Fisch Still Has Lot to Prove In Eyes of Some Across College Football

Originally posted on Washington Huskies on SI
By Dan Raley | Last updated May 8, 2025 2:59 PM ET

Jedd Fisch turned 49 this week and has been a football coach for nearly three decades, but apparently the outside perception of him as the head guy still needs a boost.

Recently, a couple of lists came out ranking the nation's and the Big Ten's coaches, and the University of Washington leader was either nowhere to be found or turned up near the bottom.

Granted, these sort of rankings often are described as national in scope but turn out to be somewhat slanted geographically. Or the people behind these conversation starters simply don't do their homework and just throw stuff out there to see what sticks.

Yet to be fair, Fisch, while he's coached nearly a decade and a half in the NFL, has been a college football head coach for just four seasons, prompting others to feel he has yet to really prove himself.

After all, Fisch has had three losing seasons in his four in charge -- 1-11, 5-7 and 6-7 -- and his overall head-coaching record stands 23-29.

Top 50 College Football Head Coaches pic.twitter.com/NckfAWCq9l
— Front Porch Sports (@FrontPorchU) May 6, 2025

Yet here's where the research comes into play that tells another story. Take Fisch's last 14 games as a coach at two different Power 4 schools, and he's beaten Oklahoma, Michigan and USC.

You can argue that each of those schools might have been going through a market correction at the time, yet they're still established college football brands. Wins over them look good in the record book forever.

Where Fisch probably won't get any credit right away is he has taken on two West Coast programs that were badly broken when he moved in. He fixed one and appears to be making big strides in righting the one in Montlake.

Name another football team that started out last season with just one returning starter out of 22 and still went to a bowl game.

Big Ten Head Coach Rankings, according to USA Today’s Paul Myerberg pic.twitter.com/U6UoB0BgyL
— The Big Ten Huddle ️ (@TheBigTenHuddle) May 5, 2025

No, year five in Fisch's head-coaching portfolio likely is an important one for him in building more of a widespread head-coaching reputation. Recruiting is far more national in concept. Every piece of upbeat coaching promotion can go a long way.

While it's easy to dismiss the above lists as inconsequential or one man's madness, the Husky coach is a marketing guy at heart, reads everything and likely would be waving them around if they were the least bit favorable to his cause.

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This article first appeared on Washington Huskies on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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