Arizona announces hiring of Jedd Fisch as football coach

The Arizona Wildcats have made it official, announcing Wednesday they have hired Jedd Fisch to be their next head football coach.

“We are tremendously excited to have Jedd Fisch come to Tucson to reinvigorate our football program and lead us to championships,” UA athletic director Dave Heeke said in a news release. “Jedd has a unique ability to teach the game of football effectively to his players and to inspire them with his passion. We conducted a comprehensive national search with an impressive array of candidates but in the end, Jedd is exactly what our program needs right now and I cannot wait to partner with him to move us forward.”

Fisch, 44, has more than 20 years of experience as an assistant coach at the college and professional level. This season he was quarterbacks coach for the New England Patriots, having spent 2018-19 with the Los Angeles Rams as an analyst and assistant offensive coordinator.

From 2015-17 Fisch was in the college ranks, serving as Michigan’s QB and wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator for two years before going to UCLA in 2018. With the Bruins he was QB coach and offensive coordinator, serving as interim head coach for the final two games following Jim Mora’s firing.

UCLA went 1-1 under Fisch, beating Cal in the regular-season finale before losing to Kansas State in the 2017 Cactus Bowl.

Dating back to 1999, when he was a graduate assistant at his alma mater Florida under Steve Spurrier, Fisch has worked for five college programs and seven NFL teams in 22 years.

Fisch inherits a UA program that is at an all-time low, having lost 12 consecutive games with the most recent a 70-7 home loss to rival ASU. Arizona hasn’t had a winning record since 2017.

His introductory press conference will air live on the Arizona Athletics Facebook page at 12:30 p.m. MST.