Here's Why Fisch Hired Steve Belichick to Run His UW Defense
To hire a University of Washington defensive coordinator, Jedd Fisch interviewed five candidates, each possessing NFL experience, before he settled on Steve Belichick.
Young Belichick drew strong consideration because he and Fisch coached together in 2020 for the New England Patriots and, well, he was Bill Belichick's son.
"Steve always was a guy I had my eye on and I really wanted," Fisch said.
Serving as the New England linebackers coach, Belichick moved to the top of the list because he called the defensive plays for the past four years, 72 NFL games in all.
"That was a big part of it, where I thought he had a great separation there," Fisch said. "When you're a play-maker, you have a unique ability to react."
It didn't hurt that his name was Belichick either. Fisch saw the opportunity right away to give his Husky coaching staff a blue-bloods appeal by filling both of his coordinator jobs with famous football names.
Brennan Carroll, Pete's son, came with Fisch from Arizona to become the Husky offensive coordinator after holding that position for the past three seasons in Tucson.
During the hiring process, Fisch had young Belichick and Carroll go out to lunch in Seattle and discuss the possibilities of working together as coordinators.
"Two iconic coaches sons," Fisch said. "It certainly is royalty. I don't take that lightly."
Steve Belichick prefers his hair long as a football coach.
Mark J. Rebilas/USA Today sports
With the these NFL offspring on the UW payroll, it wouldn't be unheard of to have Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll roaming the coaching offices from time to time.
"I would expect that we would have two members of the Mt. Rushmore walking around here very often," Fisch said.
Different from Kalen DeBoer's staff that preceded him, Steve Belichick won't coach a specific defensive group, rather he'll move from position to position at practice and sit in on different defensive meetings.
Belichick, contrary to his often cranky father, brings plenty of personality to the job. Photos of him exist posing with a large group of rowdy Patriots fans after winning the Super Bowl, and of him as a motivator, someone who physically mixes it up with his players before kickoff to get them in a football frame of mind.
Steve Belichick will do what it takes to get players ready to play.
Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY sports
Fisch expects this newly hired Belichick to bring toughness to the Husky defense, to turn the players into much better tacklers. Style points will come later.
"When I met with Steve and we interviewed Steve, that was the biggest pitch he made," Fisch said, "was, 'We're going to focus on making these kids great football players and we'll worry about the scheme later.' "
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.
