Inside The Huskies

Fisch's Staff Beginning to Take Shape With Carroll's Son at OC

The new Husky coach will have two assistants who previously coached at the UW.

Dan Raley

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Jedd Fisch will bring his entire offensive coaching staff from Arizona to the University of Washington — including Pete Carroll's son as his offensive coordinator — but appears to have a few defensive openings to fill, including the coordinator job, according to multiple news accounts.

Unlike more recent Husky coaching changes, it appears no coaches will be retained, such as Scott Huff, who coached the offensive line uninterrupted for Chris Petersen, Jimmy Lake and Kalen DeBoer. Huff, who spent seven seasons with the Huskies, has accompanied DeBoer to Alabama.

Together for three seasons in Arizona, Brennan Carroll will resume his duties as Fisch's offensive coordinator and offensive-line coach in Seattle. Carroll previously held several different coaching positions with the Seattle Seahawks while working for his father. He oversaw an offense that averaged 34.6 points and 448 yards per game, not far behind the UW's 36 points and 462.1 yards this past season.

No formal announcements outside of Fisch's hiring have been made by the school. The new coach has an introductory news conference set for Tuesday at 11 a.m. in the UW coaches offices at Husky Stadium. 

Fisch is expected to bring former UW assistant coaches Jimmie Dougherty and Jordan Paopao back to Montlake as his quarterbacks and tight-ends coaches, respectively. Dougherty coached the Husky wide receivers in 2009-2012 for Steve Sarkisian before leaving for San Jose State to become the offensive coordinator.

Paopao was a UW graduate assistant coaching tight ends in 2011-2012 and a full-time assistant for the same Husky position group in 2013-19 for Sarkisian and Chris Petersen. Lake, however, didn't keep Paopao on his staff when he took over in 2020.

Fisch is expected to turn to Scottie Graham to coach his running backs and Kevin Cummings to guide his wide receivers. Graham is a former Ohio State and NFL running back, someone who rushed for 1,768 yards and 19 touchdowns for the Buckeyes. Cummings was an Oregon State wide receiver.

The new Husky coach also intends to bring strength coach Tyler Owens and director of player personnel Matt Doherty to Seattle. Owens was an Alabama linebacker in 2011-2014 for recently retired coach Nick Saban, when the Crimson Tide wient 48-6. Doherty previously was the recruiting director at Michigan, Miami and North Carolina State.

Defensively, it appears Wildcats defensive-backs coach Chuck Cecil and defensive-line coach Ricky Hunley, both former Arizona football standouts in their time and well-entrenched in Tucson, won't be joining Fisch in Seattle. 

Johnny Nansen, Fisch's Wildcats defensive coordinator and another former UW assistant coach for Sarkisian, recently was hired by his old boss to become co-defensive coordinator at Texas.

Others who could join Fisch's UW staff are edge-rusher coach Jason Kaufusi and cornerbacks coach John Richardson. Kaufusi was an All-Mountain West linebacker at Utah, while Richardson coached at Washington State for two seasons before joining Fisch this past fall.

Brennan Carroll, Pete's son, is expected to become the UW offensive coordinator and offensive-line coach.
Brennan Carroll, Pete's son, is expected to become the UW offensive coordinator and offensive-line coach :: Zachary BonDurant/USA TODAY Sports

In Alabama, DeBoer's staff is beginning to fill out, though not with everyone who was with him in Seattle. He will have at least four of his UW assistant coaches on his Crimson Tide staff, including offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, wide-receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard, tight-ends coach Nick Sheridan and Huff. 

It appears DeBoer has been strongly encouraged by the SEC school to retain a pair of Crimson Tide coaches in running-backs coach Robert Gillespie and defensive-line coach Freddie Roach, to help him recruit and maintain some familiarity with the players. He likely will go outside of both UW and Alabama to hire a defensive coordinator.

That would leave former Husky co-defensive coordinators Chuck Morrell and William Inge and defensive-backs coach Julius Brown with uncertain status. 

DL coach Inoke Breckterfield and RB coach Lee Marks, with their old jobs filled in Alabama with holdover coaches, appear to be looking for new places to land. 

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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.

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