Washington Huskies hire Arizona's Jedd Fisch as next head coach, replacing Kalen DeBoer

Jedd Fisch will be the new head coach of the Washington Huskies football team, the school announced on Sunday.

Fisch will leave his position as head coach of the Arizona Wildcats to take over a program that finished 14-1 and lost the national championship to the Michigan Wolverines. He will presumably be without Heisman finalist quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who is expected to enter the NFL draft.

Former Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer was named the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide on Friday. He steps into the role left vacant by seven-time national champion coach Nick Saban, who retired on Wednesday after 17 seasons in Tuscaloosa.

Fisch joined the Wildcats in 2021 after two decades in the NFL and with other teams in college football. Per his contract with Arizona, he would owe the program a $5.5 million buyout.

From 2004 to 2007, Fisch was an offensive assistant with the Baltimore Ravens, before being hired as wide receivers coach by the Denver Broncos. He was the quarterbacks coach for the Seattle Seahawks in 2010 and the offensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars for one season in 2013.

In 2017, Fisch became the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at UCLA. He was named the Bruins' interim head coach at the end of the season and led the team to the Cactus Bowl.

In 2023, the Wildcats went 10-3 under Fisch and beat the Oklahoma Sooners 38-24 in the Valero Alamo Bowl. Fisch also worked as an assistant coach for Michigan in 2015 and as an offensive coordinator at both Minnesota (2009) and Miami (2011).