Like a CEO getting out of the office for a long lunch, Jedd Fisch was only available for a few hours on Wednesday.
Arizona’s new football coach played golf with UA president Robert C. Robbins, athletic director Dave Heeke, longtime booster Cole Davis and Wildcats golfing legend Jim Furyk as part of the Cologuard Classic’s pro-am at the Omni Tucson National Golf Resort.
Lunch was a nacho chicken slider with house-made guacamole from a food tent near the eighth hole. Fisch played nine before leaving his bosses and the booster and heading back to the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility.
Fisch walked to his car just before 3 p.m. The Wildcats had a team workout at 3:30 p.m., followed by a meeting as part of “We Educate Wednesday.” The guest speaker: New England Patriots wide receiver and three-time Super Bowl winner Matthew Slater.
“Golf takes a long time, and right now we’re trying to build things and what we do with our team and our system,” Fisch told the Star on Wednesday. “It’s just hard to commit to a four- or five-hour round right now, but hopefully at some point in time we’ll be able to get a full round.”
The Wildcats are meeting four hours a week along with workouts and conditioning. Spring drills are scheduled to begin March 23.
“It gives us a nice head start going into the spring. … Everything is going the way we’ve hoped,” Fisch said. “We have great energy, great enthusiasm and our team has done a nice job on and off the field.”
Fisch is a football-coaching Dr. Frankenstein, having gathered certain styles and methods from his previous NFL and college coaching stops. Steve Spurrier gave Fisch his first coaching break when Arizona’s coach was a student at the University of Florida. Since then, Fisch has coached under Bill Belichick, Mike Shanahan, Brian Billick, Pete Carroll and Sean McVay.
A sponge for information, Fisch relished the few hours he spent with Furyk.
Receiving golf tips from someone who has won 17 PGA Tour tournaments, including the 2003 U.S. Open, isn’t a terrible way to spend hump day.
Arizona football coach Jedd Fisch reacts after following through on a drive during a practice round.
Fisch sank an eagle putt, with Furyk helping, and birdied the seventh hole.
Furyk “was awesome,” Fisch said. “First of all, he gave some great coaching tips, which was great. He helped me birdie a hole, helped me hit a couple of putts. It was just amazing. These guys are the best in the world at what they do, it’s just so cool to be around them. I just love his support for the Wildcats and being a former Wildcat himself, it was just great to be with him.”
Furyk gave Fisch tips on “chipping and putting, how to treat the 8-iron a certain way,” Fisch said. “He helped me read a putt, which was great,” Fisch added.
Fisch says he usually plays about eight rounds of golf every year, because when he’s not working around the clock as a football coach, he’d prefer to spend downtime with his wife and daughters.
Even though he has coached in Florida, California and now Arizona, Fisch isn’t one to sneak off to the course.
“To be honest with you, I haven’t been able to be a benefactor of too much golf,” he said. “When we do have time off as a family, I try to spend with them.”
Fisch was an all-state tennis player in high school who picked up golf as a college student. When Fisch was offensive coordinator for the NFL’s Jaguars in 2013-14, he played a round at TPC Sawgrass, home of The Players Championship and a venue Furyk — a Jacksonville resident — is familiar with.
Fisch admitted there were some “not very pretty” moments on Wednesday, too. His tee shot on the par-3 fourth hole dribbled 30 yards to the next tee box.
“I gotta stick to football,” Fisch said. “There were one or two good holes that were good for the team. We were able to do a couple good things, but not very pretty. Maybe in the summer time I’ll get some more golf time.”
Of course, golf weather in Tucson is year-round. Southern Arizona’s climate is already likely part of the coaches’ recruiting pitch to players. Fisch and his staff are trying change the direction of a program that hasn’t had a winning season in nearly four years.
“You can’t beat a blue sky, you can’t beat the sunshine here in Tucson and the weather is just incredible,” Fisch said.
“All three days I’ve gone golfing, the weather has been the exact same. It’s pretty amazing how the weather is the same, regardless of what day it is.”
