Looking back on each Year 2 for Steve Sarkisian as a coach
USC QB Coach/offensive assistant (2001-2003)
The only coaching job that Sark really held throughout the 2000s that lasted at least two years in a row came with head coach Pete Carroll and the USC Trojans. At multiple different points throughout the 2000s, Sark was USC’s quarterbacks coach.
The first stop for Sark as the quarterbacks coach at USC came from 2001-2003. That would make his second year at the helm in that role during the 2002 season. That 2002 campaign really saw the Trojans start to hit their stride under Carroll. USC finished up with an 11-2 record and in the fourth spot in the AP Poll.
That season was also where former USC star quarterback Carson Palmer broke through in a big way with nearly 4,000 passing yards, 37 total touchdowns, and just 10 picks. Palmer won the Heisman that season before becoming the No. 1 overall pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2003 NFL Draft.
Sark got off to quite the start as USC’s QB coach in 2002.
USC QB Coach (2005-2006), AHC/OC/QB coach (2007-2008)
In between Sark’s first two stops as USC’s quarterbacks coach in the 2000s, he also held the same role with the Oakland Raiders in the NFL in 2004. Yet, despite holding the QB coach with the Raiders when they ranked as the eighth-best passing offense in the league in 2004, he would return to the collegiate level the following year.
USC was looking to win back-to-back titles in 2005, upon Sark’s return as the QB coach. But that’s obviously when the Longhorns and Vince Young stunned the Trojans in the 2006 Rose Bowl/BCS National Championship Game.
Furthermore, Sark would be challenged in his second year and his second stop as the USC QB coach in 2006. USC was starting a new quarterback in 2006 in John David Booty after Matt Leinart took his talents to the NFL at the conclusion of the 2005 season.
Booty would have a big season in 2006, though, amassing more than 3,300 passing yards, 30 total touchdowns, and just nine picks en route to another 11-2 season. Sark’s second year in this stop as USC’s QB coach in 2006 would see Booty’s most successful season.