It’s official. Steve Sarkisian is leaving the University of Washington for the vacant head coaching job at the University of Southern California.

During his time at UW, Sarkisian turned a program that was 0-12 in 2008 to an eight-win and possibly nine-win program. He started this by recruiting players from the Pacific Northwest and by dominating the state of Washington for high school prospects.

What does Sarkisian leaving for USC mean for the Cougars?

It means it is time to move in and start recruiting players who have either committed to UW or have recently de-committed due to the new uncertainty of Washington’s football program.

After the news of Sarkisian’s departure, four-star athlete Rahshead Johnson took to his Twitter account to announce his de-commitment from Washington.

“I just decomitted from Washington foreal this time,” Johnson tweeted before he later tweeted he was interested in Washington State among other Pac-12 schools.

With Leach’s experience of recruiting in Texas, which is a far more competitive market, he should be able to deploy his usual recruiting regimen to poach recruits from UW. He definitely has the upper hand.

His commitment to the Cougars will surely surpass anything UW will offer. Sarkisian had promised his recruits he would be there to be their coach, a promise he is obviously unable to fulfill. However, Leach is a different case.

Recently there has been talk about Leach and a roll-over contract that would have the head coach re-sign a five-year deal. His loyalty to Washington State is also backed up by recently signing a two-year extension.

Sarkisian was close to taking that next step with UW, but instead of seeing it through he took the shortcut to USC. As for Leach, fans, players and alumni are confident that Leach will be there when the Cougars return to the top of the Pac-12.

Also, a bowl game for the Cougars in the second season could be a turning point in a recruitment battle between UW and WSU.

This pitch will be very effective in the next couple of months of recruiting. Some recruits will follow Sarkisian to USC, and some will stick to their decision to go to Washington. However, there will be those players who will be stuck in limbo, which WSU can take advantage of by gaining the players’ trust in the WSU coaching staff.

With a late start from the new coach UW will hire to replace Sarkisian, Leach now has the advantage of recruiting players from the Pacific Northwest this year, which could become a trend for the rest of his career.