University of Washington head football coach Chris Petersen is finally on Twitter, but don’t expect the 49-year-old to be posting his thoughts on the social network.
Petersen on Monday created a personal Twitter account and has already racked up nearly 5,000 followers without scribing a single tweet.
“First of all, Twitter is not for you guys,” Petersen told reporters Tuesday. “It’s for the recruits.”
While the NCAA has placed restrictions on phone calls, texting, and in-person meetings, football coaches are allowed to use Twitter’s direct messaging feature to contact recruits starting in their junior year of high school.
Petersen, who enters his first year at the UW helm this fall, is the last Pac-12 football coach to jump on the social network. That’s because he’s stayed away from tweeting — in fact, back in 2010 when Twitter was gaining popularity, Petersen became one of the first college coaches to ban his Boise State players from using Twitter.
But the benefits that Twitter brings for recruiting was too much to keep Petersen away from the network.
“It’s always had to do with recruiting, so that’s the best way for us to communicate with those guys and that’s what it’s all about,” said Petersen, who is allowing his UW players to use Twitter.
Petersen didn’t say whether he’d ever send a tweet. He noted that half of the recruits are on Facebook, while 90 percent or more are on Twitter.
“That’s the best way to communicate, and I’ve got to try hard to keep up with the times,” he said. “I’m trying.”
Petersen’s Twitter tendencies are far different than that of his predecessor, Steve Sarkisian, who now heads up the football program at USC. Sarkisian was an active Twitter user while at the UW and was actually at one point ranked in the top 5 for “most popular college football coaches on Twitter.”
I took the ice bucket challenge and now I'm calling out @PeteCarroll and the @Seahawks. #FightOn #Chillin4Charity http://t.co/k9TNQoECkU
— Steve Sarkisian (@CoachSark) August 10, 2014
Though he was an active social media user, Sark only finished 35-29 during his five years at the UW. Perhaps Petersen’s lack of tweets will result in more wins for the Dawgs.
