Have to admit, I didn’t know a whole lot about Jedd Fisch, the newly hired offensive coordinator at the University of Miami.
He’s considered a good developer of quarterbacks and receivers, having worked on four different NFL staffs (Ravens, Broncos, Texans and most recently the Seahawks).
He learned at the foot of an offensive master in Steve Spurrier as a grad assistant at Florida in 1999-2000. That’s the good news.
The bad news for super-sensitive UM fans: Fisch is a Florida grad. You know, there’s that whole “We don’t want a Gator coaching Hurricanes”
vibe down in Coral Gables.
Just ask former wide receivers coach Aubrey Hill, now back in Gainesville.
Fisch also has shown incredible personal resolve in continuing his coaching rise despite undergoing open-heart surgery at age 26 as a Texans assistant coach. That’s a tale that no doubt will endear him to parents of potential recruits and the recruits themselves.
Then, however, there are the numbers, which aren’t particularly encouraging when it comes to Fisch’s ability to be an upgrade on the much-criticized Mark Whipple.
Veteran Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck is in the playoffs — with a losing team – in part due to Fisch’s tutelage. That’s nice. But did you know Hasselbeck is ranked 28th in the NFL with a passer rating of just 73.2?
For reference, that is two spots BEHIND Chad Henne (75.4).
Hasselbeck, a proven commodity who didn’t really need much tweaking, threw 12 touchdowns against 17 interceptions this season.
Henne, who was basically booed off the field in his last two home games as the Dolphins quarterback, finished with 15 TDs and 17 picks.
How about that year Fisch, 34, spent at the University of Minnesota as the Golden Gophers’ offensive coordinator? That was in 2009, and it was his only year in that role at any level (although he also interviewed for the Lions OC job that same year, losing out to former Dolphins assistant Scott Linehan).
More unsettling numbers: The Gophers finished 110th out of 120 FBS teams that season in total offense (306.5 yards per game). Whipple’s Hurricanes, considered a disappointment, ranked 45th in the country at a shade under 400 yards.
How about scoring average? There again, the Gophers struggled under Fisch. They finished 100th in the country at 20.9 points per game. The ‘Canes under Whipple? They were 31st at 30.2 ppg.
The talent-challenged Gophers went 6-7, including a loss in the Insight.com Bowl, in Fisch’s only year with the program.
All of that was good enough to get Minnesota head coach Tim Brewster fired seven games into his fourth season in Minneapolis. By then Fisch had moved on to Pete Carroll’s Seattle staff, where the Seahawks went just 7-9 but still became the first team in NFL history to reach the playoffs with a losing record.
OK, deep breath, people.
Say this for Fisch: He has worked for some great coaches. Besides Spurrier and Carroll, he’s been around Mike Shanahan, Brian Billick and Dom Capers, just to name a few.
You know who else likes Fisch? Brandon Marshall.
The Beast posted his second of three straight 100-catch, 1,000-yard seasons in 2008 with Fisch as his wide receivers caoch.
“He is a great coach,”
Marshall is quoted as saying on GopherHole.com (stop laughing). “If it wasn’t for Coach Fisch, I wouldn’t be in the Pro Bowl right now. He did a great job getting us through the stress and the ups and downs of the season. He had us prepared week in and week out. He’s a guy who got the best out of me, no matter what. He really pushed me. Coach Fisch was a big part of the success our offense had last year [in 2008]. He was very involved with the game plan each week.”
Apparently, Fisch was able to keep Marshall and the rest of the receivers (Eddie Royal, Brandon Stokley, et al) on the same page and speaking “the same language” in Denver. As we have since learned in South Florida, that’s no easy task when it comes to the excitable Marshall.
Not that the Dolphins’ star absolutely loved everything the Broncos were doing that year.
“In Denver we didn’t stretch the field,”
Marshall said two weeks ago. “Coach Shanahan’s offense, in my two years starting in it, I caught a lot of slants and arrow routes and things like that and did a pretty good job for the most part in finishing top five in yards after catch. Did a good job of catching the ball short and taking it long, breaking a few tackles. Didn’t have a lot of opportunities to go deep.”
Not sure what that means for Aldarius Johnson, LaRon Byrd, Travis Benjamin and friends, but if I were them I’d be seeking out Marshall right about now for some guidance.
So, what’s your reaction to this hire? Pleased? Disappointed?
If the latter, who would you have preferred to see Al Golden hire?
And what do you make of those numbers I trotted out above? Are they as disturbing to you as they seem sitting there in black and white?
