Pete Carroll compares Huskies’ Chris Petersen, Alabama’s Nick Saban ahead of Peach Bowl

On the surface, there’s not a lot in terms of philosophy that Washington’s Chris Petersen and Alabama’s Nick Saban have in common. But ask Pete Carroll, who could be considered among them as one of the great college football coaches of the last 15 years, to compare the two Peach Bowl coaches, and the answer may surprise you.

While Saban is known for his aggressiveness to practices and game preparation, Petersen is considered to have a more measured approach. As a result, Saban’s teams are known for being as well trained as any, while Petersen’s teams are more likely to get creative on the field. But at their core of their styles, Carroll said, is fundamentals.

“(Petersen) is always going to be on course, just like Nick has always been able to stay on course, because his football and his whole mentality and all of that is so true,” Carroll told “Brock and Salk” on Monday.

When talking about Saban, Carroll said the leader of the Crimson Tide program is a lot like the New England Patriots’ Bill Belichick. And while that may not sound all that similar to Petersen, the ways he described Saban and Petersen did seem to hit on a lot of the same keys.

Carroll: Huskies aren’t out of their league against top-ranked Alabama

“He’s a great football coach. He has always been a great fundamental, hard-nosed, old-school style guy, and he’s been brought up with terrific coaches through his elevating through the ranks,” Carroll said of Saban. “He’s had such a great background and he’s a really stern football dude, which is why the consistency is there, because he’s really hard-nosed and really hard-driven in terms of how he practices and prepares and all that. … He’s become an iconic coach in football and I think he’s going to be known for a long time as one of the greats who ever coached it, and I think he’s done it the old school, hardball way and I really admire the job that he’s done.”

As for Petersen, he may not elicit descriptions like “hard-nosed” and “old school,” but Carroll also complimented his ability to surround himself with the right personnel and his likelihood of being a household name for a long time.

“I think he’s one of the guys who really has his football together … but then he also has this tremendous mentality, his constitution, how he handles things,” Carroll said of Petersen. “He’s really on course and he’s really rock solid. And he also has this great thought of the kinds of people he wants to surround himself with – the players and the coaches and all of that, and they put together a great program. I think Chris is going to be a great coach forever. As long as he wants to do it, he’s going to be successful. The times won’t change and he’ll be out of whack.”

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