Boise State's head coach Chris Petersen has finally moved on. He's reportedly agreed to a deal with the University of Washington, according to ESPN.
Mid major coaches as successful as Petersen seem to stubbornly cling to their schools a few more years than necessary in the eyes of the media, but few hold on forever. Last year, for example, Butler men's basketball coach Bradley Stephens left the small Midwestern school he'd let to back-to-back NCAA championship game appearances and accepted the Boston Celtics coaching position. Left to defend the mid-major life are TCU's Gary Patterson (seven bowl wins and the Rose Bowl since 2000), Gonzaga's Mark Few, who coached his team to a number one seed in last year's tournament but has never made it past the Sweet Sixteen since taking over as head coach in the early 2000's, and VCU's Shaka Smart, whose CAA-playing Rams made the final four in 2011.
Though BCS-less coaches still make salaries comparable to coaches from major conferences (Smart earns $1.2 million per year), Petersen will be getting a raise as Washington plans to make him one of the richest program heads in the Pac-12, according to ESPN.
Petersen has gone 92-12 during eight seasons that felt more like fifteen. His signature teams came in 2006 and 2009; both years they finished undefeated and won a BCS bowl. This year, the Broncos are 8-4 and lost 38-6 to Washington (8-4, 5-4) in week 1. Boise State was ranked #19 at the time.
His name has been mixed into a variety of west coast positions, including the Washington job in 2009 and previous openings at USC, Stanford, and UCLA, ESPN reported. An ESPN source said Pederson felt it was the right time to move on, both personally and professionally. The two sides had been communicating since Thanksgiving, according to the same source.
The Huskies were also pursuing current Missour head coach Gary Pinkel until withdrew on Thursday and proclaimed on Mike and Mike, "I'm a Missouri Tiger, and I'm going to stay a Missouri Tiger."
