Arizona Football: Hiring Jedd Fisch, the Five Stages of Grief

Days into the tenure of Jedd Fisch as the head coach for Arizona Football and fans are starting to come around with the hire.

It has been four days since the Arizona Football team announced the hiring of Jedd Fisch as the new head coach, and as fans, we have experienced a whirlwind of emotions so far. Especially as we all should have experienced, or are experiencing the five stages of grief following the hire.

In case you are confused about where we are in the process, let me help you to catch up…

Arizona Wildcats

Denial – It was a moment that only lasted briefly, however, it was the point shortly after Fisch was announced as the head coach, where fans were in suddenly in disbelief that he was indeed the new head coach.

For that brief moment, albeit it being a delusion, there was a glimmer of hope that this was not the actual hire. Perhaps that this was just a smokescreen before Arizona would announce the real hire.

Alas, we then arrived at anger…

Anger –  Angry that the University of Arizona Administration essentially defecated on the whole hiring process, allowing the University of Arizona President, Dr. Robert Robbins to commandeer the whole search, ultimately allowing him to hire his friend.

It was a stage we (as fans) arrived at rather quickly in the process, but the sooner we got past this stage, the sooner we began to accept our reality.

Bargaining – Ahh, yes, Bargaining. Pitiful really, but this is the third stage in the “grieving process” in which our fans have tried to come up with feeble attempts, not willing to accept the reality, prepared to give anything not to face it.

Kind of like fans plotting to assemble together, ready to protest the hire. Or even passing around petitions, with hopes of potentially reversing the hire following the announcement.

Depression –The state of depression, or in this case just another step closer to the acceptance stage. This is where reality starts to set in with fans, leading to that state of depression. Discouraged with the realization of the inevitable.

Fisch has been hired, and we have come to the point where we know nothing can be done to change the outcome, and we are instead saddened by what has transpired.

Acceptance – And now we are finally at the last and final stage in the grieving process, the acceptance stage. This is where we have gone through the entire process, and decide to accept the outcome, and move forward.

We cannot change what has happened, and while we may not be fond of how the hire took place, however, in the days since experiencing the whirlwind of emotions, we are finally coming to grips with the fact that Fisch is the head coach and we cannot change that.

At the end of the day, we as fans just want to see a quality product on the football field, and if Fisch can provide that, we will eventually get over how everything went down. Winning ultimately cures all, and he and the program need our support, perhaps now more than ever. As always, Bear Down, Arizona!