🏈 🔵 Why Jedd Fisch Will Carry Washington's Recent Success Into The Big Ten
Despite losing nearly its entire roster to the NFL or the transfer portal in light of Kalen DeBoer's departure, Washington might not drop off with Jedd Fisch at the helm.
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Why Jedd Fisch Will Bring Washington Continued Success
Hey friends,
After former Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer decided to leave the reigning Pac-12 champions to become Nick Saban’s successor at Alabama, the Huskies’ administration quickly zeroed in on its top replacement candidate within hours.
Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch immediately rose to the top of athletic director Troy Dannen’s hot board, and the 25-year coaching titan became Washington’s next head coach just four days later.
This summer, I sat down with Fisch at Arizona before he led the program to its first 10-win season in a decade. His NFL approach helped his offense morph into one of the country’s most explosive units behind air-raid quarterback play complemented by a reliable running back cohort.
Through my conversation with Fisch, I learned that success at the NFL level shouldn’t only be exclusive to the league. Principles that have made Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll, and Sean McVay successful have also seeped into Arizona’s — and now Washington’s — locker rooms, which appeals to recruits at all levels.
Let’s dive into the three most important takeaways I uncovered after talking with Fisch — ranging from his program’s values to how he leads with a chip on his shoulder.
Take It Personal
When Jedd Fisch first took over for Arizona three seasons ago, the decorated coordinator and position coach finally received a shot at becoming a head coach for the first time in his 23-year career.
Fisch worked for eight NFL franchises as an offensive assistant from 2002 to 2020 and learned how to run a standout operation from the likes of Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll, Sean McVay, and even Jim Harbaugh during a two-year stint on Michigan’s staff.
Through it all, the 47-year-old leader of Washington learned one lesson that prevails in all locker rooms — be personable. And, when you’re passed over in favor of another suitor, take it personally to better yourself in preparation for future situations.
“The most important thing to me is that I got an opportunity, and I’ve been passed over, and I take that personally,” Fisch said. “As I was talking [before my introductory press conference at Arizona], [my friend] looked at me and said ‘It sounds like it’s personal,’ and I said ‘Yeah, it’s personal.’”
Aside from leading with a chip on his shoulder, Fisch also believes it’s important to foster personal, one-on-one connections to cultivate a program of togetherness.
Since arriving in Seattle as Washington’s new head coach, Fisch has pieced together the No. 10 transfer portal class in less than two weeks. Aside from bringing over four commodities from Arizona, including prized quarterback prospect Demond Williams, Fisch has landed prospects from Fresno State, San Diego State, Arizona State, and Mississippi State.
His cross-cultural messaging and appeal to under-recruited and less sought-after prospects make him a coach underdogs are continuously drawn to and always play hard for.
“The most important thing for me is the personal relationships you get to make with players,” Fisch said. “The idea that you can recruit a kid from high school, you can coach a kid in college, you can attend their wedding, you can watch them be successful in life. The most important thing, to me, is that we make every person better.”
Set Your Values, Alter Your Standards
When most coaches across college football’s landscape are asked about their program’s values and standards, most use one set of buzzwords to define both categories.
In essence, most leaders use “values” and “standards” interchangeably. To Fisch, the two ideals couldn’t be more different.
At Arizona, Fisch set five unique values — respect, accountability, integrity, selflessness, and enthusiasm. As for each year’s standards, those will constantly change based on the preferences of the captains, emphasizing the importance of cultivating a player-led team.
“I felt as though we didn’t want to have slogan soup, we didn’t want to have stuff everywhere that meant a lot of different things, so how are we going to figure out what our standards, what our values [are]?” Fisch said. “…Because we know our values — respect, accountability, integrity, selflessness, enthusiasm. And what are our standards going to be? Those are going to change every year.”
This year, one of Arizona’s standards was “Look each other in the eye, and tell each other the truth.” Fisch said the goal was set by the players in the offseason to rid the locker room of “deceit.” Ultimately, the Wildcats rallied around one another, resulting in its first 10-win campaign since 2014.
When I sat down with Fisch before Arizona began fall camp ahead of the 2023 season, I asked him how he narrowed his values down to five concrete terms.
Quite simply, it stems from a carefully combed-through combination of effective principles curated from decorated football minds Fisch has previously worked under.
“[I’m not trying to replicate] Pete Carroll’s three rules or Bill Belichick’s values, or Mike Krzyzewski’s standards, because I like to read a lot,” Fisch said. “…But, on the same token, it is also about recognizing I’ve been with some great coaches, and when Sean McVay talks about being an all-world communicator and the importance of communication, we didn’t want to let that go without trying to say ‘How are we going to put that in our value program, our value system?’”
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NFL Systems Aren’t Just Meant For The Next Level
Throughout most college locker rooms, head coaches constantly attempt to simplify NFL offenses to create more manageable schemes unique to the game played on Saturdays rather than Sundays.
At Arizona, “about 90% of its offense,” according to Fisch, “you would be able to see on Sundays.”
With less talent per 247Sports than Oregon, USC, Washington, and Utah, the Wildcats finished fourth in Pac-12 total offense behind 448 yards per game. Quarterback Noah Fifita posted 2,869 yards through the air in 12 games, and he compiled 25 touchdowns and just six interceptions in the process.
At Washington, Fisch will attempt to create the same level of success with Mississippi State transfer gunslinger Will Rogers. At Arizona last year, the Wildcats finished No. 10 nationally in passing efficiency behind 4,008 total passing yards in 464 attempts through the air.
“Our system is one that which I believe I’m most comfortable coaching from Mike Shanahan’s run game, play-action passing, and boot game to Sean [McVay’s] ability to marry the run and the pass,” Fisch said. “I take those two core offenses, which are really all from the same branch.”
When diving deeper into Fisch’s offensive philosophy, I asked the head coach whether he’d classify his attack as a spread or pro-style approach. In response, Fisch said neither.
“I say our offense is a ‘Sunday System’ because I don’t know what pro-style means anymore,” Fisch said. “… I say ‘What you watch on Sunday, you will do here.’ When you turn the Rams on, when you turn the Bengals on, when you turn the Seahawks on, that’s really what you’re going to be doing here.”
To watch the entirety of my conversation with Fisch, click here for my complete “Next Up With Adam Breneman” episode with Washington’s new head coach.
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Shoutout to Connor Krause for helping to write this newsletter and putting it together!
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