University of Arizona head football coach Jedd Fisch watches his players as they run a play at Arizona Stadium on April 9, 2022. Fisch is entering his second year as head coach of the Wildcats.
It has been over a year since Arizona’s football program has changed and the future looks brighter. When Jedd Fisch came to Tucson in 2021, he had one message to his group: IT’S PERSONAL.
That message is a lot deeper than its typical meaning. The Wildcats only won one game last season, but that doesn’t tell the full story.
Improvement was shown each week and, in every game, even in embarrassing losing efforts against University of Colorado Boulder and NAU.
Fisch had a tremendous offseason, where he had Arizona’s 2022 recruiting class ranked inside the top-25 in the country according to 247sports. That included Arizona’s best single prospect in program history, Tetairoa McMillan who is a very talented wide receiver. This was also Arizona’s best recruiting class since 2006.
Behind the top recruit class and improvement throughout the overall roster including two new quarterbacks, the energy and vibe around the team is just different this time around.
There is more of an intensity because now it is serious, and the coaches and veteran players that remain know that they have to be game ready all the time.
When Fisch arrived in Tucson, he knew it was going to be a journey and that things might not change overnight but that the program will be moving in the right direction for the future.
Before the 2021 season, sportsbooks had Arizona at an over/under of 2.5 games. Most analysts and those covering the sport thought the Wildcats would win one or two games.
A season later and that win total has been raised by one game and is at 3.5 games. But this time, more people think they will go over the projected 3.5 games. Arizona just had a player named to the preseason All-American team with starting kicker, Kyle Ostendorp.
Fisch is a very positive motivator and the exact person that this program has needed for many years. Even after losses last season, Fisch would always look for the positives and try to keep his team on the right track.
There is more change on the horizon with a possible move to the Big-12 in the coming years. After UCLA and USC made a deal to move to the Big-Ten conference in 2024, rumors for the remaining Pac-12 schools future home began. Arizona has made itself a school that will be valuable for other conferences when making additions.
This is because of the position that Fisch has brought them to. He took a a depleted program that won four games the previous two seasons to a team currently that has a purpose and an excellent foundation for winning.
Whether the Wildcats win seven games or four games this season, Arizona has finally got their head coach of the future.
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Ryan Wohl is the Sports Editor at the Daily Wildcat. He is majoring in journalism at the University of Arizona. For more Arizona football content, check out the Daily Wildcat Football Podcast, anywhere you stream your podcasts.
