Washington hires Arizona’s Fisch as coach
Jedd Fisch will be the new head coach of the Washington Huskies football team, the school announced on Sunday.
Fisch will leave his position as head coach of the Arizona Wildcats to take over a program that finished 14-1 and lost the national championship game to the Michigan Wolverines last week. He will presumably be without Heisman finalist quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who is expected to enter the NFL draft.
Former Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer was named the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide on Friday. He steps into the role left vacant by seven-time national champion coach Nick Saban, who retired on Wednesday after 17 seasons in Tuscaloosa.
Fisch joined the Wildcats in 2021 after two decades in the NFL and with other teams in college football. Per his contract with Arizona, he would owe the program a $5.5 million buyout.
From 2004 to 2007, Fisch was an offensive assistant with the Baltimore Ravens, before being hired as wide receivers coach by the Denver Broncos. He was the quarterbacks coach for the Seattle Seahawks in 2010 and the offensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars for one season in 2013.
In 2017, Fisch became the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at UCLA. He was named the Bruins interim head coach at the end of the season and led the team to the Cactus Bowl.
In 2023, the Wildcats went 10-3 under Fisch and beat the Oklahoma Sooners 38-24 in the Valero Alamo Bowl. Fisch also worked as an assistant coach for Michigan in 2015 and as an offensive coordinator at both Minnesota (2009) and Miami (2011).
In a statement he issued on social media Sunday, Fisch said he was “broken hearted” to leave Arizona, and it was a “gut-wrenching” and “agonizing” decision.
The Wildcats finished the season ranked No. 11 in the major college football polls and were expected to contend for the Big 12 Championship and a potential College Football Playoff bid next season.
Fisch’s statement said: “When I first arrived at U of A, I knew we could create something truly special – because of the people at this university and in this community. Today, I am broken hearted to leave not just Arizona, but the people who have given us so much and who believed so deeply in the magic we created.
“I absolutely have loved my time as a Wildcat and never thought my family and I would ever leave. Unfortunately, that day has come. It was a gut-wrenching and agonizing decision.”
Fisch had the following to say to his players in his statement: “To the young men who built this program – my gratitude, love and admiration for you is unequaled. You took a chance. You outworked everyone. You believed when there was no reason to believe. And, you won, the right way. You epitomize what is right and good in college football. You won on the field, and you won off the field with your work in the community and the classroom. You made all of us proud. And, together, we won in so many amazing ways.”