USC courted Petersen hard in 2013 before they hired Sark. Petersen is a “odd duck” in the same way Bronco Mendenall, Rocky Long, Gary Patterson, or even Kyle Whittingham is. USC is an awful landing spot for these odd duck coaches because the SC job brings with it certain elements that need something above and beyond a great football coach to navigate.
Both USC and Petersen knew after a “awkward visit” in 2013 that the job wasn’t for him (he withdrew from consideration). The reason Pete Carroll was so successful (and it all came undone at the end) was because he wasn’t a OCD coach like the guys listed above who need total control over the program. Part of the reason I think that Kelly to UCLA may turn out to be a total disaster is that Chip Kelly isn’t going to be “Hollywood” enough for UCLA and the city will eat him up and drive him insane because he won’t be able to run his militant system like he did in Oregon.