The Washington Huskies will now be led by Arizona football head coach Jedd Fisch, the university announced on Sunday. Jason Scheer of 247 Sports was the first to report the news.
Fisch spoke with Washington on Saturday afternoon before reaching an agreement on Sunday, according to reports. The deal reportedly pays Fisch more than $50 million over seven years, with a salary of $7.75 million per season.
Fisch just guided Arizona to an Alamo Bowl victory following a 9-3 regular season, the Wildcats' first bowl appearance since 2017. Last year was also the first time since 2014, and only the fourth time in school history, that the program achieved ten wins.
Arizona also closed the season with a seven-game winning streak, the longest since 1998, and a No. 11 ranking, its highest in 25 years.
This comes after Fisch came at Tucson, where the Wildcats had dropped 12 consecutive games. The Florida alum was able to turn the program around after going 1-11 his first year and 5-7 in 2022.
Fisch joined Arizona in December 2020 on a five-year contract before signing an extension that would have kept him in Tucson until 2027. The $16.3 million contract signed in December 2022 includes $15.9 million in salary and bonuses, as well as a $400,000 bonus that would have been activated had Fisch remained at Arizona through November.
Fisch was expected to make $3 million in 2024, $3.2 million in 2025, $3.25 million in 2026, and $3.6 million in 2027 at Arizona. Fisch returns to Seattle after serving as the Seahawks' quarterbacks coach under Pete Carroll in 2010. From 2015 to 2016, Fisch was a member of Jim Harbaugh's staff at Michigan.
Before joining the Wildcats in December 2020, Fisch spent a year as quarterbacks coach for the New England Patriots. Prior to that, he was an assistant with the Los Angeles Rams under head coach Sean McVay, but he had never been appointed as a head coach in college or the NFL, but he did go 1-1 as interim head coach at UCLA for part of the 2017 season.
Washington made it to the national championship game this season, but lost to Michigan. Kalen DaBoer, the Huskies' head coach, has left to manage the Alabama Crimson Tide after long-time legendary coach Nick Saban retired on Wednesday.