All in the span of a week, the Washington Huskies played in a national championship game, lost their head coach and then swiftly replaced said coach.
Kalen DeBoer is now at the University of Alabama, and Jedd Fisch has come to Seattle to replace him after two successful seasons at the University of Arizona.
Fisch will have an official introductory press conference at the campus on Tuesday morning, but here are some things fans of the Huskies should know about their new head coach.
Many Husky fans lamented DeBoer choosing to move on from Washington after just two seasons, the second of which ended with an appearance in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
Loyalty is an important moral value to many, but it isn’t common in college football at the highest levels. Coaches jump from job to job trying to ascend the ladder in the industry, often spending three years or fewer at each.
Washington will be Fisch’s 18th different football coaching job. At 47 years old, Fisch is averaging about a year and a half at each of his positions. UW is the highest level Fisch has ever been a head coach at but so was Arizona.
The sudden departure of DeBoer was a reminder that Washington is still a tier below the cream of the crop in college football. Coaches make business decisions every year, so don’t be surprised if Fisch makes a similar one if he again finds great success in his latest role.
Unlike DeBoer, Fisch has previous ties to the Emerald City. In 2010, Fisch joined Pete Carroll’s first coaching staff with the Seattle Seahawks as a quarterbacks coach.
That isn’t Fisch’s only connection to Carroll, however. Fisch’s offensive coordinator in 2023 at UA was Brennan Carroll, Pete’s son.
Fisch never beat UW during his three seasons with the Wildcats but came close in each of the past two years. That includes a 31-24 loss in Tucson where Michael Penix Jr. was held without a touchdown pass.
