Under Chris Petersen’s exacting approach, Washington is thriving

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. “He may not be a perfect fit at other places, but he’s a perfect fit at Washington.”

Heading into Saturday’s showdown with No. 20 USC at Husky Stadium, Washington is unbeaten and ranked fourth in the nation. Its quarterback, Jake Browning, is a onetime Boise State recruit who is now a Heisman Trophy contender. Its defense is nicknamed “Death Row.”

“We’ve had long, hard years since we came here to get these guys all on the same page and going in the same direction,” Petersen said.

In the middle of the resurgence is a coach you could mistake for a mild-mannered bank executive, with a slight frame and perfectly parted hair. Petersen, 52, looks you in the eye when he’s talking and wears a perpetually intent, engaged expression.

He’s known for self-deprecating humor, at least in private. He’s hyper-competitive, even when playing ping-pong against recruits. He owns an icy stare that can snap the most recalcitrant player back into line.

He hesitates to divulge what his staff looks for in a potential recruit because he doesn’t want to surrender even the slightest competitive advantage. He fixates on getting the smallest details of running a program right, an approach that helped him roll up a 92-12 record in eight seasons at Boise State, win two Bowl Championship Series bowl games, and made him one of the nation’s most sought-after coaches.

And, really, he’d rather not be the center of attention.

“He’s so humble,” Washington Athletic Director Jen Cohen said. “He’s not going to self-promote and he’s not going to do a lot of things that make a really interesting interview because that’s not what he thinks his role is. He understands his role is to develop these guys, and he’s phenomenal at it.”

A few days after Steve Sarkisian’s abrupt departure for USC in December 2013, Cohen and former Washington athletic director Scott Woodward discreetly interviewed Petersen for almost two hours at a Boise hotel. Petersen’s personality, values and unwavering belief in how he planned to win all sold Cohen.

Washington was the latest in a long line of suitors. Before USC decided on Sarkisian, a contingent of its athletic department administrators visited Petersen. It wasn’t a fit. He wanted the Washington job.

“It’s who he and his wife are and it’s the culture they want to be part of,” said Hall, who conveyed Petersen’s interest in the Washington position to Cohen. “The Northwest culture is so different than the Southern California culture.”

Petersen delivers a well-used, concise explanation for the decision: academics, community and, of course, the on-field potential of a program that last captured a share of the national title in 1991.

But transformation didn’t come easily at Washington. Petersen, who went 15-12 in his first two seasons, brought an exacting, disciplined approach that couldn’t have been more different from Sarkisian’s relaxed style.

“Since Day 1, [Petersen] stepped in and made it absolutely clear that everything is going to change and it’s going to be for the better,” linebacker Keishawn Bierria said.

Talk to most anyone close to Petersen and they’ll rave about his ability to build a culture within a program. To bring in players, never mind their recruiting ranking, whose personalities and skills fit what he’s trying to do. To obsessively focus on fundamentals during practice. To regularly discuss issues like the presidential election and the protests on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation with the team to help broaden players’ focus beyond football. To do things the right way.

“He’s not a guy that just throws it out there as words,” said co-defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake, one of six former Boise State assistants on the Washington staff. “He believes it and we work on it every single day. ... It’s ongoing. It’s never like, ‘Oh, OK. Now it’s all good.’”

Cohen sees Petersen’s influence extending beyond the football program: “He makes all of us so much better. It’s really changed the culture of the department.”

Petersen would rather use other terms.

“Everybody talks about culture,” he said. “It’s the most overused, over-talked-about stuff in business and sports. I don’t even like saying it. I don’t even like talking about it.”

He laughed.

“So, you’ve got to get your way going,” Petersen said.

Whatever the word, some point to the matter of Marcus Peters as a turning point for Washington under Petersen. The coach dismissed the talented cornerback midway through the 2014 season after repeated clashes with the coaching staff.

The Kansas City Chiefs selected Peters in the first round of the NFL draft the next year. This wasn’t the usual attrition that follows the arrival of a new coach, but a statement about the type of program Petersen was determined to build at Washington even if it meant a short-term setback on the field.

“That sounds great in a team speech, but when he actually does that it carries 10 times the weight,” said Hugh Millen, a former quarterback at Washington and in the NFL who is a football analyst in Seattle. “He truly thinks the team is better when he has our kind of guys. You give me a good player with a bad attitude and it’s cancerous.”

The program-wide change picked up momentum after Washington’s 17-12 upset of USC at the Coliseum last season in the first meeting with Sarkisian since his departure. Less than a week later, USC fired the coach because of alcohol-related problems.

“It was like a double-whammy,” Millen said. “No only did you win on the football field, but the Petersen way, from an integrity standpoint, was brought to the forefront by what happened to Sarkisian in the days afterward.”

Even as the wins pile up and the attention around Washington’s program increases — ESPN’s “College GameDay” will be broadcast from Saturday’s game with USC — Petersen remains even-keeled. He can’t pinpoint a moment when players bought into his way of doing things. He doesn’t see a finished product. There’s always more to be done.

“It’s always a work in progress,” Petersen said. “We’ll never have it.”

nathan.fenno@latimes.com

Twitter: @nathanfenno