Jedd Fisch details how much financial benefits of Big Ten played into his decision

The Washington Huskies did not take long to find a replacement for head football coach Kalen DeBoer after he elected to vacate his position to become the next head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Huskies athletic director Troy Dannen was able to poach former Pac-12 rival Arizona’s head coach Jedd Fisch, convincing him to join him in Seattle, WA.

With Fisch already occupying a head coaching position at another university, it likely took some convincing to get him to head to Washington. Still, the question remains: how was he convinced, and did finances play a significant role in his decision to depart from Arizona?

“Well I mean, winning is expensive,” said Fisch during an interview on the College GameDay Podcast. “And that’s just the bottom line and how it works; you’re competing in a situation where you want to be able to play the very best every single week. You get to play Oregon, USC, Michigan, Ohio State, [and] Penn State; we go to Iowa. And when you start looking at the games that we have, let alone you know the rivalry games, you start saying to yourself, this feels like the NFL. This feels like this opportunity that every week we’re gonna be in a battle that we have to be at our top; they’re gonna have to be at their top.

“Then when you start saying, all right, well how do we have the best nutrition [and] how do we make sure that our guys are equipped in the safest best way [and] how do we make sure that, recruiting-wise, we can compete with anybody, and how do we make sure that assistant coach comp we don’t have to have new coaches every year. So when you start looking at all those things, the Big Ten and the SEC [are who] what provides that.”

For Fisch, It doesn’t appear as if his own financial gain was at the forefront of his thought process. However, going from $3.4 million to $7.5 million in its first season at Washington, it’s not a bad jump. Still, in the eyes of the new Washington head coach, it was more about the resources Washington could utilize to help him win not only on the field of play but also in recovery, training, and in recruiting.

In the end, more than anything else, it was the opportunity to do something big at a prestigious program that drew Fisch in. And the new Washington Huskies head coach would be remiss if he didn’t finish his answer highlighting that significant point.

“This is an opportunity out west,” he said. “We have the number 2 academic institution here. And then, on top of it all, the historical data would tell you that when you put 75 thousand here at Husky Stadium, you got a chance to win a lot of games.”