LOS ANGELES (AP) -With high-profile bosses so entrenched in their jobs, probably the only way that Southern California offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian or Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley could be head coaches next year is if they went to another school.
Only one of them is moving up, though.
While Bradley has long been considered a potential successor to Hall of Fame head coach Joe Paterno, it’s Sarkisian who is going to be a lead man next season – just at Washington, not USC.
The Rose Bowl on Thursday between the No. 5 Trojans and No. 6 Nittany Lions will be Sarkisian’s last game as Pete Carroll’s assistant before he takes over the Huskies full time.
“It’s a new adventure. You always have to kind of take that next step, try to move forward, try to get better,” Sarkisian said Sunday. “I’m trying to take in all these last couple days … and hopefully we can go out and play well one more time.”
When it comes to assistant coaches, Sarkisian and Bradley might be a study in contrasts.
could be a big brother to many of his players, like USC junior quarterback Mark Sanchez, who walked in to his press conference sporting a scruffy beard.
“Emotionally now, I’m bummed. I want him back,” Sanchez said. “But when I think about what a great person he is, and obviously a great coach, he’s more than deserving.”
Sarkisian will become the third-youngest head coach in college football behind Tennessee’s Lane Kiffin and Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald – both 33.
A star in college at BYU, Sarkisian’s stock has risen sharply since joining the USC staff in 2001 as quarterbacks coach, during which time he’s tutored Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart.
The guy Sanchez calls “Sark” faces the enormous task at Washington of reviving a program that went 11-37 in four seasons under Tyrone Willingham, including 0-12 in 2008.
Tabbed Washington coach on Dec. 6, Sarkisian has put some early work in with the Huskies, though in recent days he said he has been concentrating just on getting USC ready for Penn State.
“It will be hard. It’s been a special place to me,” Sarkisian said about leaving the Trojans.
The 52-year-old Bradley has quite the resume himself. A loyal assistant under Paterno for 30 years, Bradley has been in charge of the defense for the last eight, leading what perennially is one of the nation’s best units.
way Coach Paterno lets us coach,” Bradley said when asked about his longevity. “He’s been loyal to us, and that’s a great thing.”
The Penn State graduate is also known as a tireless recruiter. A special teams captain under Paterno, Bradley played intense, hard-nosed football to help him earn the nickname Scrap – as in scrap iron.
He’s also been the de factor leader on the field during games for much of this season with JoePa limited to the press box because of a sore hip that later required surgery.
At Penn State though, one of the few men who’s been around longer than Bradley is the 82-year-old Paterno, and the boss isn’t going anywhere after agreeing to a three-year extension earlier this month.
That would give Paterno 46 years on the job as head coach.
Bradley has had numerous shots to move on. He said he has been contacted this year by other schools, but declined to name them.
He also said any contingency plans to name him associate head coach at Penn State should Paterno be sidelined by health issues have not been discussed either.
Not that a title may mean that much anyway. Paterno has outlasted other top former assistants once considered to be head-coaching heirs in Happy Valley.
“He’s always kind of teasing me that he’s going to go until he hits three digits,” Bradley said about Paterno’s retirement plans. “Then after that he’s going to think about it.”
Compared to Paterno, Carroll is a relative youngster at 57. Carroll has been a mentor to Sarkisian, helping to mold his offensive coordinator into a future Pac-10 coaching rival.
Bradley, on the other hand, insists he wouldn’t mind if he never moved up. Really.
“I’m not worried about that. I’ve said lots of times that it’s not going to define me if I don’t get to be a head coach,” Bradley said. “Everyone makes a bigger deal about that. I like what I do, and I enjoy what I’m doing here at Penn State.”
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