Coaching familiarity brings unique rivalry for Arizona Football

As Arizona Football prepares for their showdown with UCLA this weekend, coaching familiarity between Jedd Fisch and Chip Kelly brings a unique rivalry. 

It is the first matchup between Arizona Football head coach Jedd Fisch and UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, and already, it is brewing into being quite a showdown in the desert this weekend.

Coming in, Arizona is fresh off a bye week, and the team is still desperately seeking its first win in over two years.

And even with the Wildcats being 0-4, and being double-digit underdogs against the Bruins, there is still plenty of hype heading into this game.

For starters, Arizona is expecting 40,000+ fans, as it is Family Weekend in Tucson, and they will also be hosting their first ‘white out’ since the 2014 football season.

However, the interesting ties shared between Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch and UCLA head coach Chip Kelly brings a unique rivalry for Arizona Football.

Heading into this matchup, there has been plenty of build-up, especially as the drama has begun to unfold between coach Fisch and coach Kelly ahead of Saturday’s game.

For those that maybe didn’t know, the coaching paths for Fisch and Kelly have somewhat crossed over the past few years, as both have climbed the coaching ranks, and have spent time in the NCAA and the NFL as well.

However, the big news came with a he-said scenario earlier in the week when coach Fisch spoke to the media as he previewed the Wildcats’ matchup against the Bruins.

Discussing his time coaching in the NFL, Fisch alluded to almost coaching with Kelly while he was in Philadelphia, but strangely enough, Kelly adamantly denied those claims in his teams’ press conference following practice just days ago. His interview even came off a bit awkward and a bit short.

Perhaps there could be a rivalry between Fisch and Kelly as head coaches!