The annual college football coaching carousel is in full swing. There are already job openings at Florida, Arkansas, Virginia Tech, UCLA, Oklahoma State, and Penn State, and we’ve still got five full weeks of regular season action ahead.
Rumors are swirling about where these teams will look to fill their coaching vacancies, and some of those rumors have involved Washington head coach Jedd Fisch. Fisch has refused to comment on his future, but fans and analysts alike are speculating.
Could Fisch’s days in Seattle be numbered? Let’s break down the entire situation. Here are the cases for and against another college football program hiring away the Huskies’ head coach.
The case for another team hiring away Jedd Fisch:
The most attractive part of Fisch’s resume is his experience. Over the last 25 years, Fisch has coached for seven collegiate programs and seven NFL teams. Two of those college teams, Florida and UCLA, have coaching vacancies, and both have links to Fisch.
Fisch began coaching big-game football in 1999, working as a graduate assistant under Florida’s Steve Spurrier whilst pursuing his master’s degree in sports management. When Florida fired Billy Napier on Sunday, some fans and analysts named Fisch as a possible replacement.
Fisch’s name was also tied to the UCLA head coaching role in early October following a report by On3’s Pete Nakos. Fisch was the Bruins’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2017, and was named interim head coach following the firing of Jim Mora.
Fisch won his only regular-season game with the Bruins, making the Bruins bowl-eligible in the process. However, UCLA lost 35-17 to Kansas State in the Cactus Bowl and eventually chose to hire Chip Kelly. Fisch went on to work assistant roles with the Los Angeles Rams and New England Patriots before beginning a three-year run with the University of Arizona in 2021.
Arizona improved each year under Fisch. The Wildcats’ record jumped from 1-11 in 2021 to 5-7 in 2022 and again to 10-3 in 2023, prompting his move to Washington in January 2024.
Fisch’s many career moves have given him a wealth of experience at the collegiate and professional levels, particularly with offensive systems. In doing so, he’s been all across the country, and he’s coached alongside all-time greats in Spurrier, Bill Belichick, Jim Harbaugh, Mike Shanahan, Pete Carroll, and Sean McVay. Thankfully, at 49 years old, he’s got plenty of gas left in the tank.
Fisch’s experience is his most appealing aspect, but his somewhat flexible contract situation is another factor which could attract coach-needy teams. According to The Seattle Times’ Andy Yamashita, Fisch’s current $10 million buyout will drop to just $6 million on Jan. 9, 2026.
$6 million isn’t exactly spare change, but Power 4 programs are willing to pay far more for a winning football coach. For reference, Penn State is firing James Franklin for almost $50 million, and Florida is firing Napier for $21 million.
Finally, while coaches like Oregon’s Dan Lanning have publicly announced that they have no desire to coach elsewhere, Fisch has stayed quiet.
“I’m not going to address any coaching changes or coaching rumors or anything to that effect,” Fisch said during a press conference on Monday. “I’ve learned the most important thing we can do here is be where our feet are.”
That’s a good answer for a coach to give, but it’s also not an outright rejection of other jobs. Unless Fisch declares that he wants to stay at Washington forever, teams should consider him as being available on the coaching market.
The case against another team hiring away Jedd Fisch:
Fisch’s experience is invaluable, but there are reasons for other programs to balk when examining the second-year Huskies coach. Unfortunately, Fisch has yet to prove himself as a coach who can consistently win games at the highest level.
Fisch has four full seasons as a head coach under his belt. Halfway through his fifth, he holds an overall record of 28-31. Despite his turnaround success at Arizona, Fisch went just 6-7 in his first year at UW.
That first season with the Huskies included six road losses during the regular season. Three of Washington’s seven losses came by one score, while the Huskies lost the other four by a combined 97 points.
Fisch’s 2025 squad is currently 5-2, which indicates that the Huskies may be on a positive year-to-year trend. However, the Dawgs were outclassed in their two losses to Big Ten shotcallers Ohio State and Michigan. It appears that a gap remains between the Huskies and the Big Ten’s top teams.
That talent gap was evident last year, when the Huskies went 4-5 in conference play. The Huskies will likely play two more ranked teams (No. 23 Illinois and No. 6 Oregon) this year, so a similar conference record in 2025 would be unsurprising.
Fisch hasn’t had a ton of time to develop his own recruits, so a slow start in the fast and physical Big Ten is understandable. However, schools in search of new coaches could understandably prefer someone whose team is currently competing at a higher level.
If the Huskies go on a run to end the year, Fisch could rocket up teams’ boards. However, his current resume would be more attractive with a few more years of success at Washington. Until Fisch proves he can hang in the Big Ten, he’s a risky choice for potential powerhouses like Florida or Penn State.