Petersen: "It is the pathetic part of this business, without question."
Six weeks ago, Chris Petersen felt bad about putting up 70 points on his good friend, Mark Helfrich, in Washington’s 70-21 dismantling of Oregon.
“I didn’t want that,” Petersen said after the Oct. 8 game in Eugene.
And he doesn’t believe Helfrich should be going through the wringer now. But that’s the reality, Petersen said, of being a major-college head coach these days.
“It is the pathetic part of this business, without question,” Petersen said Monday. “He is a good football coach and an even better person. It is the nature of the business, that’s what it is.”
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For the first time since 1974, Oregon lost to UW, Washington State and Oregon State in the same season, finishing 4-8 this season. It’s unclear if Helfrich will return next season.
“I think we all get this,” Petersen said. “So much has changed over the years with the media, with the money that they’re paying coaches. I mean, money ruins everything, right? It does. With the money come the expectations, and if it’s not right all the time in a really fast, quick level. … So that’s why when you see somebody hang in there, an administration hang in with somebody who you think are doing good and doing right and doing it the right way, that to me is impressive and inspiring, because that goes against everything else that’s out there.”