Arizona needed a change after its 70-7 loss to Arizona State last December. The school was swift to make a move by letting go of head coach Kevin Sumlin before moving to hire Jedd Fisch as the new leader of its football program.
The move was met with a mixed reaction. Fisch had never been a head coach before taking over the Wildcats, and he had split his time between the college game and the NFL. Most of all, he had no clear ties to the program.
He had to prove something to get both the fan base and the players on board.
Rather than enter his first job as a head coach believing he had all the answers, Fisch relied on his network of connections to build a staff that was able to help him fill in the gaps. He brought in proven recruiters, hired some of the most well-known and accomplished former players all while keeping an open mind.
Fisch opened up the doors to Arizona's spring practices and worked to build a connection with the fans.
Many of the ideas and changes he has brought to Arizona present a stark contrast to how Sumlin approached running the program.
"It's a completely different feeling," veteran receiver Stanley Berryhill III said during this week's Pac-12 Media Day about how Fisch has changed the mood around Arizona's football program. "It's a 180 turn. ... Coach Fisch came and started regulating, and people are buying into what he's preaching. We all believe in his vision, so I think that's half the battle.
"Now all we gotta do is execute the game plans."
For Fisch the changes have not come because of a concerted effort to do things different from the previous staff. He also isn't trying to purposely win over fans that wanted someone else to lead the Wildcats. He is simply trying to be himself, and so far that has resonated with the team.
"I was the authentic me," Fisch said. "I didn't know what existed, truthfully. I didn't really know exactly what it was like. I didn't come from the program. I didn't get elevated up.For me, it was to come in and be me, hire the guys that I believed in, and make it our program.
"Where I am the most grateful is we had an athletic director and a president that allowed me to do that. That's how we were able to make the significant changes we made in such a short period of time."
Fisch is quick to give credit to his staff when discussing the overall health of the program. He has made some important hires that have helped create a better environment for the players. Step one has been shifting the mindset of the team.
It is difficult to lose 12 games in a row. Something is clearly not working when that happens. It didn't take a keen eye to see that Arizona was not moving forward under its previous staff.
Making the players care about being on the field and in the facility putting in work was the first step toward changing the mindset of the team. So far Fisch and his coaches have succeeded in doing just that despite a big portion of a team that lost five games in 2020 returning this year.
"Coach Fisch, he made football fun again," Berryhill said. "There's a lot of people on our team who didn't enjoy playing football. Their minds were on other things, distracted. But, coach Fisch came in here with a plan and it was to make football fun again. That's exactly what he did.
"... Fisch, he just kept it real. Kept it straight up. People like that. People like honesty. If you buy into stuff like that big things could happen."
A word like "family" is thrown around a lot when it comes to college football. Every program uses it at some point to describe its team. Fisch uses it too, but he also wants his team to live that phrase.
Making things "personal" has become a mantra for Fisch and his staff. It has helped to forge a true bond with the players. Most of whom he has not recruited and didn't know before he arrived to Tucson.
"We wanna play for him," senior linebacker Anthony Pandy said. "Offense, defense, the people on special teams, people who aren't playing they want to play for coach Fisch. So, that's something that's really big. That we want to play for our coach."
The comments from Berryhill and Pandy point to something being present now under Fisch that wasn't there with the previous staff. It's clear there was a disconnect between coaching staff and players that feels like it is no longer present.
Listening to Arizona's players talk about the program in 2021 there is a level of investment by those within the football facility that is refreshing to the members of the team.
"He's just bringing in people who care about football and they love it," Berryhill said. "They're incredible minds. They have a lot of knowledge that they share with us. You can go talk to any coach you want in our facility, and they'll tell you the same thing.
"It's just good. He's made a lot of changes to the facility. Like we have a barbershop now. Things like that. Just the little things he's doing is just bringing us all together."
The next step for Fisch will be to turn the energy he has generated this offseason into wins. That is certainly going to be a challenge, but having players who believe in his message will make it an easier job.
The Wildcats open training camp next Friday ahead of their season opener Sept. 4 against BYU in Las Vegas.
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