Editor’s note: This is the fourth story in a weeklong series taking you behind the scenes to understand what it’s like covering certain figures in the Seattle sports scene. We’re dealing with coaches (and one GM) this week. Today: Christian Caple on Huskies head football coach Chris Petersen.
The tunnel is lined with purple carpet, the walls adorned with framed posters commemorating each of Washington’s bowl appearances. On game days, Washington’s players rumble out of their locker room and walk past those posters, gathering at the tunnel’s entrance before sprinting onto the field to loud cheers inside a packed Husky Stadium.
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The setting is a little more relaxed for Chris Petersen’s “Thursday Variety Hour,” co-starring Dave “Softy” Mahler.
OK, so it’s more like 10 or 12 minutes, and Mahler is more of a foil than a co-star, and Petersen might prefer that he not show up at all. But these Thursday sessions, otherwise centered on last-minute minutiae and any other topics that weren’t already covered at Petersen’s Monday media availability, have become notable mostly for the banter they produce between Petersen and Mahler, on-air host for Sports Radio KJR 950 AM and an avid UW supporter.
It typically goes something like this: Reporters will gather in a team meeting room adjacent to the tunnel — the same room where postgame interviews are conducted, not far from UW’s locker room — and Petersen will walk in, fresh from practice, before assuming his position in front of the gathered TV cameras and recorders. He’ll greet us, then start smiling in a here-we-go-again kind of way when he spots Mahler, whom he knows will ask the first several questions.
“How did this guy end up being like the spokesman for everyone?” Petersen once asked before a Thursday session, Mahler already poised to begin his interrogation. KOMO’s Bill Swartz asked the first question that day.
Known for his buttoned-up style, Petersen isn’t the type to command an audience by cracking jokes or holding court. He doesn’t make headlines for zany, irreverent news conference musings, and his responses during group interviews — while almost always polite and respectful — rarely include anecdotes or details revealing in nature.
Petersen’s comedic side rarely comes out. But make no mistake: He does have one. (Russ Isabella / USA TODAY Sports)
But for a few minutes each week — and sometimes on Mondays and in other settings, too — Petersen uses Mahler as a conduit through which he shows his comedic side. Here’s what I mean:
• After a spring practice in April 2017, Petersen was asked about the necessity of putting pressure on UW’s kickers during practices. He responded: “It’s like going to the driving range. Softy’s even pretty good at the driving range, but you put the pressure on him a little bit, and it’s like, really?”
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• During a Thursday availability last season, after UW’s loss at Arizona State, Petersen responded to a question about using the ASU game as motivation: “I would just say whatever helps us, like, just not go through these. People can just work hard and not get better at all. I think you probably do that every day, Softy.”
• On a Thursday earlier this season, Mahler prefaced a question about a certain statistic by noting “stats are for losers,” referencing one of Petersen’s favorite sayings, only for Petersen to interrupt: “So then throw a few of them my way.”
• On a Thursday in 2016, Mahler got stuck in traffic and arrived late. His first question — something about the bye week — already had been asked. Petersen saw his opening: “That question was asked. That was the first question. We move on. If you’re on our team, we don’t even answer that question. But we’ll cut you a little slack. You good?”
• On a different Thursday in 2016, Mahler asked several questions in a row, and Petersen lamented to the rest of the reporters in the room: “He’s got a lot of questions.” A few minutes later, answering a question about the need for coaches to balance long hours with time away from the office, Petersen cracked: “A day like today, on Thursday, guys get out of here early — unless they’re doing an interview for so long and they can’t get out of here to see their families.”
• With Petersen evading questions about the health and status of left tackle Trey Adams, Mahler slyly asked what role Adams might be playing behind the scenes. This seemed to catch Petersen off-guard, but he wouldn’t be tricked: “That’s a great question. I really don’t have any idea what he’s playing right now. Good try, Softy.”
• Two Mondays ago, Mahler asked Petersen how he goes about putting together his ballot for the weekly coaches poll. His response: “I get your poll to start out with because I know it means absolutely nothing. So I just copy what you put down.”
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Of course, Mahler gives it back when he can. After seeing a photo of Petersen wearing a purple-and-gold, tropical-themed Tommy Bahama shirt during a recruiting visit, Mahler showed up to Pac-12 Media Day this year wearing the same shirt. Petersen seemed equal parts annoyed and amused.
Petersen can be a thoughtful, engaging interview subject, particularly when chatting one-on-one about topics that intrigue or dismay him. He’ll talk all day about the ills of social media, or the early start to the modern recruiting cycle. He’ll go in-depth when discussing player safety; just this week, for example, he offered an interesting perspective on college football’s targeting rule, agreeing with a call that led to defensive lineman Jaylen Johnson being ejected from Saturday’s loss at Oregon. But he also can be paranoid and evasive, placing a wide berth between the media and the inner-workings of his program, ever conscious about giving too much away.
So while Petersen might show his dry sense of humor more often behind closed doors — or on a recruiting visit, when nobody else is watching — he otherwise keeps things fairly vanilla, embodying the kind of head-down, do-your-job mantra he wants each of his players to adhere to.
Until Mahler’s next question, anyway.
