Ex-UW coach Sarkisian sues USC over firing

Matt Spaw Jul 3, 2025

Jan 12, 2018

Republish Article

You can republish articles in print or online. Simply copy the HTML below, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline, and credit to Cascade PBS. Republishing of the photos or videos embedded in an article can occur only if the photo or video is a copyright of Cascade Public Media ("CPM") and not of a third party. Photos and videos that are a copyright of CPM are not required to appear in the republished article, but if they are used, they must be embedded where they appear in the original article and must include the attribution to the CPM photographer.

You may reprint in any medium
You may edit only for tense and timeliness
If republishing in print you can edit for length if you follow our print republishing guidelines.
You may write your own headline
Include a byline and shirttail with credit and link to Cascade PBS
Include our tracking pixel
Remove if we ask

          <article>
            <header>
              <hgroup>
                <h1>Ex-UW coach Sarkisian sues USC over firing</h1>
                <h2><p>Former UW coach Steve Sarkisian filed a lawsuit against the University of Southern California on Monday, alleging that his firing was wrongful and didn’t accommodate his disability of alcohol dependency. Sarkisian was fired in October while preparing to undergo treatment for alcoholism following USC’s loss to UW. According</p></h2>
              </hgroup>
               <p>By <a href="/author/matt-spaw-crosscut-com/">Matt Spaw</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Jan 12, 2018</time></p>
            </header>
            <p>Former UW coach Steve Sarkisian filed a lawsuit against the University of Southern California on Monday, alleging that his firing was wrongful and didn’t accommodate his disability of alcohol dependency. Sarkisian was fired in October while preparing to undergo treatment for alcoholism following USC’s loss to UW. <a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/uw-husky-football/former-uw-coach-steve-sarkisian-sues-usc-for-wrongful-termination/?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">According to a story </a>by the Seattle Times’ Adam Jude, Sarkisian asserts that his divorce from his wife only compounded his problems.</p><p>Sarkisian spent 30 days undergoing treatment and is no longer on medication. He says that he is now sober and ready to return to coaching.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://dev.cascadepbs.org/content/images/sites/default/files/images/article/gallery/steve-sarkisian.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="Steve" loading="lazy" width="350" height="365"></figure>
          </article>

Former UW coach Steve Sarkisian filed a lawsuit against the University of Southern California on Monday, alleging that his firing was wrongful and didn’t accommodate his disability of alcohol dependency. Sarkisian was fired in October while preparing to undergo treatment for alcoholism following USC’s loss to UW. According to a story by the Seattle Times’ Adam Jude, Sarkisian asserts that his divorce from his wife only compounded his problems.

Sarkisian spent 30 days undergoing treatment and is no longer on medication. He says that he is now sober and ready to return to coaching.

Our members' donations make local journalism happen.

Support once for $1

Support monthly for $7

Cascade PBS Passport
Mossback members-only newsletter
Monthly Viewer Guide

Support monthly for $25

Invitation to quarterly news and original programming video conference
Annual in-person meet-up with news & programming teams
Special event perks (reduced price or free tickets, cocktails, etc.)

Continue

By Matt Spaw

Matt Spaw, a former intern at Crosscut, is a journalism student and a writer at The Daily of the University of Washington.