 138 – 30 in the next three games , all losses against Arizona , Stanford , and Oregon . They fell to 3 – 6 , but finished the year on a high note with three consecutive wins and were bowl eligible for the first time since the 2002 season . The Huskies concluded the season with a stunning 19 – 7 victory over # 18 Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl , avenging a 56 – 21 blowout home loss to the Huskers in September . With star quarterback Jake Locker departing to the NFL and a suddenly depleted linebacking corps , many expected the Huskies to regress in the 2011 season , Sarkisian ' s third . Greatly exceeding expectations , the Huskies started out 6 – 2 and were undefeated in conference play at the halfway point of the season . At one point , they were ranked in all major polls for the first time during his short tenure . Unfortunately the rest of their season was a different story : they went 1 – 3 in their remaining conference games and then lost in the Alamo Bowl to Baylor , 67 – 56 . They ultimately finished 7 – 6 . In 2012 , the Washington Huskies finished 7 - 6 after a 26 - 28 loss to Boise St in the Maaco Bowl Las Vegas . New contract . Sarkisian ' s original contract in 2009 was for five years and paid $ 1 . 75 million in guaranteed money for the first year , rising to $ 2 . 0 million in 2011 and $ 2 . 3 million in 2013 . Following the 2010 season and bowl victory , he signed a new five - year contract that paid $ 2 . 25 million in guaranteed money in 2011 , rising to $ 2 . 85 million in 2015 . Personal life and family . Born in Torrance , California , Sarkisian is the youngest of seven children , the only one in the family born in California ; the older six siblings were born in Massachusetts . Sarkisian ' s ethnicity is Armenian and Irish . His father is an ethnic Armenian , born and raised in Tehran , Iran , and immigrated to the United States at age 18 to attend college . Sarkisian ' s mother is an Irish - American from Massachusetts . Although he attended Brigham Young University , a Mormon institution , Sarkisian is Catholic . He is married and has two daughters and a son . Sarkisian ' s running backs . Though known primarily for his quarterbacks , Sarkisian , along with running backs coach Joel Thomas , has produced a 1000 - yard rusher every year that he has been at Washington . On December 24 , 2012 , Coach Thomas officially accepted the position of running backs coach at The University of Arkansas .