Steve Sarkisian, NFL Head Coaching Candidate? Probably Not

Chip Kelly was the obvious Pac-12 name that would be up for NFL jobs. I somehow doubt anyone expected Steve Sarkisian to get his name circulated, but there he is on a potential list for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Obviously this comes as a bit of a surprise. Sarkisian's resume isn't all that great. Other than a handful of upsets of USC, Stanford and Oregon State, Sarkisian really hasn't done much to prove himself. After getting his team to a bowl game in his second season, Sark's Huskies have settled into a regular medium, going 7-6 three straight seasons.

The nice thing about Sarkisian is he does have West Coast Offense familiarity, which is still the predominant offense in the NFL. Sark has also become quite familiar with running a pro-style offense out of shotgun, so he definitely has the offensive acumen to transition quickly to this level of football.

I'd imagine there would be interest the other way. Sarkisian has to wonder how much further he can go with the Huskies. Washington seems to be unable to do any better than 7-6 every season, and Sark has yet to come close to beating archrival Oregon, a team he pretty much has to beat to sniff the Rose Bowl.

Things don't get easier in 2013. Boise State comes to Seattle to start the season. They have a trip to Soldier Field to face Illinois. They have to go on the road to Oregon State, Stanford and UCLA while hosting Arizona and Oregon. This might not be a bad time for Sarkisian to take a look out there and see what might work the best for him.

But it does feel like he's a backup plan, and I doubt Sarkisian is ready to be a backup plan.