Washington Huskies Head Coach Gets Honest About Program's Financial Limitations

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SEATTLE — The Washington Huskies football team fielded a lion's share of criticism through the first half of the season.

Through the first six games of the season, the Huskies are 3-3 (0-3 in Big Ten play) and are yet to score more than 24 points against a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponent. The disappointing season reached a fever pitch Oct. 9 with a 41-24 loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Washington has looked like a far cry from the team that ranked 17th in the country in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll and was thought to be a dark horse for the College Football Playoff by many outlets and analysts.

With the criticism, the conversation of where the Huskies stand in spending and Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) capability compared to their Big Ten peers has once again floated to the surface.

A report from the Athletic in September showed that UW was among the lowest schedules in the 18-team Big Ten conference at $21-25 million. That number is comparable to teams viewed in the lower-tier of the conference, including Northwestern and Michigan State (although, to be fair to the Wildcats, they currently rank No. 25 in the country).

When Washington head coach Jedd Fisch was hired by the university ahead of the 2024 season from the Arizona Wildcats, he publicly shared excitement in the possibility of being with a team coming off a national championship berth and thought to have a lot more doners and deeper coffers than his previous stop.

Now, two years later, the sobering reality of the Huskies' situation has set in for the head coach.

"Two years ago, when I said that, I absolutely felt that," Fisch said in a weekly news conference Monday. "By being here now, two to three years, you learn about what type of investments we're getting from all those companies and are we really able to tap into those resources right now? It's public knowledge that our roster is not very high on the cost scale."

Washington's financial shortcomings have been highlighted this season in their games against Iowa and the Minnesota Golden Gophers, which had veterans on the offensive line and defensive line that were able to dominate. For comparison, UW's defensive and offensive lines feature several first and second-year players.

Another good example is the 2025-26 national champions, the Indiana Hoosiers, which were able to go in the portal and find veterans to supplement the roster in addition to the experienced players that stayed with the program.

"It's really about — can we invest and commit the dollars to retain this team," Fisch said. "Can we pick and choose players that are older to come in and fill some holes? And then, on top of that, can we make the type of commitment that's needed financially over the course of the next 12-24 months that we're capable of playing with fourth year players? … You could even see it now with a team like UCLA. They're the oldest team in the Big Ten and they have the most amount of seniors and graduates."

To make up for the lack of veteran experience on the roster, Fisch and the rest of the coaching staff have ramped up their recruiting efforts (to success). On the field, that's yielded mixed results. First-year defensive tackle Derek Colman-Brusa has shown flashes of brilliance and first-year cornerback Jeron Jones has provided positive contributions.

Other true freshmen, such as offensive lineman Kodi Greene and running back Brian Bonner, have either struggled or have been thrust into starting roles before they were ready. 

"Last year we had seven guys drafted," Fisch said. "To replace the seven guys drafted, we needed to use our freshmen because we didn't have the funds to replace them in the portal. Because of that, we now need our freshmen, our sophomores, to stay. To do that, then we'll be able to get back to where we wanted to be."

Perhaps the one benefit to having young players receiving game reps as freshmen and sophomores is that they will be able to develop into the kinds of third-, fourth-, and fifth-year players that are often featured on the championship caliber teams.

However, that comes with the caveat that UW will have to retain them, which it has struggled to do. Paki Finau transferred to the BYU Cougars this offseason and has been one of the best left tackles in the country.

Adam Mohammed, who was thought to be the heir apparent to the team's former leading rusher Jonah Coleman, transferred to the Cal Golden Bears. He's ran 73 times for 336 yards and three touchdowns, which would lead Washington in rushing yards and touchdowns.

Counting on retaining those young players is a big "if." Even if the team is able to do so, it still needs to go in the portal and find players who can fill the remaining the gaps on the team.

In the current era of NIL, it can't be one or the other. It has to be a balance. And if the program remains on a shoestring budget, that key balance will be difficult for the program to find.

"Assuming we're capable of signing everyone back, then in a year from now we're looking at third-year players, second-year players and first-year players," Fisch said. "Which is something that we committed to doing by playing the amount of young guys that we chose to play or had to play. There's only so many resources you have to go in the portal." 

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