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Arizona Hires Patriots QB Coach Jedd Fisch After Kevin Sumlin Dismissal

Fisch is no stranger to the Pac-12 conference as he was the offensive coordinator for the UCLA Bruins back in 2017.

Jedd Fisch has been named the new head coach of the Arizona Wildcats football program after the university dismissed Kevin Sumlin following a 2020 winless season (0-5). 

The news was announced by the University of Arizona's athletic department on December 23rd, 2020. 

Fisch has a strong resume coaching at both the college and NFL levels, and he brings two decades of experience to the table. 

This season he worked under Bill Belichick as the New England Patriots quarterbacks coach. Prior to his stunt in New England, Fisch spent two seasons with the Los Angeles Rams as their senior offensive assistant and coordinator. Fisch spent one year (2017) working under Jim Mora Jr. as the offensive coordinator for the UCLA Bruins and later became the interim head coach for the Bruins final two games of the season after Mora's dismissal.

To add, Fisch has coached for the Michigan Wolverines , the Jaguars, Seahawks, Broncos, Ravens, and Texans. 

Former head coach Kevin Sumlin was hired back in January of 2018 after Rich Rodriguez was dismissed as head coach. In Sumlin's three years with the Wildcats he led the team to go 9-20 overall. However, Arizona sought to make a change after Sumlin went 0-5 this season and lost to Arizona State in the Territorial Cup 70-7. 

Arizona Vice President and Director of Athletics Dave Heeke released a statement on Sumlin's firing, saying the program was in need of a change.

"When we hired Kevin three years ago, we had very high hopes for our football program," Heeke said in the statement. "Unfortunately, we simply have not seen the results and upward trajectory in our program that we needed to."

The university is very optimistic about the future of Arizona's football program with Jedd Fisch leading the way. Here is the official statement from Arizona Athletics following the news:

"We are tremendously excited to have Jedd Fisch come to Tucson to reinvigorate our football program and lead us to championships," said Heeke. "Jedd has a unique ability to teach the game of football effectively to his players and to inspire them with his passion. We conducted a comprehensive national search with an impressive array of candidates but in the end, Jedd is exactly what our program needs right now and I cannot wait to partner with him to move us forward."

[Pac-12 Honors Announced: Talanoa Hufanga Named Pat Tillman Defensive Player Of The Year]

[Read: Three Takeaways From USC's 2020 Season]

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