Meet UW’s new coach Jedd Fisch, and expect a short-timer just like the old coach
Less than a week after Washington played for a national championship and two days after Kalen DeBoer became the head coach at Alabama, the Huskies hired Jedd Fisch as their new coach.
Fisch, who led Arizona to a terrific season this year, will be introduced Tuesday morning at 11 on Montlake.
This should be a cynic’s delight of a news conference mainly because Fisch has bounced all over the place in his coaching career just like DeBoer. The Husky job will be his 16th in the last 23 years, and when you look at his history, the longest he’s ever been in one place is the three years he spent in Tucson.
And the head coaching record? Well, in college football anymore, it’s what have you done for me lately - Fisch led the Wildcats to a 10-3 record in 2023, capped by a win over Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl. But his overall record at Arizona is 16-21 and 11-16 in the Pac-12, below Washington standards, one would think.
Yet UW athletic director Troy Dannen scooped him up quickly, and I can’t wait to hear Fisch talk about what this opportunity means to him and his family, how he’s always dreamed of coaching at Washington someday, how he pinched himself on the flight to Seattle, in utter disbelief that a kid from New Jersey who never played high school or college football has reached such a prominent place in his career.
He’ll smile and laugh and hug everyone in purple and gold while deflecting questions about his past and focusing on what his agent told him to stress - getting over that final hurdle and winning a national championship at Washington.
Fisch will play to his audience, knowing that’s what they want to hear. He won’t actually tell them he’s going to be a short-timer here too. He’ll try to make them think he’s here for the long haul, sounding sincere and genuine, and he’ll undoubtedly get the most naive Dawgs to believe him.
I’m hoping when it’s time for the Q&A portion of the program that someone raises his hand, stands up and asks:
“Hey Jedd, everything you’re saying sounds great, but when you were on Jim Rome’s radio show on Jan. 4th, just two weeks ago, didn’t you tell him you wanted to be a part of Arizona’s program for a long time and had no interest in going anywhere else?
“So how could you go from that to this so fast? You think anyone’s buying your B.S.? Just be a coach who gives it to us straight for a change. You came here because you were offered $2 million more than Arizona offered you. And in your mind, the Washington job puts you in a better position to get the job you really want at Florida, your alma mater. Isn’t that right, Jedd?”
At that point, I’m picturing a scene out of a TV show when the supposedly rude reporter is whisked out of the news conference but yells another question on his way out:
“And Jedd, is it true that you actually talked to your Arizona players for only three minutes before heading to Seattle? Three minutes? C’mon man, really?”
Maybe this is the way it is in college football now, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. Where did human decency go? And I don’t get the constant career climbers who are never satisfied with whatever rung they’re on, always needing to go one rung higher. I fervently hope that the grass is browner for Fisch, either here in Seattle or in Gainesville when he ends up there.
Make no mistake, that’s the job he ultimately wants. If you’re good with him going 10-2 or 9-3 at Washington and leaving after one year, OK, fine. But I wouldn’t be. Husky fans - and all college football fans for that matter - can look forward to one of two things with their coaches now:
1) He wins big and parlays that into a bigger and better job.
2) He’s mediocre or loses and everyone’s unhappy about the state of the program so he gets fired and someone else who is so thankful for the opportunity of a lifetime gets hired to replace him.
You’d best keep one eye on Washington’s record this year and the other eye on Florida’s record. Coach Billy Napier went 6-7 in his first season in 2022 and 5-7 in 2023. That’s just not going to cut it with that program. Napier’s predecessor, Dan Mullen, was fired after a 6-7 season in 2021. This happened after Mullen went 29-9 in this first three seasons at Florida and was only one year removed from playing in the SEC championship game.
If Florida posts another losing record in 2024, you can almost guarantee that Napier’s a goner since Scott Stricklin, the man who fired Mullen, is still the AD at Florida. If that happens and Washington has a reasonably good season, Fisch will be on the next flight to Gainesville, and he’ll trade that purple tie from Tuesday’s news conference for an orange and blue one when he’s introduced as the new coach at Florida.
In the meantime Fisch will no doubt poach players from his Arizona program to help him keep the U Dub program flying among the nation’s elite, all of which is sick and sad at the same damn time.
Jim Moore has covered Washington’s sports scene from every angle for multiple news outlets. You can find him on Twitter @cougsgo, and on KJR-FM 93.3, where he co-hosts a sports talk show from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekdays.