Recapping Coach Fisch’s Visit to Southeastern Washington
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A week and a half ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Coach Jedd Fisch, quarterback Demond Williams, and tackle John Mills at an event promoting Dawgs Unleashed, UW’s internal NIL and marketing arm. This event, hosted in Richland, Washington, brought together all kinds of Dawgs (a rarity on the Southeast side of the state) including some former players, like safety Justin Glenn, and receiver Cody Bruns.
Before Coach Fisch, Williams and Mills got up to start the talk proper, I took a minute to ask Coach about a hot-button issue among Husky fans: What would new offensive analyst Matt Cavanaugh’s role be in this offense? Fisch was incredibly receptive to my question, stating that I should ask Demond that same thing (I did end up asking him a similar, more player focused version of that same question). According to Coach, this relationship that he has with Cavanaugh goes back more than 2 decades, when both were on the same staff of the Baltimore Ravens in 2004 (fun fact, former Stanford head coach David Shaw was the receivers and quarterbacks coach on this team, before being hired by Jim Harbaugh at San Diego in 2006). That led to Cavanaugh being on Fisch’s radar and ultimately deciding to hire him as an analyst. As for his role, Fisch was very clear that while he still very much runs the show, Cavanaugh will be an invaluable asset for him, particularly situationally (3rd downs and in the red zone were the examples he gave). Cavanaugh will be the most helpful in seeing the game in a “30,000 foot” sense, and as Fisch is down on the field, he will be his eyes in the booth, catching things that Fisch doesn’t (and a lot of the time can’t) see in the heat of game action. Fisch said that Cavanaugh can offer a more frank opinion on personnel decisions as he is less emotionally involved with the players as Fisch is, and that gave me confidence that this new hire, and indeed this new coaching arrangement will be mutually beneficial.
The discussion was centered chiefly around NIL and as such, Fisch gave a view of where UW’s NIL arm as a whole stands. But it was also an effort to get to know us, the people on the east side of the state, because Fisch said if UW wants to be national, they first have to be statewide. The answer in regards to the NIL situation was “we’re getting there, but we’re not there yet”. It was a common refrain and one that we’ve heard since Fisch got to Montlake. It’s also one that I think is true, considering that he had said that UW’s assistant salary pool ranked 14th out of 18 teams in the Big Ten. For those who enjoy the “non-revenue” sports like I do, Jedd offered that football is the driver of all the other sports. The better football does, the better a sport like softball will do as well. To illustrate this, Fisch used the example of former Arizona softball coach Mike Candrea, who led the Wildcats to 8 Women’s College World Series titles over a remarkable 36 seasons. While Fisch was with the Wildcats, Candrea always offered to attend football fundraisers. “(Candrea) said, there is no softball without football”, Fisch said. The commitments that the fans have made over the time that he has been at Washington has allowed for staff to be retained and continuity to be kept. 12 of the 22 starters return from last year, with 1 starter outgoing in the portal. In other words, our guys are known and Fisch has made it his stated goal that the guys we know get drafted. With the guys from last year who were drafted moving on, Fisch hyped up the 2026 Huskies as “the best football team that I’ve coached”. Fisch singled out the offensive line and the defense as standouts, saying that the O-line in particular is night and day from when he got here 2 years ago, as we had a Freshman All American, John Mills coming back, and we might have another one in Kodi Greene starting in the other tackle spot. Fisch knows in the Big Ten, you win in the trenches and we are set up to do that on both lines, as well as down the middle with our linebackers and safeties on defense. The schedule is also preferable with no Ohio State or Michigan in the regular season in ‘26 or ‘27, Penn State, Iowa and Indiana at home, and the stated goal of using the Oregon game as a springboard into the College Football Playoff. Jedd said that the most important tool to accomplish that goal is staff continuity. Fisch seemed particularly proud that every coach that they asked to come back did end up coming back, and that the only change was promoting JP Losman to the full QB coach role. Losman was an NFL QB Coach and is integral to Demond’s development, as is Matt Cavanaugh. Fisch stated that Cavanaugh’s wealth of championship experience, not only as a player but as a coach, is a gift for Demond and John’s development as football players. To close, Fisch emphasized the importance of continuing to work, not only on the field but financially, with the half-share of the Big Ten media rights deal and all that.
From there, the floor opened up to a Q&A session, and several people asked great questions about the team, the season and the players. We’ll get to some of my favorite answers from the players in a bit, but for my question, I asked John Mills (who’s a great young man, he really likes being a Husky and is just a fun guy to be around, shout out to you John!) how he and the o-line reach out to the running back room to build continuity, especially with so many new faces from the portal. Mills said that the line is close with all the running backs, they work every day, they always communicate and watch film together, so no matter who’s back there, the line will block for them without missing a beat. A classic offensive lineman answer, to be sure! Mills was further complimentary of the running back room, saying that “they’re all just starter type guys…a really high level of running back”. We’ll see who ultimately starts, but I am confident in saying that if we deploy a running back by committee approach, the running game will be just fine. Speaking of Mills, somebody asked him about the first episode of “Muggin’ with Mills” and how much he actually ate at El Gaucho. Surprisingly, he did not eat all of the steak, but he did drink about 9 or 10 cans of root beer! I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised considering his position on the field!
The biggest laugh (from me anyway) came from a question for Coach, which was “what’s the best way we can tell our friends and family to support the players through the Dawgs Unleashed program”? Coach said that there are several smaller ways to do that, that add up over time. But he said that the number one way was to be positive. When things are going well, it’s easy to be positive, but if things aren’t going so well (if we lose a game or lose a coveted prospect to the portal, for instance), will we still have that belief? If you go 12-5 in the NFL, you’re hosting a postseason game, but if you go 9-4, people’s optimism starts to waver, and they start thinking “eh, we would’ve liked to beat Wisconsin”! And Coach said “so would we”! The biggest thing is to stay positive because that will permeate throughout the whole stadium and shift the vibes
At least he’s self aware, which I appreciate.
All throughout the talk, the key point was getting people to show up to the stadium and getting those dollars to Dawgs Unleashed, because if that money flows, winning will follow. This is a program that’s won 9 games 9 times in the past 30 years, and 10 games 5 times in the past 30 years, and Fisch wants to win that number of games or more every year. To do that, the money’s got to come from somewhere. I appreciate Coach Fisch’s frankness, because there’s a lot we can do to get into that upper echelon, even though Fisch is killing it on the recruiting trail. In other words, we’re not there yet.
After the talk, I called Demond over for a question about Matt Cavanaugh. I had my reservations about seeing him there, and the question over whether he wanted to be in the purple and gold hung in the back of my brain before the event. After this event though, he seems like he does indeed want to be at UW. It may be that this is his forgiveness tour, a way to rebuild bridges after the events of January. In any case, he is still QB1. Anyway, I asked him about the amount of pro experience on the staff, especially surrounding the quarterbacks. Having Fisch, Cavanaugh and Losman gives Demond an “elite” amount of confidence. This offense is run by 25 different NFL teams, and having that combined with the amount of pro playing and coaching experience is great for him, not only as a player who dreams of playing in the NFL, but as a person, as Williams emphasized the dynamic he has with each coach as not just a “coach to player” relationship, but something deeper. We’ll see if he can take that next step towards his NFL dream and help the Huskies win a lot in the process!
Lastly, I talked to Cody Bruns, the former UW wide receiver who played from 2008-2012. He’s one of the local Dawgs, as he’s from nearby Prosser. I asked him about his famous pass to Jermaine Kearse in the Cal game in 2009, and he walked me through it. “Sparky”, as it was called, was part of the initial package of scripted plays and as such was practiced all week. When it came time for Bruns to make the throw in game, the FSN broadcast actually did him a favor, according to him. The ball was way underthrown, and the Cal DB overran it, allowing Jermaine Kearse to make the catch for a huge gain, and for the Huskies to cash in on the very next play as Jake Locker hit Kearse again for a quick touchdown. I’ve increasingly learned that it’s cool to meet the stars, but it’s equally as cool to meet the unsung heroes in Husky football, and Cody is a great example of that and a great guy!
Overall, it was a great event, and one that really endeared me to Coach Fisch. I think he has a clear vision for the program (as we can see by his recent wins on the recruiting trail!), and he clearly wants to mold UW into a winner, a championship program, whatever word you want to use. He’s on his way, and this upcoming season will be a big test for him and the program, but I am nevertheless excited because we have such an exciting program with players and coaches who are willing to come out to the Tri Cities! It should be a fun season, with hopefully a lot of winning, and this event made me eager for it to get started!
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