Urban Meyer speaks on uniqueness of Jedd Fisch’s job at Washington

Former Big Ten coach Urban Meyer spoke about the unique position Jedd Fisch is in as the coach at Washington in a segment on the Big Ten Network.

A former national champion head coach in the Big Ten is taking note of Jedd Fisch’s tenure at Washington.

In his weekly show on the Big Ten Network,ย Urban Analysis, former Ohio State head coach and Big Ten Network analyst Urban Meyer spoke about the unique position Fisch has been put in at Washington.

“The issue I see with Jedd Fisch at Washington is they were dealt a really good hand the last few years. They played in a national championship game, and a lot of their team’s gone. It’s much easier to take over a place that’s really struggled. You get measured, you gotta win one more game than the previous year,” Meyer said on the show.

The only way to clear that bar, of course, would be to finish the job and bring a national title to Montlake. That seems unlikely in Fisch’s first year at the helm after losing 20 of 22 starters from last year’s squad, even after a strong debut performance against Weber State last Saturday.

But Meyer also acknowledged that Fisch’s jump to the Huskies is an easier one than going from Bowling Green to Utah, as Meyer did in 2003. “If I went from Bowling Green to Florida, you’re missing that intermediate,” Meyer said. “Completely different scenario [for Fisch]. He’s done it. He’s done it very well. He brought most of his staff with him.”

That staff, at least on offense, has been mostly together since before Arizona, something Fisch and offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll have often cited as a guide during the transition to Washington. On defense, the addition of Steve Belichick, who Fisch has worked with in the NFL, has brought early returns reminiscent of the DBU days in the mid-2010s under Chris Petersen.

Year one on Montlake may indeed fail to hit the bar of winning one more game than the year before. But Fisch and his staff have dealt with failure, success, and everything in between before too.

You can watch the full clip of Meyer talking about Fisch and UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster here: