Grant O’Brien could fill Washington’s coaching staff vacancy

Washington should consider Purdue’s former safeties coach for their opening on the coaching staff.

Jedd Fisch is looking to make at least one more addition to his coaching staff before the Washington Huskies fully embark on the 2025 season, and he may have a strong option close by. 

After Fisch hired former Purdue head coach Ryan Walters as his next defensive coordinator, and with assistant director of recruiting Armond Hawkins Jr. headed to North Carolina, one of Walters’ top assistants, safeties coach Grant O’Brien might be next to make the trip from West Lafayette to Seattle. 

Throughout his career, O’Brien, who is originally from Arizona, has proven to be a strong developer. He played and coached at Northern Arizona before stops at Florida International and Arizona Christian before he originally met up with Walters at Missouri.

He spent three seasons with the Tigers as a quality control analyst and followed Walters to Illinois, where he acted as the team’s safeties coach. O’Brien was a key part of helping develop Quan Martin and Sydney Brown, who were selected in the second and third rounds of the 2023 NFL draft respectively.

Then at Purdue, he helped turn Dillon Thieneman into a star. As a true freshman, he recorded 106 tackles and 6 interceptions, which got him named to the AP’s Third Team All-America, and was named the FWAA Defensive Freshman of the Year and Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

He also is a strong recruiter and played a key role in recruiting four-star safeties Koy Beasley and Luke Williams in the 2024 class. If Fisch is looking for another coach in the secondary to assist cornerbacks coach John Richardson, O’Brien could be a promising boost as Washington retools its staff.