Not One to Dwell on UW Losses, Fisch Shares His Vision for the Future

The Husky football coach doesn't mind spending money to build something competitive.

Jedd Fisch and Will Rogers stand together on the sideline. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Jedd Fisch seems like the kind of guy who will order the most expensive meal on the menu and call for the wine list with prohibitive prices while seated at the best restaurant in town, and not even think twice about it.

Ever since he arrived at the University of Washington, he has spoken about having everything first class for his football players, from the locker room to the weight room to the numerous support systems, which required considerable investment.

Whereas at Arizona, he might have been told he was on a tight budget and to tread lightly on spending, Fisch seems to have an open checkbook in Montlake. On Monday, he intimated as much when discussing a number of subjects ironically while explaining away his team's 40-16 stumble in Iowa over the weekend.

The suggestion was it's just a matter of time -- and ready access to many, many dollars -- before he has the Huskies better trading blows with the upper echelon of the Big Ten by using revenue sharing and UW NIL fund-raising to enter that stratosphere.

“The new world order of college football will allow us to be able to spend what other programs are spending, and when you have that opportunity, then it’s going to be much more of a level playing field than what it is right now in college football," Fisch said. "We all saw what the Ohio State-Oregon game looked like -- and that was a battle of two $20 million rosters. I think what we’re going to see is more battles of comparable-compensated rosters and that will make it really cool to see what football looks like.”

The thing about Fisch is he never seems to dwell on the negatives, such has putting together an offensive line from scratch during spring ball, having a 4-star quarterback bail on the UW program and not look back, watching a promising running back arrested on rape charges allegedly committed when the previous coaching regime was in place or suffer through a 24-point loss in Iowa City on yet another grueling road trip.

He'd rather share how the UW athletic administration headed up by athletic director Pat Chun and chief operating officer Erin O'Connell appear to be on all on board with Fisch's Husky football vision and corresponding monetary needs.

“We never want to be at a disadvantage.," the coach said. "The best part about all of my conversations with Pat and Erin have been, 'We’re not going to be at a disadvantage.' They are fully on board that the University of Washington is not going to be at a disadvantage and we are going to understand the necessary things we have to do to stay at the top of the conference.”

However, Fisch seemed to suggest that fattening up the UW roster from the current 85 scholarship players to 105 or more in 2025 is not something that motivates him. He'd rather spend more money on his core players rather than enlarge the roster for the sake of keeping up with the football Joneses.

“We would like to max out the possible revenue we can give to our kids,” Fisch said. “I think 85 is a good number, and then be able to maintain the walk-on program and keep 20 players here that are walking on. I would hate to be in a situation where you just get rid of all walk-ons and don’t give guys opportunities, but we’re also going to have to see what the competition does, and the peer groups that we’re going against."

Finally, Fisch concluded that he and his players are right where they want to be as a full-fledged member of the storied Big Ten, now in its 129th season of operation, even while the Huskies lately have been alternating big wins with down-trodden losses.

“It’s everything we thought it was going to be -- this is the Big Ten, this is different,” UW’s coach said. “The guys are big and the players look the part. They were born and raised to play in the Big Ten. That’s what the Big Ten used to be — the Wisconsin offensive lines, the Iowa offensive lines, Michigan, Ohio States, Penn States. That’s what it’s been about, the size of those type of groups.”

Waiter, check please.

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