When the Washington Huskies hired Jedd Fisch to replace Kalen DeBoer in January, the school made the best hire possible. CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli agrees, ranking Jedd Fisch at No. 31 among Power 4 head coaches before the 2024 season.
Fisch was one of the biggest risers on the list, rising 30 spots from his 2023 ranking at No. 61, where Colorado’s Deion Sanders now sits. Washington’s new head coach holds a 17-21 career record after his three years with Arizona and proved he can be one of the country’s better program builders after leading the Wildcats to 10 wins and a final ranking of No. 11 in the AP Poll.
Now, Fornelli expects Fisch to continue to rise with more resources at Washington as the school makes the move to the Big Ten.
“The new Washington coach took a huge leap in the rankings this year, though it’s not the biggest climb in our poll (in fact, it’s only tied for second),” Fornelli said.
“Considering Arizona improved from 1-11 in Fisch’s first season to 5-7 in 2022, it wasn’t out of line to expect further improvement last year, but I don’t think anybody saw a 10-3 campaign coming. Fisch cashed in on the success with the Wildcats with a chance to take over a Washington program that played for a national title last season. It’s a bit of a rebuild situation, but so was what Fisch inherited in Tucson.”
Coming off that national championship berth last season and losing 20 of the 22 starters from that game, there will certainly be some growing pains in Fisch’s first season, but he appears to be the right man for the job to lead Washington into the future.
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