Almost immediately after Jedd Fisch became the head coach of the UW Huskies in January 2024, there was speculation that it would just be a pit stop before he eventually moved on to coach his alma mater, Florida.<\/p>\n
That speculation is now starting to ramp up.<\/p>\n
UW Huskies hope to spoil No. 5 Oregon Ducks\u2019 CFP chances<\/a><\/p>\n Florida is searching for the successor to Billy Napier, who was fired as Gators head coach in October after a 3-4 start. Lane Kiffin of Ole Miss appeared to be Florida\u2019s primary target, but that has reportedly changed.<\/p>\n ESPN reported Friday<\/a> that sources said Florida has \u201cshifted focus\u201d away from Kiffin after sensing \u201cthrough irregular communication that he is interested in other options.\u201d<\/p>\n With,\u00a0 Kiffin out of the mix, ESPN mentioned a few names as options for Florida: Jeff Brohm of Louisville, Jon Sumrall of Tulane, and Fisch.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth nothing that reports have only mentioned that Florida may have interest in Fisch, not that Fisch may have interest in going to Florida.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a Husky fan rooting for Fisch to stay on Montlake<\/a>, there\u2019s good news from The Associated Press, who reported Friday afternoon that Florida is targeting Sumrall<\/a> to be its next coach.<\/p>\n If that ends up being the direction the Gators take, it does not necessarily mean UW will be out of the woods during the upcoming coaching carousel.<\/p>\n There has also been speculation this year that Fisch could be a candidate to coach UCLA. Fisch was the Bruins\u2019 offensive coordinator in 2017 and received his first taste as a head coach when he served as UCLA\u2019s interim coach at the end of that season after Jim Mora was fired.<\/p>\n If Fisch is going to be on the move this year, news could come quickly as the Huskies are set to wrap up the regular season with a 12:30 p.m. home game Saturday against rival Oregon, who are ranked No. 5 in the country<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fisch dismissed rumors of him being a candidate for other coaching positions during one of his weekly Monday press conferences<\/a> on Nov. 10.<\/p>\n \u201cMyself, my family, we love coaching at the University of Washington, and the ridiculousness of people that want to claim that because my wife and daughters are living in Arizona, because I have a 16 year old who\u2019s been in five different schools in the last eight years to finish her high school, has anything to do with my decision,\u201d Fisch said.<\/p>\n He added that UW \u201cspent a ton of money building this program the way we want to build it,\u201d and spoke about the impact that the rumors can have on his staff\u2019s efforts in recruiting and coaching.<\/p>\n \u201cIt affects our team, it affects our staff,\u201d Fisch said. \u201cMy hope is that our players, our coaches, our families, understand how much we love it at Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n UW is 8-3 this season and will have a postseason bowl game. The Huskies went 6-7 in 2024, Fisch\u2019s first year at the helm.<\/p>\n A New Jersey native, the 49-year-old Fisch graduated from Florida in 1998 and began his coaching career as a graduate assistant with the Gators in 1999. He has had a nomadic career in the decades since, which has seen him learn under coaching greats like Pete Carroll with the Seattle Seahawks as quarterbacks coach in 2010, Jim Harbaugh as a Michigan assistant from 2015-16, and Bill Belichick as New England Patriots QB coach in 2020.<\/p>\n Fisch, who was at Arizona from 2021-23, has a career 31-32 record as a head coach.<\/p>\n UW alum, ex-Seahawks coach Jim Mora returning to Pac-12 with Colorado St<\/a><\/p>\n