Chris Tormey might be only holdover assistant retained by new Washington football coach Steve Sarkisian

On the day after the celebration came the metaphorical hangover for Steve Sarkisian.

In his first unpleasant task as Washington's new football coach, Sarkisian met with all nine of the school's assistant coaches Tuesday. According to sources, he told eight of them that they will not be retained.

Linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator Chris Tormey is the only one who appears to have a chance of returning.

Sarkisian met with reporters at midday and said he was not yet ready to discuss specifics of any coaching changes.

But he said, "Some guys have been released from their duty," and that he was considering keeping some coaches, saying "some guys are being evaluated."

Two told The Times, however, they had been told during short meetings Tuesday morning they would not be retained — offensive coordinator Tim Lappano and running-backs coach Steve Gervais.

Another source told The Times all of the others except Tormey had been let go.

Many had speculated that Sarkisian might keep Gervais, who came to UW after 31 years as a high-school coach in the state, leading Skyline to three state titles.

Skyline boasts three of the marquee recruits in the state — including quarterback Jake Heaps for the Class of 2010 — and many thought Gervais might prove valuable in helping land those players.

Sarkisian had visited current Skyline coach Mat Taylor on Monday, and the football staff at Skyline had hoped Gervais would be retained. But Gervais expressed no hard feelings.

"They made a decision to go in a different direction," he said. "I understand that. It's the business."

Gervais said he would take some time to evaluate his future options and did not know what he would do next.

Tuesday's news likely means the end for defensive line coach Randy Hart, who had been on the UW staff since 1988, working for five different coaches — Don James, Jim Lambright, Rick Neuheisel, Keith Gilbertson and Tyrone Willingham. Hart had become known for surviving previous coaching changes, valued for his defensive line expertise and recruiting ties in the state.

Given the team's 0-12 season and removal of Willingham, however, it was not unexpected that major changes would be made, and UW athletic director Scott Woodward said he told Sarkisian he has free reign to make the staff as he wishes.

Sarkisian admitted it was tough to tell some of the coaches they would not be back.

"This is the part of the business that's not fun, but it is reality and it is what it is," he said. "And it happens every year across the country and it's not fun. These are great coaches that have worked their tails off at the University of Washington. I thank them and appreciate them for that. But we have to do the best we can to assemble a staff to get us prepared to win a championship."

Sarkisian has said he might try to bring a couple of USC coaches with him, and immediate speculation centered on secondary coach Rocky Seto and graduate assistant Yogi Roth as the most likely.

Seto's wife, Sharla Chiang, is a former star soccer player at Newport High and still has family in the area that could attract him to come north, as could the lure of possibly becoming defensive coordinator. He has been USC's secondary coach the past three years and has been at the school since 1999 coaching on defense.

Roth has worked with USC's quarterbacks the past two years and could hold a similar capacity, but in a full-time role, at UW.

Sarkisian said he was unsure when he would assemble his complete staff, saying it could be a while.

"We are not going to rush it," he said. "We are going to take it step by step and hire the best people available that we can get. Obviously the coordinator positions are of the utmost importance. But we also have to hire some recruiters so we can get them in here and get them out on the road."

Of the UW assistants apparently not retained, only one has a contract for next season — defensive coordinator Ed Donatell. He will be owed $334,000 unless he finds another job. The others have contracts running through June 30 but will receive lump-sum payments of money owed them.

Sarkisian recruiting

Sarkisian had told reporters at Monday's news conference that one of his first tasks would be to begin recruiting. He did just that, visiting coaches at both Skyline and Bellevue High just a few hours later.

Bellevue coach Butch Goncharoff said it was nice to see that kind of interest in the state high schools from UW, saying, "That hasn't maybe been that way in a while."

Said Taylor of his meeting with Sarkisian: "He was just really, really excited and talked about putting a fence around the state and wanting to make sure I knew how important it was to recruit in the state of Washington."

Said Sarkisian of the trips: "It's getting in front of them and getting a good handle to where they understand what we are trying to get done, where we are headed, and how important they are to it. We will develop a great relationship with them. They will have great access to our football offices, our practices, our game-day experience."

Notes

• Sarkisian will be in town until Friday, when he will return to USC for the weekend as the Trojans begin practices for the Rose Bowl. He said he will return either Sunday night or Monday morning and spend next week in town working for UW. He noted that the Trojans will have a number of recruits in for visits this weekend but said that "I'm not going to be pulling them aside, trying to get them to come to Washington."

• Recruits are allowed to come on official visits each of the next two weekends but Sarkisian said there will be no recruits coming on visits until January.

• Sarkisian said he will bring in his own strength and conditioning coach, who would replace Trent Greener.

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com