SEATTLE — All in the span of a week, the Washington Huskies played in a national championship game, lost their head coach and then swiftly replaced said coach.
Kalen DeBoer is now at the University of Alabama, and Jedd Fisch has come to Seattle to replace him after two successful seasons at the University of Arizona.
Fisch will have an official introductory press conference at the campus on Tuesday morning, but here are some things fans of the Huskies should know about their new head coach.
Short tenures
Many Husky fans lamented DeBoer choosing to move on from Washington after just two seasons, the second of which ended with an appearance in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
Loyalty is an important moral value to many, but it isn't common in college football at the highest levels. Coaches jump from job to job trying to ascend the ladder in the industry, often spending three years or fewer at each.
Washington will be Fisch's 18th different football coaching job. At 47 years old, Fisch is averaging about a year and a half at each of his positions. UW is the highest level Fisch has ever been a head coach at but so was Arizona.
The sudden departure of DeBoer was a reminder that Washington is still a tier below the cream of the crop in college football. Coaches make business decisions every year, so don't be surprised if Fisch makes a similar one if he again finds great success in his latest role.
Return to Seattle
Unlike DeBoer, Fisch has previous ties to the Emerald City. In 2010, Fisch joined Pete Carroll's first coaching staff with the Seattle Seahawks as a quarterbacks coach.
That isn't Fisch's only connection to Carroll, however. Fisch's offensive coordinator in 2023 at UA was Brennan Carroll, Pete's son.
Fisch never beat UW during his three seasons with the Wildcats but came close in each of the past two years. That includes a 31-24 loss in Tucson where Michael Penix Jr. was held without a touchdown pass.
Numerous NFL connections
Fisch has been on seven different NFL coaching staffs in his career, including most recently with the New England Patriots in 2020. Among the head coaches Fisch has been hired by are Super Bowl champions Bill Belichick, Sean McVay and Mike Shanahan.
Even before his coaching career began, Fisch was college roommates with Howie Roseman, who is now the general manager responsible for building the Philadelphia Eagles.
Not many other head coaches in the Big Ten Conference can say they have NFL coaching experience, let alone the amount that Fisch has on his résumé.
Arizona's turnaround
Fisch led a very quick turnaround of an Arizona program that went 0-5 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and lost a game 70-7 to its rival, Arizona State University.
The Wildcats went just 1-11 in Fisch's first year, but subsequently went 5-7 in 2022, beating a top-10 UCLA team.
Fisch was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award in 2023, which ended up being awarded to DeBoer. Arizona went 10-3, beat No. 12 Oklahoma by two touchdowns in the Alamo Bowl and finished the season with the No. 14 overall ranking in the Associated Press Top 25.
DeBoer left behind a mess at Washington, and Fisch will have his hands full. However, Fisch just engineered a remarkable turnaround with fewer resources and support in Tucson.
Time will tell if he can do the same in Seattle.