Jedd Fisch: Washington football program 'is where we want to win'

Like any job search, there are prerequisites an employer is looking for when making a hire.

University of Washington athletic director Troy Dannen had a checklist for the UW football head coaching search after former leader Kalen DeBoer accepted the same role at Alabama.

Washington’s next head coach, according to Dannen, had to be a “maniacal” recruiter, a developer, someone with Big Ten experience, a passionate and energetic coach and a winner. Former Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch, who was hired by Washington on Sunday after three seasons in Tucson, fit the bill.

“I didn’t think we could find someone who matched all of those characteristics,” Dannen said at Fisch’s introductory press conference in Seattle on Tuesday. “I thought it was a little bit aspirational. I thought maybe we could find someone who would hit four of the five (characteristics) or five of the six.”

But after Dannen’s initial phone call with Fisch Saturday afternoon to inquire about Washington’s head coaching vacancy, the Huskies zeroed in on Fisch to take over a team that lost in the national championship just over a week ago.

“After that phone call, you talk about blowing your socks off, blowing the doors off, whatever it is, I hung up the phone and said, ‘We found the guy. This is the guy that matches everything we wanted,’” Dannen said. “Then it became, ‘Can we get him?’”

In a roughly 30-hour span, Fisch, who initially agreed to a new contract extension to stay at Arizona, pending Arizona Board of Regents approval, signed with Washington at his Tucson home for a seven-year deal that will pay him about $7.75 million annually.

“Being here in Seattle is awfully special,” Fisch said Tuesday. “Today is a day filled with emotions though, because it represents a new beginning. Rarely in life does one have to leave someone or something that they love. But 48 hours ago, that is something that my family and I did. We did so we can join the Husky family.

“We are here for the W. The W for winning, the W for work and the W for Washington, and we will give it everything we have.”

Fisch said Washington “is where we want to win.”

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“We will give it all we have every day for hopefully a very, very long time,” he said.

Fisch briefly reflected on his three seasons at Arizona during his opening statement and described the last few days as a “whirlwind.”

“I loved my time at U of A,” Fisch said. “I’m truly grateful for the people there who believed in me and my vision on how to turn a program around and turn it into national prominence. I promised to leave the program better than when I found it. We did that. I’m proud of that. ... I did not take the decision to come to University of Washington lightly.”

Donning a checkered and charcoal-gray suit with a purple tie, Fisch was officially introduced as Washington’s head coach moments before Arizona officially hired his replacement, San Jose State head coach Brent Brennan.

Here are notable items Fisch discussed:

Fisch, on staying at Washington for the long term: “That’s always the problem. You can’t be right, you can’t be wrong. That comment is always going to be made, ‘Is it a destination job?’ I would answer it this way: the Big Ten, the SEC right now is leading the football pathways. The college football landscape is about getting to the (College Football Playoff). There’s 12 teams that are going to compete every year, starting next year, in the College Football Playoff. If you look at the teams that traditionally compete, it’s about the same 12 or 14 teams. University of Washington is one of those 12 or 14 teams. That’s why we coach.

“We coach to be able to have a seat at that table and to be able to give yourself a chance every single year with resources beyond belief, with an opportunity to go out there with a fan base that’s dying to continue to win, that has won national championships. The idea of staying is why you come. The idea of being here is to win championships. And that’s all I can promise. We’re going to be here every single day doing everything we can to win a championship, knowing Washington has the opportunity to do that every year.”

Fisch, on assembling Washington’s roster in 2024 despite a plethora of UW players either preparing for the NFL Draft or transferring: “We know it’s going to be a completely different football team in 2024 than what the community saw in 2023. It’s our job to put together the best product, and it’s our job to do everything we possibly can in what has been a very strange college football calendar. ... I’m hoping to retain this team the best we can and then if there are other players available in the portal, we’re going to look at those as well. What it comes down to, we want to maniacally recruit daily for as long as we’re here.”

Fisch, on his “not explainable but transferrable” team culture and coaching staff: “Our coaching staff at Arizona made the culture work at Arizona. Those people are extremely important to me. ... It’s going to be our goal to get all of them here and to get that crew together, stay together. We have fantastic coaches. I hope all of them come with us here and we’re able to bring that camaraderie, personal touch, the families all together, and I think we will.”