After 11 days of uncertainty with the Arizona Football coaching search, the Wildcats hired Jedd Fisch, who faces tough challenges ahead.
Welp, it wasn’t quite the hire many fans had wanted or hoped for, nonetheless, after 11 days of searching and vetting, the Arizona Football program has hired their next head coach, and it is long-time coordinator, Jedd Fisch.
Breaking the news via Social Media, NFL Analyst Adam Schefter took to Twitter to make the announcement, and it comes as a bit of a surprise and shock to fans.
Arizona Wildcats
All week, we were told the Wildcats were targeting someone with ties to Tucson and Arizona, someone that is hungry to prove himself, and that understands the uniqueness and challenges of Arizona Football.
Instead, we got someone with limited ties to the West, little Collegiate experience, and zero head coaching experience.
To make matters worse, it was a hire that was pushed by UA President Dr. Robert Robbins, perhaps a favor for a personal friend, desecrating the entire hiring process.
Well, with over 20 years of coaching experience both at the Collegiate and Professional level, Jedd will finally return to the West Coast, with his first opportunity as a head coach.
Now granted he is not the choice many had wanted (including myself), however, he is the new head coach and the challenge ahead will be a daunting one.
Not only will he have to assemble a staff and hit the recruiting trail hard (transfers included) to begin the rebuilding process, however, his biggest challenge that lies ahead is getting fans on-board with the hire, and selling his vision.
If you perused most social media sites following the hire, you would have seen plenty of public outcry and backlash disapproving the hire. And let’s be clear, it is not so much personal criticism for Coach Fisch as it was in regards to the hiring process that has many like myself particularly annoyed.
What Dr. Robbins did was essentially tell the Alumni, Boosters, and everyone involved to shove it, he was going to go above Athletic Director Dave Heeke to hire his guy anyway. Unfortunately for Coach Fisch, Dr. Robbins and Arizona did absolutely no favors for him, virtually putting him in a no-win situation.
As a lifelong fan of the program, I hope the hire works out, not only for the sake of Fisch himself, or just for the sake of Arizona Athletics, but for the sake of Tucson as well. We can’t afford another string of bad years as we suffered through in the Kevin Sumlin era, nonetheless, here we are, and the road for Fisch ahead is a challenging one. Hopefully, he’s ready…