Washington tabs Arizona’s Jedd Fisch to succeed Kalen DeBoer as head coach

SEATTLE – Over the course of a wild weekend, the face of Washington football stunningly shifted, with Kalen DeBoer departing for Alabama Friday and the Huskies settling on his successor two days later.

DeBoer took UW to a national championship game.

Can Jedd Fisch finish the job?

Fisch – who led Arizona to a 10-win season and an Alamo Bowl win this fall – will be Washington’s next head football coach, the team announced Sunday.

Fisch’s UW deal is worth seven years and an average of $7.75 million annually, according to the Athletic and ESPN. He’ll owe Arizona a $5.5 million buyout, less than half the $12 million Alabama will pay Washington to bring DeBoer aboard.

“This will be great. I look forward to it,” Fisch told UW athletic director Troy Dannen as he signed said contract in his home, with the video later published on social media. “I’ll give you everything I have, I’ll tell you that.”

The 47-year-old Fisch announced his departure to Arizona’s players and staff just before 4 p.m. He then flew to Seattle and held a team meeting with the Huskies at 8:30 p.m., according to ESPN.

In the past three seasons, Fisch has gradually resurrected Arizona – improving from 1-11 in 2021 to 5-7 in 2022 and 10-3 (with an Alamo Bowl win over Oklahoma) this fall. He inherited a program that went 0-5 under Kevin Sumlin in 2020, had lost 12 straight games and last appeared in a bowl game in 2017.

Fisch made the most of his first head coaching opportunity, after numerous assistant stints both in the NFL (with the Patriots, Rams, Jaguars, Seahawks, Broncos, Ravens and Texans) and at the collegiate level. He was notably the Seahawks’ quarterbacks coach in Pete Carroll’s first season, when Seattle went 7-9 in 2010.

A Livingston, New Jersey, native and Florida alum, Fisch has held high-profile FBS roles at UCLA (offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2017), Michigan (quarterbacks coach, wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator in 2015-16), Miami (offensive coordinator and QB coach in 2011-12) and Minnesota (offensive coordinator and QB coach in 2009).

“I think right now we’re just working through semantics to get this deal done. I think we’re very, very close,” Fisch told CBS Sports’ Jim Rome on Jan. 4, on the subject of a contract extension. “We want to be done here very soon, and we want to be a part of this program for a long time.

“I’ve moved a lot in this business to be able to be here today – to become a head coach in a Power Five program to win 10 games, to be a top-15 team, hopefully a top-10 (team). We’ve got 18 out of 22 returning starters next year. So I have no interest in going anywhere. I have a lot of interest in seeing if we can get to that CFP. There’s 12 teams in it next year, and I would love to have our team be part of it.”

Fisch’s expected raise at Arizona would have been in the range of $5 million annually, according to Arizona Daily Star senior writer/columnist Michael Lev. The Wildcats likely couldn’t compete with Washington’s offer, considering the university is reckoning with a $240 million miscalculation of projected cash and a $55 million internal loan the athletic department has yet to repay.

Fisch has never served in any role for more than four seasons, dating to his stint as an offensive assistant for the Baltimore Ravens from 2004 to 2007. Should he win at Washington – a program that has cycled through three head coaches in the last five seasons – it’s worth wondering whether Fisch would stay.

But winning, of course, is the foremost concern.

DeBoer did plenty of that at UW, going 25-3 with a Pac-12 title and a national championship game appearance in two transcendent seasons. But Fisch – who will lead UW into its debut campaign in the Big Ten Conference – inherits a far more challenging personnel puzzle.

A flood of former UW standouts – quarterback Michael Penix Jr., wide receivers Rome Odunze, Ja’Lynn Polk and Jalen McMillan, running back Dillon Johnson, left tackle Troy Fautanu, right tackle Roger Rosengarten, edges Bralen Trice and Zion Tupuola-Fetui, defensive lineman Tuli Letuligasenoa, linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio, etc. – are off to the NFL.

DeBoer’s devastating departure also sparked an exodus into the transfer portal – with quarterbacks Will Rogers and Austin Mack, cornerback Jabbar Muhammad, left guard Nate Kalepo, nickelback Mishael Powell, safety Asa Turner, linebacker Ethan Barr, tight end Tre Watson, defensive back Dyson McCutcheon, and edges Noah Carter and Keona Wilhite among the possible departees.

Of course, players are also allowed to remove their names from the portal and return to their current schools.

It’ll be Fisch’s job to fervently recruit the current roster, while searching for reinforcements as well.

Logically, he should start at Arizona – where the Wildcats ended the season with seven straight wins, ranked No. 11 in the nation, and project to return 18 of 22 starters in 2024. Their three losses (to Mississippi State, Washington and USC) each came by seven points or less, with two going to overtime.

Arizona’s roster notably includes the Pac-12’s Freshman Offensive Player of the Year in quarterback Noah Fifita, as well as standout wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, linebacker Jacob Manu and running back Jonah Coleman. When a coach departs, that program’s players are afforded 30 days to enter the transfer portal.

Ironically, Fifita made his first career start against the Huskies, completing 27 of 39 passes and throwing for 232 yards with three touchdowns and one interception in a closer-than-expected 31-24 defeat on Sept. 30.

“(It was a) hard fought game out there, closer than you want it to be,” DeBoer said at the time. “But it’s honestly a game where we were ready to play four quarters. We had prepared for that all week long, had nothing but respect in understanding this is a good football team we’re facing.

“They have the firepower, especially offensively, to throw the ball down the field and make plays. We knew it would be a different style we’d see from the quarterback play, just knowing who (Fifita) was. We knew he’d be able to deliver the ball and throw accurately and give their guys chances to make plays.”

Fifita (72.3% completions, 2,869 pass yards, 25 pass TD and 6 INT in 12 games this fall), McMillan (90 catches, 1,402 receiving yards, 10 TD) and Manu (116 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks) played together at California prep powerhouse Servite High School.

The 5-foot-11 Fifita went 7-2 as a starter and finished fourth in the nation in completion percentage and 11th in pass efficiency rating (165.92).

If Fifita – who has three seasons of remaining eligibility – follows Fisch, UW’s quarterback situation is suddenly somewhat settled. But given Penix’s draft departure and Mack and Haskell’s transfer portal perusals, the Huskies’ only scholarship quarterback is currently four-star freshman Dermaricus Davis. Davis, by the way, took an official visit to Arizona and is certainly familiar with both Fisch and his system.

Fisch’s recruiting chops should serve him well in his second stint in Seattle. ESPN’s Pete Thamel wrote Sunday that “Fisch’s ability to recruit at a high level and knowledge of recruiting the West coast stood out to the Washington brass in the process.”

Fisch will likely bring much of his staff to Montlake as well. That could include offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Brennan Carroll – the son of longtime Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, who served as Seattle’s offensive line coach and run game coordinator from 2015 to 2020. (Carroll is also expected to be a candidate to succeed Fisch in Tucson.) It could also include tight ends coach and special teams coordinator Jordan Paopao, who served as a Husky assistant from 2011 to 2019.

The Huskies’ defensive direction, however, is more unclear. Last season, Arizona made significant strides in that area, surrendering 357.9 yards (467.7 in 2022) and 21.1 points (36.5 in 2022) per game. But defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen and senior secondary coach Duane Akina recently joined the staff at Texas, leaving Fisch with more hires to make on Montlake.

Following perhaps the wildest week in Washington Husky history, Fisch has plenty of work to do – and little time to waste.