February 27, 2025 • 7 mins
Washington Huskies Head Coach Jedd Fisch sits down with Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain at the Seattle Sports Star of the Year Awards to talk about his second season on Montlake starting up, how his team and roster are looking right now, and much more.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Live from the R and R Foundation Specialist Broadcast studio.
Now back to Softie and Dick One, your home for
the Huskies and the Kruken Sports Radio ninety three point
three kJ R FM.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
All Right, boys and girls, we are back here at
the Sports Star Bank with big thanks to Jim Nansen
Fred Couples for joining us on the radio show. But
what do you say? We end it for the final
couple of minutes with the head coach of the Husky
football team, Jedfish. How are you man?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Doing? Great?
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Awesome to stand there and talk to Jim Nancy. Yeah,
Couples for a while.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
I had about a half hour that I could have
done that exactly all night long.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I was gonna say, are you are you ever? I mean, look,
you got a lot of big names come to your clinic.
You know, like you've been around the game a long time.
You ever get starstrucking off by anybody in this business?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
You know, guy, I gotta Fred Couples kind of got me.
I gotta be honest.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
It doesn't usually happen, but you know, he kind of
got me. It was exciting time. I already invited him
to be an honorary captain.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
There you go. He's gonna do that.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
So we're gonna pick a game next year and he's
gonna run our coin toss for us.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I love it. Uh, he's gonna go out with the boys.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
And it was so awesome to meet him and talk
to him and of course Jim Nantz I have so
much respect for He's amazing and what a great dude.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well, speaking of big names, you got a couple of
big names once again this year coming to the coaches Clinic.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Yeah, excited about, you know, once again to be a
pro coaches clinic.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
We try to make it the best clinic in the country.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
We're we're really proud of how we've put that on
now for you know, over five years at different places,
and you know, this one was a special one. I
was talking to coach Shanahan and I said, hey, Mike,
I know you probably haven't done a coaching clinic in
a long time. Would you consider, you know, coming to
our clinic as you really are the godfather of the
(01:46):
offense that everybody is running right, there are so many people,
you know, you name the guys that are running and
they point back to Mike's offense and he said I'd
love to do it, so so excited about that obviously,
to bring Sean back. Sean's you know, spoken at clinics
for me many of times, and he's just one of
my closest friends. And for him to come in and
(02:06):
speak to our team, speak to our staff, work with
our staff, and then bring in Chris Shula to be
the third guy as our special guest. We're really excited
about the clinics.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Well, Jetfish is with us. Compare this to a year
ago at this time, How much healthy year? How much
progress have you made in the last three hundred and
sixty five days.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Well, I'm a lot healthier and I can tell you
that by the way.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Yeah, you know, I think all of us needed that
time right and needed time here to get to where
we are today.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
It was, you know, it was such a challenge. I mean,
we we.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Took over a program in you know, Tucson that was
zero to twelve, one and eleven, and we got the
tenth in the country and never thought we were picking
up and leaving right.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
That was nowhere in the thought process.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
As the dominoes fell and we arrived in Seattle and
they're coming off of a national championship run. They have
the same The city felt the same heartbreak. I think
of like, wait, what's happening? Why is there so much change?
And we had to work through that, and we only
had forty something scholarship players, and we only had one
(03:11):
returning starter, and we were trying to keep players and
keep coach and figuring out our staff. We're not there anymore.
We're at a great place. I love our team. Our
coaching staff I think is phenomenal. We were able to
fill in holes that we needed to fill in. Obviously,
I want to thank coach Carroll and Coach Belichick for
(03:32):
their year with us at You Dub and the years
that I had with Brendan before. But it's great that
they have their opportunity, and it's great for You Dub
that now we have an opportunity bring in Ryan Walters,
promote Jimmy Doherty, go hire a special teams coordinator. I
just feel great about our staff. I feel great about
our players. We have seventeen offensive linemen for this spring.
(03:53):
Last year we had eight. I mean, it's just a
different real and I'm excited with the way they're working.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
What we in Ryan Walters. When you're getting a defensive coordinator.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
That first of all, I mentioned earlier that if you
look at the teams that played in the CFP and
you look at the teams that played in the Super Bowl,
they all had former head coaches on their staff, right
even you know from Steve Spagnola, Matt Nagi and Vic
Fangio on the two coaching staffs that were both that
were all NFL head coaches too. Obviously Texas and note
Your Dame and Ohio State in Penn State, they all
(04:28):
had a former head coach.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
I wanted a former head coach. So that's the first thing.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
You're getting with Ryan Walters, a guy that's been in
front of a room, in front of a team, in
front of donor base. Secondly, is competitive, like he's going
to get that defense playing at a very very high level.
If you look at what he did when he was
at Illinois as a defensive coordinator no more than three
years ago, they were the number one defense in the country,
and that's not easy to be at Illinois or anywhere. Yeah,
(04:52):
and it wasn't just in one category, it was in
almost every category. So he's going to go after the ball,
he's gonna tackle, well, he's gonna get a disciplined team,
and it really fired up at Ryan's with us.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah, I no doubt.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Well, look, I can tell you there's been progress made
for sure, but the offensive line bodies is one thing.
Talent and performance is another. Talk to us about why
you feel this will be a better product and a
better performing unit than it was a year ago.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Yeah, I think number one springball right, fifteen more practices,
an off season of strength and conditioning, another year of
learning a system. Then we're bringing in I believe one
of the better tackles in the entire portal in Carver
willis Yep.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
So start there.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Now you've got competition, which we didn't have with Max
McCree and Drew as a Party and Swana, And then
you've got the young guys and John Mills and Jack Shafer.
Now you've got people competing to get better rather than
almost being given the job due to the circumstances. Max
wasn't with us in the spring. Then you have the
set land and Hatchet wasn't healthy off spring. Then we
(05:55):
had to get him going as a guard. Now he's
back to his natural position at center. Pocky Fenw has
now grown into being a third year player, no longer
a red shirt freshman now has a whole nother year
with us at an opportunity there to really be able
to or excuse me a second, a true red shirt
freshman now. And then you look at Garon Hatchett coming back,
you look at some of the other players that we have.
(06:17):
They've grown, they've gotten strong, they've got mature, and we've
played with all American freshmen before. Yeah, jrown a seven A,
Wendell mow and I think John Mills and I think
Champ have a chance.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
To do that. I love it.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Hey, listen, the most important question when you were in Tucson,
I got it. But you've been here now with us
for a year. How do you keep the tanner went
on vacation.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
That's from one vacation.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
One vacation. I mean, you had the tan since you
showed up here. It's never gone away.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
It's gone away, it's gone away, it's back. I was
able to go enjoy this. I saw I shouldn't dance.
I was able to go enjoy the Super Bowl down
in Mexico.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
And there you go. Hey, we had some good weather
and how about the beautiful weather last two days?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Beautiful and you know what it was, thunder and lightning
and thirty five degrees at my house and now with
sixty five. Man, it's crazy. Hey, great to see you
and we'll see you on campus soon. Man, appreciate this
sounds great, all right, you bet. Jed Fish joining us
for a few minutes. Big thanks to Jim Nance, Fred Couples,
Brian Schmetzer as well. We're gonna get out of here.
Sounders FC Weekly with Jackson Felts next on ninety three
to three kJ RFM.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
See you bye,
Live from the R and R Foundation Specialist Broadcast studio.
Now back to Softie and Dick One, your home for
the Huskies and the Kruken Sports Radio ninety three point
three kJ R FM.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
All Right, boys and girls, we are back here at
the Sports Star Bank with big thanks to Jim Nansen
Fred Couples for joining us on the radio show. But
what do you say? We end it for the final
couple of minutes with the head coach of the Husky
football team, Jedfish. How are you man?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Doing? Great?
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Awesome to stand there and talk to Jim Nancy. Yeah,
Couples for a while.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
I had about a half hour that I could have
done that exactly all night long.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I was gonna say, are you are you ever? I mean, look,
you got a lot of big names come to your clinic.
You know, like you've been around the game a long time.
You ever get starstrucking off by anybody in this business?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
You know, guy, I gotta Fred Couples kind of got me.
I gotta be honest.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
It doesn't usually happen, but you know, he kind of
got me. It was exciting time. I already invited him
to be an honorary captain.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
There you go. He's gonna do that.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
So we're gonna pick a game next year and he's
gonna run our coin toss for us.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I love it. Uh, he's gonna go out with the boys.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
And it was so awesome to meet him and talk
to him and of course Jim Nantz I have so
much respect for He's amazing and what a great dude.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well, speaking of big names, you got a couple of
big names once again this year coming to the coaches Clinic.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Yeah, excited about, you know, once again to be a
pro coaches clinic.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
We try to make it the best clinic in the country.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
We're we're really proud of how we've put that on
now for you know, over five years at different places,
and you know, this one was a special one. I
was talking to coach Shanahan and I said, hey, Mike,
I know you probably haven't done a coaching clinic in
a long time. Would you consider, you know, coming to
our clinic as you really are the godfather of the
(01:46):
offense that everybody is running right, there are so many people,
you know, you name the guys that are running and
they point back to Mike's offense and he said I'd
love to do it, so so excited about that obviously,
to bring Sean back. Sean's you know, spoken at clinics
for me many of times, and he's just one of
my closest friends. And for him to come in and
(02:06):
speak to our team, speak to our staff, work with
our staff, and then bring in Chris Shula to be
the third guy as our special guest. We're really excited
about the clinics.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Well, Jetfish is with us. Compare this to a year
ago at this time, How much healthy year? How much
progress have you made in the last three hundred and
sixty five days.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Well, I'm a lot healthier and I can tell you
that by the way.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Yeah, you know, I think all of us needed that
time right and needed time here to get to where
we are today.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
It was, you know, it was such a challenge. I mean,
we we.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Took over a program in you know, Tucson that was
zero to twelve, one and eleven, and we got the
tenth in the country and never thought we were picking
up and leaving right.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
That was nowhere in the thought process.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
As the dominoes fell and we arrived in Seattle and
they're coming off of a national championship run. They have
the same The city felt the same heartbreak. I think
of like, wait, what's happening? Why is there so much change?
And we had to work through that, and we only
had forty something scholarship players, and we only had one
(03:11):
returning starter, and we were trying to keep players and
keep coach and figuring out our staff. We're not there anymore.
We're at a great place. I love our team. Our
coaching staff I think is phenomenal. We were able to
fill in holes that we needed to fill in. Obviously,
I want to thank coach Carroll and Coach Belichick for
(03:32):
their year with us at You Dub and the years
that I had with Brendan before. But it's great that
they have their opportunity, and it's great for You Dub
that now we have an opportunity bring in Ryan Walters,
promote Jimmy Doherty, go hire a special teams coordinator. I
just feel great about our staff. I feel great about
our players. We have seventeen offensive linemen for this spring.
(03:53):
Last year we had eight. I mean, it's just a
different real and I'm excited with the way they're working.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
What we in Ryan Walters. When you're getting a defensive coordinator.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
That first of all, I mentioned earlier that if you
look at the teams that played in the CFP and
you look at the teams that played in the Super Bowl,
they all had former head coaches on their staff, right
even you know from Steve Spagnola, Matt Nagi and Vic
Fangio on the two coaching staffs that were both that
were all NFL head coaches too. Obviously Texas and note
Your Dame and Ohio State in Penn State, they all
(04:28):
had a former head coach.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
I wanted a former head coach. So that's the first thing.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
You're getting with Ryan Walters, a guy that's been in
front of a room, in front of a team, in
front of donor base. Secondly, is competitive, like he's going
to get that defense playing at a very very high level.
If you look at what he did when he was
at Illinois as a defensive coordinator no more than three
years ago, they were the number one defense in the country,
and that's not easy to be at Illinois or anywhere. Yeah,
(04:52):
and it wasn't just in one category, it was in
almost every category. So he's going to go after the ball,
he's gonna tackle, well, he's gonna get a disciplined team,
and it really fired up at Ryan's with us.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah, I no doubt.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Well, look, I can tell you there's been progress made
for sure, but the offensive line bodies is one thing.
Talent and performance is another. Talk to us about why
you feel this will be a better product and a
better performing unit than it was a year ago.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Yeah, I think number one springball right, fifteen more practices,
an off season of strength and conditioning, another year of
learning a system. Then we're bringing in I believe one
of the better tackles in the entire portal in Carver
willis Yep.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
So start there.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Now you've got competition, which we didn't have with Max
McCree and Drew as a Party and Swana, And then
you've got the young guys and John Mills and Jack Shafer.
Now you've got people competing to get better rather than
almost being given the job due to the circumstances. Max
wasn't with us in the spring. Then you have the
set land and Hatchet wasn't healthy off spring. Then we
(05:55):
had to get him going as a guard. Now he's
back to his natural position at center. Pocky Fenw has
now grown into being a third year player, no longer
a red shirt freshman now has a whole nother year
with us at an opportunity there to really be able
to or excuse me a second, a true red shirt
freshman now. And then you look at Garon Hatchett coming back,
you look at some of the other players that we have.
(06:17):
They've grown, they've gotten strong, they've got mature, and we've
played with all American freshmen before. Yeah, jrown a seven A,
Wendell mow and I think John Mills and I think
Champ have a chance.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
To do that. I love it.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Hey, listen, the most important question when you were in Tucson,
I got it. But you've been here now with us
for a year. How do you keep the tanner went
on vacation.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
That's from one vacation.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
One vacation. I mean, you had the tan since you
showed up here. It's never gone away.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
It's gone away, it's gone away, it's back. I was
able to go enjoy this. I saw I shouldn't dance.
I was able to go enjoy the Super Bowl down
in Mexico.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
And there you go. Hey, we had some good weather
and how about the beautiful weather last two days?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Beautiful and you know what it was, thunder and lightning
and thirty five degrees at my house and now with
sixty five. Man, it's crazy. Hey, great to see you
and we'll see you on campus soon. Man, appreciate this
sounds great, all right, you bet. Jed Fish joining us
for a few minutes. Big thanks to Jim Nance, Fred Couples,
Brian Schmetzer as well. We're gonna get out of here.
Sounders FC Weekly with Jackson Felts next on ninety three
to three kJ RFM.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
See you bye,
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