Inside The Huskies

10 Reasons to Hire Jedd Fisch as the Next Husky Football Coach

The Arizona leader appears to be a finalist if not the choice to replace Kalen DeBoer at UW.

Dan Raley

In this story:

A week following the CFP national championship game, it's still sort of hard to believe the University of Washington is looking for a new football coach, but that's what Alabama will do to you when it wants something.

With many signs pointing to Arizona's Jedd Fisch becoming Kalen DeBoer's successor, maybe as soon as Sunday, here are 10 quick reasons the UW should hire him as the 31st Husky coach.

1) Fisch has a prior Seattle connection, serving as quarterbacks coach in 2010 for Pete Carroll's first Seahawks team.

2) Fisch came within 16 points of going unbeaten at Arizona this past season; DeBoer was 21 points shy of that same accomplishment.

3) Fisch's Wildcats team averaged 34.6 points per game this past season, just behind the UW's 36 points an outing.

4) Fisch had three former UW assistant coaches on his Arizona staff this past season in quarterbacks coach Jimmie Dougherty, tight-ends coach Jordan Paopao and defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen, though Nansen has since joined Steve Sarkisian at Texas.

5) Fisch also had a former Husky quarterback in defensive-backs coach Duane Akina, someone who backed up Warren Moon, on his coaching staff. 

6) Fisch might be able to lure quarterback Will Rogers back to Seattle after taking him and Mississippi State into overtime in Starkville before losing 31-24 last September.

7) Fisch has worked 14 years in the NFL for eight different teams, so he can say been there, done that, if someone tries to get him to return to the pros.

8) Fisch has another Husky connection in that he served as Jim Mora Jr.'s offensive coordinator at UCLA in 2017  before becoming interim head coach for two games when Mora got fired. 

9) Fisch is 0-3 against the Huskies as a head coach, losing by 5, 10 and 7, so he's been a pain for them.

10) Fisch is the perfect name for someone coaching a team on the banks of Lake Washington.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published. Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3

Have a question, direct message me on Facebook or Twitter.

Published
Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

Home/Football