Washington football coach Steve Sarkisian refuted reports Friday that UCLA has contacted him about its open coaching position.
“I have not been contacted,” Sarkisian said.
He repeated the statement when asked a follow-up question specifically noting a Los Angeles Times report.
However, Sarkisian wouldn’t specifically address what he would do if contacted later.
“I’m not going to engage in speculation and rumors because hopefully as we continue to get better here and win even more games the speculation and rumors are going to grow in numbers,” he said. “And I don’t feel that I should have to come and talk about speculation and rumors every time they come up.”
Sarkisian spoke after the Huskies returned to practice for their Dec. 29 date against Baylor in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio.
A report on the Los Angeles Times website cited unnamed sources saying the Bruins had approached Sarkisian about the job, which came open when Rick Neuheisel was fired after a 6-6 regular season.
Sarkisian was previously an assistant at USC and is 19-18 with two bowl appearances in three seasons at Washington.
Also Friday, all-Pacific-12 running back Chris Polk said he hasn’t decided if he will return for his final season of college eligibility or make himself available for the NFL draft.
“I actually haven’t really thought of that because that wouldn’t be fair to my teammates or my coaches and all the fans to have my mind elsewhere,” Polk said. “Right now I’m just thinking about Baylor and thinking about this bowl game. I think my decision process will probably set in after the bowl game, but as of right now I’m not even worried about that.”
Polk was asked what factors will weigh into his eventual decision.
“I gotta do what’s best for me,” he said. “I’ve got to really evaluate the situation, look at both sides: the pros and cons of leaving or going. But it’s going to be a real tough decision to make. I’m going to have to do a lot of praying on it and really, really study and just evaluate my options because at the end of the day, it’s my life. So what I can do could potentially help or hurt me.”
The Huskies had been off since Sunday, and Polk said the time away was evident as the team returned to work at Dempsey Indoor.
“A little sluggish,” he said. “Just me personally I got to get my legs back in football shape. It’s just crazy how fast you go out of football shape and how hard you’ve got to work to get back in it. We’ll continue to work on it.”
Polk’s assessment matched that of his coach.
“You know: the first day back after considerable time off,” he said. “… It was good to get back, to really get running. But I think we’ll see vast improvement over the next couple of days and then we’ll take three days off and then we’ll really get going. It was sloppy, but understandably so. They worked hard, just a little bit off.”
EXTRA POINTS
The Huskies will practice indoors again today. Sarkisian said Dempsey Indoor is the closest they can come to approximating the atmosphere of the Alamodome. The school also has added to that by painting an Alamo Bowl logo at midfield. … Freshman offensive lineman Colin Tanigawa went through surgery Friday for his anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered in the Oregon State game. “It’s just the typical ACL recovery,” Sarkisian said. “Some guys are a little quicker some guys are not as quick, (we’ll) see how the swelling and his knee responds to the rehab as we go. … I’d say iffy (to be ready by training camp) right now because we just don’t know.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Don Ruiz, 253-597-8808 don.ruiz@thenewstribune.com Twitter: @donruiztnt blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports
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