USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian confirmed after today's game with UCLA that he will become the new head football coach at Washington.

"I'm excited. It's been a great program in the past and they're obviously down now. But I'm going to get them back to fighting for a championship," Sarkisian said following USC's 28-7 win over the Bruins.

Word about Sarkisian and the head job at Washington leaked on Thursday night after Fresno State's Pat Hill and Texas Tech's Mike Leach both pulled their names from consideration for the job. Sarkisian has been an assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at USC for the past two seasons.

Both Washington and USC wanted to wait until after the teams concluded their regular seasons on Saturday before a formal announcement was made. The Huskies concluded the first 0-12 season in Pac-10 Conference history with a 48-7 loss to California this afternoon.

Sarkisian, 34, will become the third-youngest head coach in college football behind Tennessee's Lane Kiffin and Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald — both 33.

He'll inherit a Washington program in shambles and coming off the worst season in school history after Tyrone Willingham's tenure. Willingham went 11-37 in his four seasons with the Huskies and was fired in late October.

Sarkisian made a rapid rise in the coaching ranks, only joining the USC coaching staff in 2001 as quarterbacks coach. He intends to begin recruiting for Washington immediately, but will still coach the Trojans in the Rose Bowl.

"We'll proudly see him off. It's a remarkable climb for such a young guy. We wish him the very best," USC coach Pete Carroll said.

Carroll then added with a smile: "From what I know, we play him Week 2 (next season) and we're going to go after him."

AP Sports Writer John Nadel in Pasadena, Calif., contributed to this story.