The Washington Huskies are 2-0 in the Jedd Fisch era, but that’s arguably not the most significant thing that Fisch has done for the University of Washington in the months since he took over on Montlake. That Washington Huskies have gotten a huge win from Fisch off the field, and it wasn’t in recruiting efforts.
Fisch has made a rather significant financial commitment to help the University of Washington with its brand new “Go BIG! for Washington” campaign. While it’s expected that an employer will pay an employee a salary, it’s generally not expected for the employee to take over one-eighth of their salary and give it back to the employer.
But that’s what Fisch is functionally doing. The head coach of the Huskies and his wife have made the commitment to give $1 million (which was apparently the inaugural gift for the Go BIG! For Washington campaign, according to a press release from the University of Washington Athletics Department).
That’s a lot of money, folks. And sure, while Fisch makes $7.5 million, according to King5.com, it shouldn’t be ignored that he and his wife just gave $1 million to help ensure stability for the Huskies as they move forward into the Big Ten.
Washington Huskies launch fundraiser campaign related to UW’s move into the Big Ten
So, what exactly is the purpose of the “Go BIG! for Washington” campaign? Where is the money going? What’s the point of this? Why are they using all caps for “BIG!” and why is there an exclamation point in the middle of the campaign name?
Great questions. I don’t have an answer to each and every one of those inquiries, but the important stuff that you actually need to know is that this is aimed at cutting into the financial gap that exists between UW and the upper echelon of the Big Ten.
The five-year, $300 million campaign will also help ensure the Huskies are able to take care of the increase in costs that comes with living in the Big Ten. There’s a lot more travel that’s going to be taking place through the future, and that has to be paid for.
The gift from Fisch and his wife certainly helps with that. The fact that the Huskies have apparently already raised somewhere around $50 million is also huge. Oh, and it’s nice to see the Huskies have a head coach who is engaged and connected with the future of the Washington Husky football program. Shoutout to Fisch for that.