Kalen DeBoer to Alabama: 5 replacements for outgoing Washington head coach

4. Pete Kwiatkowski is from the area and was on Chris Petersen's staff

This is another one to watch. Pete Kwiatkowski has been on former Huskies head coach Steve Sarkisian's staff in Texas the last three seasons. Prior to that, he had been in Seattle on seven Washington staffs from 2014 to 2020, first with Chris Petersen and then with Jimmy Lake. Factor in Kwiatkowski being a former Boise State star, and you can understand why he might be a candidate.

This would be another huge blow to Sarkisian's Texas staff, as he already lost his former co-defensive coordinator Jeff Choate to the Nevada job. I don't know if Kwiatkowski is head coach material per se, but his connections to the Washington program and the Pacific Northwest sure are intriguing. This may be a college football blue-blood, but it is not the easiest job either. Maybe he can sustain this?

Admittedly, this feels like a bit of a dark horse contender for the job, but there are two ways Dannen could go about this. He could either replace DeBoer quickly from within with someone like offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb or he could conduct a thorough search to find the right guy. We have seen Washington flourish in the playoff era, and we have seen it flounder. What is it going to be for U-Dub?

If Kwiatkowski were to take over, it would be an unintended consequence of Sarkisian staying put.