On the floor below the conference room where Chris Petersen meets with a small contingent from the news media each week, reminders of Washington’s past success on the football field fill a series of glass display cases.
The front page of a local newspaper from Petersen’s introduction as head coach on a December afternoon almost three years ago is wedged in a corner next to scratched-up helmets and vintage jerseys. The headline hasn’t faded:
“Dream hire.”
That’s the level of expectation Petersen brought from Boise State to Washington, and it’s being realized on the field.
“This isn’t just something that’s happened by fate or by luck,” said Skip Hall, who spent 12 years as an assistant at Washington under legendary coach Don James and is a close friend of Petersen.