Jedd Fisch Makes Donation to 'Arms Race' for Huskies

The UW football coach and his wife are providing $1 million to a fund-raising campaign.

Jedd Fisch is caught in a pensive moment during the Eastern Michigan game. / Skylar Lin Visuals

By making a sizable financial investment, Jedd Fisch just put down some deeper roots at the University of Washington.

On Monday, the Husky football coach for the past nine months confirmed he and his spouse Amber will donate $1 million toward the Go BIG! for Washington campaign, a fund-raising effort to support facilities, operating budgets and name, image and likeness improvements across the board in the athletic department.

The school is attempting to raise $300 million over five years, suggesting that's what it will take to make the UW competitive with the rest of the Big Ten conference. This will affect all 22 Husky sports that involve 650 athletes.

Fisch, who makes a $7.75 million annual salary as the Husky football coach, felt it was necessary for him to show his monetary support to encourage others to join in.

"We are going against the best of the best In this ever-changing environment of college football," he said. "I think it is so critical that there's an investment made from the inside out, from the top down, however you want to look at it. That our community realizes the commitment that we're making is one in which we ask others to make, as well. and one in which we know we need to make if we're going to complete at the highest level."

While nothing is binding for him and his UW job with this action, it should reassure fans that Fisch envisions staying longer in Montlake than, say, his predecessor, Kalen DeBoer, who left after two seasons as football coach for Alabama.

Fisch seems comfortable coaching in the Big Ten and embracing the significant challenge that it presents.

"The Big Ten is an arms race in itself, both in NIL and facilities, and operating budgets, travel budgets," he said. "You're making sure you're top of the line in all areas."

While the university is still paying off a $280 million renovation of Husky Stadium in 2013, Fisch already has upgraded the football weight room with more equipment and says it's time for the locker rooms, meeting rooms, training areas and other program offerings to get a refresh.

"The guys who are coming to visit us in recruiting are going on their next trip to Michigan and their next trip to Ohio state and their next trip to Oregon, and we've got to look the same and feel the same," the coach said. "Those kids have got to feel like they're getting the same commitment."

The UW provided a football locker-room upgrade in 2017, which Fisch says already is outdated in just seven years. Across college football, he noted how Texas twice has renovated its football locker facilities in that time and how Michigan two months ago opened a new $7 million locker area.

Weighty NIL collectives and state-of-the-art facilities are mandatory for the Huskies' overall football success, the coach reiiterated.

"In the Big Ten, if you don't have both," Fisch said, "you're going to be left behind."

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