Washington to hire Arizona's Jedd Fisch as next head coach, per report

Washington is expected to hire Jedd Fisch away from Arizona to be the Huskies’ next head football coach, it was reported Sunday. He is set to replace Kalen DeBoer, who left after two seasons to take over for Nick Saban at Alabama.

Fisch spent the past three seasons coaching the Wildcats. They went just 1-11 in his inaugural season before improving to 5-7 in 2022. This year, however, was the true breakthrough.

Arizona finished the season 10-3 and earned a trip to the Alamo Bowl, where it defeated Oklahoma by a score of 38-24. Not only was it the Wildcats’ first bowl victory since 2015, but the 10 wins is the most they’ve reached since the 2014 season.

Arizona’s offense ranked No. 8 in the country in passing yards per game (308.3) and No. 18 in points per game (34.6). Receiver Jacob Cowing set a single-season program record with 13 touchdown catches, while his teammate Tetairoa McMillan led the team with 1,402 yards.

A graduate of Florida, Fisch spent two seasons as a graduate assistant for the Gators in 1999 and 2000 where he worked under coach Steve Spurrier. From there, he went on to coach for seven seasons in the NFL, working with the Texans, Ravens and Broncos. He returned to college briefly in 2009 to serve as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Minnesota.

Fisch made his way back to the NFL the following season as the quarterbacks coach of the Seattle Seahawks. That too would last only one season as he accepted a job as the offensive coordinator of the Miami Hurricanes and stayed for two years.

Fisch continued to bounce back and forth between college and the NFL over the next few years, landing with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He also spent time at Michigan and UCLA, even serving as the Bruins interim head coach for two games in 2017.

Prior to taking over at Arizona, Fisch was an assistant offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams in 2019 and the quarterbacks coach of the New England Patriots in 2020.

Fisch has also shown to be an above-average recruiter. The Wildcats’ highest-ranked class in the three years prior to Fisch’s arrival was ranked 57th nationally.

In the four classes he’s been around for, Fisch has produced the 29th (2022), 44th (2023) and 48th (2024) ranked classes.

Washington had one of its best seasons in recent memory in 2023 to win the Pac-12 Championship and advance to the national championship. The Huskies ranked as the nation’s No. 1 passing offense with Michael Penix Jr. and his host of talented receivers.

Given the track record Fisch has building up the passing game at Arizona, he seems like the perfect fit to keep the Washington offense humming as it enters the Big Ten in 2024.