SEATTLE — Jedd Fisch came close enough to dying in his 20s that he keeps a photo of Dr. Joseph S. Coselli above the desk in his office.
It was terrible luck that Fisch, then a defensive analyst for the Houston Texans, suffered a dissection of his ascending aorta one spring day in 2003 — a cardiac emergency of the highest order. It was tremendous luck, however, that it happened in Houston, home to a world-renowned aortic surgeon.
How often does Fisch think about the ordeal, which sent him to the hospital and required significant recovery time just as he was gaining a foothold in the NFL coaching world?
His annual physical exam is a reminder, he said. So, too, is the photo of him with the man who performed the two open-heart surgeries that saved his life. It joins a photo of Fisch with Bill Belichick and a photo of Fisch at Sean McVay’s wedding in the coach’s office overlooking Husky Stadium, where he sat for a lengthy interview on Thursday afternoon.
(It was sunny, by the way.)
“I just love the fact that it could have gone really bad, and it didn’t,” Fisch said. “I am very grateful for that. I try to smile a lot and enjoy life. When it’s almost taken away from you, certain things that people think should be a problem aren’t really a big deal.”
He worried that his girlfriend would leave him; they later married. He worried the Texans wouldn’t want him anymore; they did, tasking him with off-field duties as he recovered, and Fisch landed an offensive assistant job with the Baltimore Ravens the following offseason.
You can see how that experience might inform an optimistic personality, though it’s just as likely that Fisch, 49 for another month or so, is naturally inclined to look on the bright side. At present, there is plenty to like. The Huskies return much of the young core — including the starting quarterback, January drama notwithstanding — that helped them to nine wins in Fisch’s second season as Washington’s coach. They’re as deep on the offensive line as they’ve been since Fisch’s arrival. He calls this linebacker group the best he’s been around in college. And when the Huskies begin spring practices on Tuesday, they will do so with nearly their entire roster, with much of the 2026 recruiting class — the highest-rated group at UW in the modern era — already enrolled.
“This is the best I’ve felt” about the state of the program, Fisch said.
Alongside his excitement, Fisch also is candid about the challenges inherent to competing in the Big Ten, the mechanics of recruiting and retention and why he didn’t sweat Williams’ portal flirtation the way others did, among many other topics broached during a wide-ranging interview.
(Questions and responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.)