New Washington head coach has Seahawks, Pete Carroll ties

Jedd Fisch has multiple ties to Pete Carroll.

The Seattle Seahawks and Washington Huskies both had head coaching departures over the past few days, but the Huskies have already found their replacement for newly minted Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer.

Welcome back to Seattle, Jedd Fisch!

Fisch comes over from the University of Arizona, where he served as head coach from 2021 through 2023. He took over from Kevin Sumlin, whose 9-20 record was capped off with a COVID-19 shortened 0-5 season. Fisch went 1-11 in his debut year, improved to 5-7 in 2022, and broke through with a 10-3 mark in 2023, with their only losses coming via single-digit margins to Mississippi State, Washington, and USC. After an Alamo Bowl win over Oklahoma, Arizona finished No. 11 in the Associated Poll and Coaches Poll rankings.

There is a Seahawks tie-in to the Fisch hiring! Fisch was the quarterbacks coach for the Seahawks in 2010, which was Pete Carroll’s first season in charge. He left for the college ranks to be the offensive coordinator and QBs coach at the University of Miami, before returning to the NFL for two seasons as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ offensive coordinator under former Seahawks DC Gus Bradley.

Oh yes, and Fisch’s offensive coordinator throughout his time as Arizona head coach? None other than Brennan Carroll, Pete’s son and himself a former Seahawks assistant. As far as whether or not Carroll will join Jedd in Seattle, that remains unclear. It’s possible that Brennan gets the Arizona gig.

So while we’re still waiting for the Seahawks to hire their successor to Pete Carroll, we have a Carroll-adjacent hire in the local college ranks.