Inside The Huskies

Huskies Pull Out All Stops, Invite Petersen Back for Apple Cup Chat

Players later lined up to greet the former UW football coach.

Dan Raley

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Chris Petersen surprisingly stepped down as the University of Washington football coach three long years ago following the Apple Cup, making a quick exit from his Montlake offices.

Yet in a sense, he never left. 

On Tuesday, Petersen was back in front of the Huskies once more, looking out at a captive audience that still included several individuals who played for him, yet offering an inspirational Apple Cup message for everyone to share.

With an enlarged rivalry game photo serving as a backdrop behind him, Petersen, who coached at the UW for six seasons, no doubt spoke about what it meant to him to play Washington State. 

Afterward, in the ultimate show of respect, Husky players lined up to shake his hand, offer some sort of personal greeting and to just get close to the well-known football leader.

New coach Kalen DeBoer met Petersen for the first time through the fast-paced hiring process, with the two speaking on the phone and discussing the program before the job became his.

Arriving from Fresno State, DeBoer was introduced at a news conference in the UW coaches' offices as the new football leader a year ago on Nov. 30 and Petersen slipped in unnoticed 

While Petersen is still highly visible as a weekend FOX-TV college football analyst, these two coaches have maintained a steady relationship throughout DeBoer's first season in Montlake 

Chris Petersen spoke to the UW football team on Tuesday, pre-Apple Cup.
Chris Petersen speaks to the Husky football team, many of them still his former players.  / UW

On the eve of the Husky season opener against Kent State, DeBoer shared how he had traded text messages with Petersen to begin that week and mentioned to him how quickly everything had gone to reach that point. 

"He's been amazing," DeBoer told reporters. "First of all, I've said it from the beginning you'd be foolish not to take the insight and any information he has to share and learn from it. He loves this program. He loves obviously the players he knows still that he recruited, and there are a high number of those."

In fact, 37 of the 116 Huskies now on the roster played for him.

UW players line up to greet former Husky coach Chris Petersen.
UW players line up to greet former Husky coach Chris Petersen.  / UW

While Petersen shows no inclination to return to coaching, and his name actually was brought up by UW fans once Jimmy Lake was fired last season, he hasn't strayed far from the Huskies.

DeBoer is making sure of that, keeping him close as he builds his own program.

"Chris has just been a great source, bouncing things off of him," the UW coach said. "He's always welcome around here and he knows that and I appreciate him to a very, very high level."

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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