The coach who brought two Pac-12 championships back to Montlake and earned a CFP birth gets nothing but hate on here. Don't forget as student athletes, the team did better than ever before under coach Pete. Would you guys rather have Willingham or Gilbertson instead? I swear everyone here dogging on coach Pete are not husky fans but imposters trying to poison the well. Prove me wrong.
I do agree that many here downplay Pete’s success. Most of them remember the golden years, and Pete got close, but not all the way there.
I don’t think many care about the student athlete part.[/b] I like Pete as a person and as a parent, I could see why playing for a guy like Pete would be the right choice, but winning is all that actually matters. I don’t care any more about our players as people then I do the average Joe.
I'm one. "The Twelves" got insufferable, but what finally weaned me from the Seahawks' teet was using a first round pick on piece of shit Frank Clark. The pictures of his girlfriend, and the damage he did to the motel room with her face, were public record at the time. It wasn't hard. If I wanted to cheer for an organization that's morally bankrupt for the warm fuzzy feeling of "belonging" to a winning team, I'd... take it to the Tug.
There's probably nobody here who hated Petersen's game day coaching as much as me (I'll concede a hundred-way tie...), but I have a lot more respect and admiration for the guy than most of you for the above reason. I also agree that the insistence on doing things "the right way" was at least partly why he was never going to push the program over the final hump, but I still admire it. He had an 11 win team this year and achieved 8. That was a coaching failure, not a "being a goodie two shoes" failure, although there's sometimes overlap. I think it would have been entirely possible for Petersen--were he not burnt out and disinterested--to keep cranking out ten-plus win seasons with the rare shot in the playoffs, and doing so while maintaining relatively high ethical standards in the program. I can't think of another head coach in the country who I'm certain could pull off the same. Wait and see mode with Lake.
I don't begrudge people just wanting to see the team win, though. It's just entertainment, and winning is fun. Just my personal preference: Sports is my reality TV, and I'd rather like the main characters.
ATBS, @Downey_41 needs to get his reads down fast or he's going to flame out even harder than @theciscoshow. (Pro tip, Downey: Go to the classics board and read the ciscoshow thread. Not quite PMing IrishDawg22, but it'll get you most of the way there. Then come back, eat some crow, and hang out a while. Or not. Whatever.)
