The University of Arizona's Jedd Fisch will be the next head coach at Washington, according to a number of reports. Ryan Grubb, who was UW's offensive coordinator and a potential replacement at head coach, will follow longtime coaching partner Kalen DeBoer to Alabama, where Grubb will assume the offensive coordinator position that was offered to him last year by the retiring Nick Saban.
Fisch is a longtime NFL assistant whose first head coaching tenure was with Arizona. He holds a 17-22 career record but rapidly elevated the Wildcats from possibly the worst Power 5 team to one of the best over the course of 3 years.
2021, Fisch's first year with Arizona, was a tough 1-11 season, but the team steadily improved, going 5-7 in 2022 and 10-3 this last season. His tenure at Arizona was capped off with an Alamo Bowl win when his #14 Wildcats beat the #12 Oklahoma Sooners 38-24. It was Arizona's first bowl win since 2015.
This year, Fisch partnered with redshirt freshman quarterback Noah Fifita, who led Arizona to its best season in recent memory. Fifita and former high school teammate Teteiroa McMillan were a lethal receiving connection last year and led an improved team that's been supplemented by increasingly good recruiting classes. Fisch will hope to use that recruiting ability to elevate a lackluster UW recruiting class that was further hurt by DeBoer's departure.
It's possible that Fifita follows Fisch to Washington. Fifita has three more years of eligibility remaining and Washington is in desperate need of a quarterback. It'll remain to be seen whether he moves or not, but if he does, McMillan and other Arizona stars could follow.
Regardless of whether Fifita stays, Fisch's loss will be felt in Arizona. This team was rapidly elevating in talent and joining a talent-depleted Big 12 next season. They were my pick to win that division next season, which would result in a playoff appearance under the new 12-team format. That's all likely to change following Fisch's departure.
Although Fisch lacks DeBoer's coaching resume, UW fans should feel confident in Fisch's ability to help their now-depleted team recover. Fisch's newfound ability to recruit in the Big Ten should certainly interest Washington supporters, especially considering their current recruiting shortcomings. Husky fans should now focus their attention on Fifita and other potential quarterback transfers.
Washington's offense will be impacted by the loss of Ryan Grubb, their former offensive coordinator that unleashed Michael Penix Jr's deep ball ability to devastating effect. Grubb will now have access to Jalen Milore and Alabama's talented roster and is now free to draw up devastating route combos in the SEC. Alabama fans should be watching UW offensive highlights and salivating.
We'll soon find out who Fisch brings to Seattle to replace Grubb and UW's other missing talent. His limited head coaching experience means a massive staff transfer is less likely, but anything is possible given Fisch's rapid turnaround of the Arizona program. Arizona fans will be hoping that a new coach can preserve the program's prior momentum as they look towards joining the Big 12 next season.
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