Chris Petersen coached the Washington Huskies for six years.
Though it might not feel like it, they’ve now played the same number of seasons without him, even if one of them was shortened to four games by a global pandemic.
Three different men have coached the Huskies since Petersen stepped away in December 2019, and in 2026, Jedd Fisch will become the first UW coach since Petersen to embark on a third season.
In the years since Petersen’s abrupt resignation, I’ve tried to put his tenure into perspective by ranking the most important players of that era, and, along with podcast co-host Danny O’Neil, by drafting two whole teams of Petersen-era players.
It occurred that it might be fun to try something similar with the post-Petersen era.
Whereas half of Petersen’s tenure yielded appearances in New Year’s 6 bowl games — remember those? — results in the six years that followed were more disparate. There was the aforementioned COVID year. There was a national championship appearance. Also, a 4-8 season, and the program’s first two years playing in the Big Ten. Two coaching changes disrupted the roster, too, as did the very advent of the transfer portal and loosening of restrictions on player compensation.
On both sides of Petersen’s exit, there has been talent. The Huskies had 26 players drafted from 2015-20 … and 26 players drafted from 2021-26. It’s instructive to compare the best of ‘20-25 against the best of ‘14-19, I think, to get a sense for which positions have improved or lagged — or, where the Huskies have recruited well and not so well — and consider where the talent came from.
So I present to you this all-UW team using players who participated in the 2020-25 seasons. Those who played for Petersen are eligible so long as they also played for either Jimmy Lake, Kalen DeBoer or Fisch, though I tried to only consider what each player accomplished from 2020 on. Some weight was given to NFL Draft selection, but none to NFL performance. A player's performance at UW is all that matters; we're not considering how someone fared after transferring.
These are the players who have defined UW football in the post-Petersen era: