Sleuth Work on Jedd Fisch
Disclosure - I didn't know a thing about Jedd Fisch until the past 48 hrs. While a NFL fan it is either NFC teams or good AFC ones, of which JAX is not in either category. So all this is just from internet sleuthing.
Quick thoughts on the "angst" around Fisch in some comments
- Drevno is a great OL coach. He has zero OC experience at FBS (as noted in comments he coached it in FCS before Harbaugh gave the reigns to Shaw instead of Drevno once they got to Stanford). People welcome him with open arms as an OC. But raise questions about a NFL OC coming here to be a "passing coordinator/WR coach". It is sort of funny when you think about it.
- Uou now have effectively 3 OCs in the room, 2 with actual experience doing it at very high levels - Fisch/Harbaugh. More experienced minds the better.
- He is not coming here to run the offense which is a higher profile risk/reward.
- If I showed you Tom Herman's past history before he got to Urban you'd say WTF on the hire 10x as much as anyone can say anything about Fisch. And Herman was the OC hire - a more prominent position. He had 3 poor season as ISU's OC and 1 great season at Rice and 1 bad one. So in 5 years he had 4 mediocre seasons - you see how that turned out.
- Fisch never stays anywhere for more than a yearr or two - based on his age and career job hopping this is a resting stop for a year or two and then he gone. So even if you hate the hire, don't worry - he gone soon enough.
-----------------------
Now a deeper dive into his background. Dude is only 38. I don't care what you think about him, getting an NFL OC position at age 36 has to mean he did something right.
He started as a grad assistant at Florida during the Spurrier years. So just being around that DNA that early in your career is a positive. He then became an assistant QB/WR type coach early on at NFL franchises Texans and Ravens - the Texans job was in his late 20s.
His "non assistant" positions have been as follows:
- 2008: NFL Broncos WR
- 2009: NCAA Gophers OC/QB
- 2010: NFL Seahawks QB
- 2011-2012: NCAA Hurricanes OC/QB
- 2013-2014: NFL Jaguars OC
I'm going to skip the Jaguars experience because with all due respect to our ex QB, he was stuck with a low level NFL QB last year and a rookie in 2014.
Looking at his QB development he has a mixed bag. Dude was 33 years old and in his first solo job running Minnesota's offense in 2009. Someone wrote on another thread "Fisch tore up Adam Weber's throwing motion and messed him up." Looking at the stats that seems relatively fair from afar. 2009 Weber regressed from 2008 Weber.
| Comp % | Yds | YPA | TD | INT | ||
| 2008 Weber | 62.2 | 2761 | 6.7 | 15 | 8 | |
| 2009 Weber | 52.0 | 2582 | 7 | 13 | 15 |
But if anyone is going to be messing with QB mechanics it's going to be one Jim Harbaugh. That's his thing. Fisch will be another set of eyes for the QB, the WR coach and another experienced guy to game plan to help Drevno/Harbaugh. And guys that age improve over time - I am sure Drevno is better today than in 2009 as is Durkin or whomever.
In 2010 he went to Seattle to coach for Carroll. Small world. Hasselbeck was in his last year at Seattle so I am not going to give Fisch any penalty or bonus for coaching a 35 year old veteran.
His experience at Miami was pretty solid.
He first took Jacory Harris and improved him...
| Comp % | Yds | YPA | TD | INT | ||
| 2010 Harris | 54.8 | 1793 | 6.6 | 14 | 15 | |
| 2011 Harris | 65 | 2486 | 8.3 | 20 | 9 |
then did a solid job with Stephen Morris...
| Comp % | Yds | YPA | TD | INT | ||
| 2011 Morris | Barely played | |||||
| 2012 Morris | 58.2 | 3345 | 7.9 | 21 | 7 |
Are these Heisman QB stats? No. But if UM 2014 had this sort of QB play out of Coach Nuss we'd have 3 more wins and still have Hoke.
He also has experience coaching QBs named Morris. That's important.
-----------------
Guy is a competent coach who at a young age has been in both the NFL and NCAA. Important position in his 30s. With ties to Florida now with the 2 years in Miami. And not unfamiliar with the Big 10 with Minnesota. He is another brain for Drevno to bounce ideas off; a guy who has done Drevno's job. (assuming Drevno is the "OC") Probably here 2 years max (either by his choice or if he doesn't work out, Harbaugh's choice) as he appears extremely career ladder oriented and this is a nice resting spot that helps both parties for the next 12-24 months. If you compare his resume for a "WR coach/passing coordinator" to what Herman had walking into OSU as sole OC - it's far more extensive at a similar age. And this is Harbaugh's offense in the end. With Harbaugh's QBs.
In Harbaugh you should trust.
January 9th, 2015 at 8:23 AM ^
I think the Fisch consternation is due to the fact that he wears a visor. The visor doesn't instil confidence and conveys an image of a crooked southern coach.
January 9th, 2015 at 9:49 AM ^
This is a weird/funny/interesting point. After I read your comment I scrolled back up and looked at the picture, and said to myself, "I definitely don't trust this guy."
January 9th, 2015 at 12:39 AM ^
January 9th, 2015 at 12:41 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
January 9th, 2015 at 12:44 AM ^
Good point I'll adjust.
January 9th, 2015 at 1:06 AM ^
January 9th, 2015 at 12:56 AM ^
Drevno has been run game cordinator at USC which qualifies as an OC position. He'll be the run game cordinator here now that we know that Fisch is going to be passing game cordinator.
January 9th, 2015 at 9:42 AM ^
when there is someone with the OC title on the staff.
January 9th, 2015 at 1:03 AM ^
will be spinning a lot of these guys up over the next few years. I won't be surprise if some of them go on to be HC in DIV 1 after working for Harbuagh over the next two to three seasons. The Harbaugh coaching tree has just been planted. It will be interesting if he generates as many HC as Bo did.
January 9th, 2015 at 1:49 AM ^
Yes there was a nice story on that 1 Stanford blog that is quite popular about his coaching tree already - it's already extensive in both the NFL and NCAA. In 6 years or so when we need to really think about what he is going to do with the rest of his career I imagine almost this entire staff of today will be elsewhere ('cept Mattison who will be retired). Baxter might be the only other guy who doesn't seem like a "I want to be a HC some day" type. (Not sure about Greg Jackson, haven't researched him) But as a group this is a very driven set of people with very high aspirations. So there are going to be a lot of choices for UM with ties here if Harbaugh decides to try the NFL again circa 2021.
Based on how hungry other programs are for Urban and Saban assistants you can expect a lot of these guys to be here 2-3 years, especially considering how young this staff is. A bunch of guys in their late 30s to mid 40s.
January 9th, 2015 at 10:55 AM ^
Actually even Baxter interviewed for a couple HC positions in the last few years so even he could end up going places
January 9th, 2015 at 1:08 AM ^
January 9th, 2015 at 1:36 AM ^
Last year our OC was the guy who led Alabama to an elite performance in 2013 and our DC was a proven veteran who had demonstrated success at NFL, Florida, Notre Dame, Michigan, etc.
On paper, Drevno and Derkin are a step down from Nussmeir and Mattison. Of course if you know the background, consider age, and recognize that Mattison is just taking a step back to make way for Derkin...there's plenty of reasons to be excited.
Just saying...Mgoblog boards has been totally dismissive of outgoing coaches in the past and some of them end up being Pac12 coach of the year (Rodriguez) and one of the hottest young D-coordinators in the country (Gibson).
January 9th, 2015 at 1:58 AM ^
January 9th, 2015 at 9:40 AM ^
But the OL turnaround, and corresponding run game improvement, was impressive.
I was skeptical of Nuss from the get, so he actually exceeded my expectations.
January 9th, 2015 at 9:45 AM ^
The position group that regressed under his direct tutelage.
January 9th, 2015 at 8:33 AM ^
January 9th, 2015 at 9:22 AM ^
+1, because I think it's a fair observation, but look across the board at our coaching staff changes:
HC: Hoke ---> Harbaugh (major upgrade)
OC: Nussmeier ---> Drevno (downgrade)
OL: Funk ---> Drevno (major upgrade)
QB: Nussmeier --> Harbaugh/Fisch (ambiguous)
RB: Jackson ---> Wheatley (upgrade)
WR: Hecklinski ---> Fisch (upgrade)
TE: Ferrigno ---> Baxter/Fisch/? (upgrade)
DC: Mattison ---> Durkin (ambiguous)
DL: Smith/Hoke ---> Mattison/? (ambiguous)
LB: Mattison ---> Durkin/? (ambiguous)
DB: Manning/Mallory --> Jackson/? (upgrade)
ST: Ferrigno ---> Baxter (major upgrade)
I'm sure that people could quibble with a few of those, but in general, this staff is much stronger than the previous one. That should be even more true when the last couple of pieces are added, since I'd imagine we'll see at least one hire on the defensive side who strengthens one or more of those position groups.
January 9th, 2015 at 9:50 AM ^
I couldn't disagree more with your QB coach assessment. I can't think of anyone I'd rather have working with our QBs than Harbaugh.
January 9th, 2015 at 9:57 AM ^
That's fair, and I'm trying to be conservative, but Nussmeier's record with QBs prior to 2014 was outstanding. Better than Fisch's record with QBs, for sure, and not that different from Harbaugh's. Since we don't really know how the QB coaching duties will be shared by Fisch and Harbaugh, I think it's fair to call that change ambiguous. Obviously, though, I'm expecting better QB coaching in the coming years than we've had recently (especially pre-Nuss).
January 9th, 2015 at 10:26 AM ^
Nussmeir always had other offensive-minded coaches above him when he was the QB coach. It's impossible to disentangle that completely to figure out what he did and didn't do. At Michigan he failed badly at developing QBs.
January 9th, 2015 at 10:43 AM ^
This could go on forever, but if I'm being honest, I think it's almost impossible for us to tell from afar how good coaches are at developing talent at their positions. Some of the outliers seem pretty clear (e.g., I think Baxter knows something about special teams), but there's so much going on for any single position group on any single team that it's really hard to confidently credit/blame a particular coach for any of it.
How much credit does Nuss deserve for Locker or McCarron as opposed to how much of that credit goes to the players themselves, their head coaches, good fortune, OL/WR play, the running game, or anything else? Who the hell knows? And how much blame does Nuss deserve for Gardner as opposed to how much of that blame goes to transition costs (not having enough time), Gardner himself, OL problems, WR problems, bad luck, negativity surrounding the program, or anything else? No idea.
This is the kind of stuff that's fun to talk about in January when a staff is coming together, but if we're being honest with ourselves, we have very little to go on. I tend to trust guys' career trajectories as some kind of indication of how they're performing, since that reflects what people who see and know a lot more than I do think of them (e.g., when the Jags saw enough in Fisch to take him from Miami). With Nuss, the fact that he was hired at Alabama and Florida says something, though Saban's supposed lukewarm feelings about him might say something in the other direction.
January 9th, 2015 at 12:16 PM ^
I agree with this. It's a pretty subjective exercise.
Which is kind of my point with regard to all the revelry and celebration regarding Harbaugh's staff. New staff's ALWAYS look impressive.
To me, what is impressive is Harbaugh. That's the biggest differentiator from Hoke's guys, because JH has proven he can identify good support staff. They are good support staff because he identified. Bordering on tautology, but justified by merit. Harbuagh could be grabbing HS coaches and we'd be buying in, so people are happy to ignore, for example, Derkin's limited experience and the elevation to new responsibilities for Derkin and Jackson.
Great staff, IMO, but the celebration and stating as fact of their superiority is going a bit overboard IMO. Though not a surprise. Signing day brings the same sort of situation where every kid is all upside and the uncertainties are brushed aside.
January 9th, 2015 at 10:35 AM ^
but I don't understand why you think Fisch might be the QB coach. Harbaugh is from everything I've heard. Fisch is going to coach WRs.
I'm not sure what to make of Nussmeier's record. A J MCarron was pretty damn good when Nuss got to Bama and had 3 years of coaching under McIlwein. Despite his success, Nuss got pushed out by Saban, someone who knows how to put together a staff. Interestingly, he also followed McElwein to Fresno St and their senior QB got markedly worse in his one season. His record here was nothing short of abysmal as a QB coach. I know it's popular here to make excuses for him, probably because we were excited about his hiring, Replacing him with Harbaugh is the furthest thing from ambiguous in my mind.
January 9th, 2015 at 10:48 AM ^
24/7's Clint Brewster, who knows Fisch personally (b/c Clint is Tim Brewster's son and Fisch coached under Brewster at Minnesota), broke the story of this hiring and has said that FIsch will be QB coach, WR coach, and passing game coordinator. (Still, I'm sure that Harbaugh will be involved as well.)
http://michigan.247sports.com/Bolt/Jedd-Fisch-Hired-At-Michigan--345781…
January 9th, 2015 at 10:59 AM ^
that I posted yesterday (sorry FREEP link)....a former QB at Stanford said that Harbaugh would have another QB coach on the staff...so not surprisingly, Fisch will be the QB coach WITH Harbaugh
January 9th, 2015 at 11:59 AM ^
I stand corrected. I would still expect that Fisch would be serving essentially as an assistant QB coach. He won't have the responsibility or freedom he would under Hoke, for example.
January 9th, 2015 at 9:53 AM ^
Manning's resume is more impressive on paper than Jackson's.
You have a guy who steadily rose through the college ranks from position coach to defensive coordinator, who took a step down to coach at Michigan, vs Jackson who has been an ASSISTANT position coach and is taking a promotion to coach at a lower level. Yeah coaching the 49ers is more impressive than coach the Zips, but generally a DC, even at the college level, is more impressive than a NFL assistant position coach. Especially for a college job.
Then there are several others you list that are highly debatable (e.g., Jackson - who has a fantastic resume and was an OC and ace recruiter - the issue here is age.)
Now if you include Harbaugh, the whole debate is out the window. I thought, for the sake of discussion we were talking about Harbaugh's staff.
I think the point here is that, while we are all right to be excited, a new coaching staff almost always looks good when they are new. I remember being pretty psyched about Scott Schafer and Curt Mallory sounded like a future head coach. And let's not forget the Barwis hype train...
January 9th, 2015 at 10:08 AM ^
Sorry, but there's no way that Manning's credentials as a DB coach are more impressive than Jackson's. I think Mallory is a MAC-level (or Wyoming-level) coach, and I'm guessing that we'll see another coach supporting Jackson there.
I think that people here don't appreciate Fred Jackson as much as they should, but he's obviously not in the prime of his career, and he's being replaced by an NFL RB coach (and not one who was fired or disgraced or anything... one who should still have a job in the NFL today). At the very least that's in the "ambiguous" category, and I don't it's a stretch at all to call that an upgrade.
And last I checked, Harbaugh is a member of the Michigan coaching staff, so I'm not sure why that wouldn't be part of the discussion of staff improvements.
January 9th, 2015 at 10:24 AM ^
I meant Mallory. Jackson's resume is not as impressive as Mallory's in my view.
Manning is totally inexperienced as a DB coach, and I viewed that as a mostly nominal title to keep him on the staff for recruiting and future development purposes.
I think Mallory did pretty good work here in improving the DBs from 2010 to 2011 and the 2013 team had a lot of picks too. 2014 was a struggle.
January 9th, 2015 at 10:22 AM ^
I'm saying if you take away the names and context (age and Harbaugh-approval), the previous roles of the new assistant coaches aren't necessarily more impressive than the previous roles of this staff. On resume alone, on paper, it's far from a toss-up. Certainly far off the assertion/implication that we are just plugging in an NFL-caliber staff in at Michigan. That's only true at a couple of spots (HC, DL, RB).
If we're going the opinion route, then we are allowed to think whatever we want.
I, for one, prefer Drevno to Nussmeir. I think Nuss is highly overrated and the Michigan job was the first time he coached 'alone' without the backing of a Linehan, Smith,, Saban or Sarkisian. I think the regression in the pass game (and Devin Gardner/Shane Morris lack of development) was deplorable. The OL improvement was impressive but overall the offense's showing was poor. Drevno is unproven as an OC, but I'm optimistic because I trust Harbaugh.
January 9th, 2015 at 9:31 AM ^
January 9th, 2015 at 1:09 AM ^
You don't lose with a Jeddi on your staff. Period. Commence wailing tosu, msu and all others...
January 9th, 2015 at 9:25 AM ^
not Jeddi.
January 9th, 2015 at 10:57 AM ^
Oh never mind
January 9th, 2015 at 1:10 AM ^
Your points about the OC situation are spot on. I think Fisch is here for a year or two until he can get another OC position. At that point, you either promote someone to PGC or you have Drevno take over those duties. Maybe that's Ty Wheatley getting promoted in order to keep him around. Maybe it's another NFL coach with some OC experience. Regardless, this looks like a good hire for what we were looking for.
January 9th, 2015 at 1:43 AM ^
It looked like he had done some good work potentially with the Broncos WRs as well, working with a young Brandon Marshall amongst others.
The one thing I'll quibble with is that there is some potential for a too-many-cooks situation with all these guys who think they should be OCs. You'd think that's where Harbaugh would step in but you never know...
I'm real excited about Fisch. Like you said - anyone who got any OC job at that age probably has some good skills and attributes, let alone an NFL job. And while I wouldn't be CERTAIN he is out of here within 2 years, if he can turn one of our QBs into a highly productive passer he will definitely get an opportunity.
Best part is having another bright and under-40 staff member to mirror Derkin on O.
January 9th, 2015 at 2:11 AM ^
So instead of 3 DCs (still have 2) we got ourselves 3 OCs nice!
January 9th, 2015 at 2:25 AM ^
I recommend a name change, possibly Mgosherlock?
January 9th, 2015 at 7:51 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
January 9th, 2015 at 6:43 AM ^
This was a great article I read through MgoVideo's twitter...
http://www.seahawks.com/news/articles/article-1/Fischs-Journey/5ba423b8…
"Fisch’s journey hasn’t always been smooth sailing. If anything, for a small stretch, it looked like he wasn’t going to have much of a career at all.
A freak heart condition struck a 26-year-old Fisch in 2003, causing him to have emergency open-heart surgery to repair an aortic dissection (a tear in the largest artery of the heart). The events nearly ended his life, much less his coaching career.
But it also changed him for the better.
“I think there were some reality checks, but I’m not sure I went the right way with that,” Fisch said, cracking a smile. “Some people would say that would cause you to slow down, but it caused me to speed up. I took on the mindset of, ‘I might not have 60-70 years.’"
----
Fisch hasn’t taken the normal road to NFL coachdom, but the travels are marked with similar traits as his colleagues.
Namely, perseverance and good ol’ fashioned hard work, characteristics he’s displayed since he packed up and enrolled at Florida to pursue his dream of coaching.
“I was very motivated,” Fisch said as he described his 18-year-old self. “Perseverance was the No. 1 trait that I had then and still have now. If you want to take on a challenge and having to do it from ground zero, the only way to do it is by fighting through it and persevering.
“That’s what I did at 18 and I haven’t stopped. That won’t ever change.”
His colleagues have taken note. Seahawks offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates, who worked with Fisch when both were assistants with the Denver Broncos, raves about his comrade’s “hard-working nature and through that, his understanding of the game.”
Mike Shanahan, the head coach of the Broncos when Fisch and Bates worked there, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in 2009 that Fisch is “driven.”
“Look at his background, how hard he's worked,” Shanahan said. “Everything he has done, he's done to get himself to be a head football coach. Very few have that kind of commitment."
---
The whole article is worth the read.
January 9th, 2015 at 9:43 AM ^
January 9th, 2015 at 10:18 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
January 9th, 2015 at 2:56 PM ^
and only using words such as "hard working" and "driven" for lack of anything better to say about him?
I'm a faithful reader here, and value everyone's opinions (definitely helps my football cred when in all-male meetings). However, this hire doesn't seem to carry the accomplished resumes of the other coaches. At some point, will Coach Harbaugh provide his rationale for the hires, or does everyone wait to see how it all plays out during the season? I have complete faith in Harbaugh's decisions, heck, who am I to question? Just curious how it all works.
January 9th, 2015 at 10:52 AM ^
January 9th, 2015 at 11:21 AM ^
I trust Harbaugh with all of his decisions, but I think this hire may bring too many egos to the room. You have a guy who was an NFL and college OC now essentially taking a demotion to stay employed, working with someone who's only been a OC at a lower level. You have the same dynamic on defense with Mattison / Durkin, though I think the situation there is a bit better.
Harbaugh has a larger than life personality to control these egos, but if the offense isn't working and we're losing some games, then I can see this being an issue. I think our defense will be fine, but I'll take a wait an see approach on the OL development and the ability to run the ball (if we can't run the ball, IMO we are in big trouble given our QB / WR situation).
I also agree that he will probably be gone in 1-2 years because why would he settle for a lower position, esp. when he has no prior connection to Harbaugh.