Thienes spent four years on Petersen's staff as a grad assistant at Boise State and UW, then landed his first full-time coaching job at Portland State on Petersen's recommendation.
Ben Thienes says Portland State coach Bruce Barnum is probably the funniest person he’s ever met, so Thienes wasn’t surprised to hear about some of the off-the-wall comments Barnum lavished on the Washington Huskies this week. Typical stuff for “Coach Barny,” one of the most gregarious coaches in college football.
Thienes isn’t surprised, either, to see the Huskies ranked again the top 10 going into Saturday’s game between UW and Portland State at Husky Stadium.