Cavanaugh Got Tired of Being Retired and Joined Fisch's UW Staff

Put him on a horse wearing a cowboy hat or on a beach in a similar wide-brimmed bonnet, and he's a dead ringer for Robert Duvall in Lonesome Dove or Apocalypse Now.

Like Duvall, he's a little folksy around the edges, yet no doubt tougher than nails if you push him hard enough.

At University of Washington spring football practice now in progress over the next month, he's the older gentleman walking around and offering his two cents worth.

This is Matt Cavanaugh, who's done everything in football except become a head coach somewhere.

He won a national championship at the University of Pittsburgh. Handed off to Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett. Was the Sugar Bowl MVP. A first-team All-America quarterback. A second-round draft pick. Played 14 years in the NFL. Was in uniform for two Super Bowls. Coached in the league for nearly a quarter of a century.

No wonder Cavanaugh retired five years ago and didn't like it.

Jedd Fisch, who got his NFL coaching start working for this man, convinced him to return to the game this season as a senior offensive assistant.

"I missed it," Cavanaugh said on Monday. "You retire and you think you've got it made. My life is going to be so simple. Don't retire -- it gets kind of boring. You wake up not sure what you're going to do that day. Knowing I'm coming into the office and staying to late at night, I'm very excited about that."

Cavanaugh will turn 70 on October 27, in the middle of the football season, four days before the Huskies play at Nebraska.

He's much more gray and slight of build than his most recent photos in football. Yet this will make him vibrant, give him back what he once had in terms of purpose.

Matt Cavanaugh is shown in 2017 as the Washington Redskins offensive coordinator. | Kim Klement-Imagn Images

In 2004, Fisch joined the Baltimore Ravens as a quality control coach, in his first pro football job, and answered to Cavanaugh, who was the offensive coordinator.

Now they've reversed their roles.

Fisch prefers to call his own plays and, in a sense, is his own offensive coordinator. No one holds that title on this UW football team after Jimmie Dougherty left. Cavanaugh will fill that gap with long-ranging knowledge.

"I think he wants somebody to be a sounding board, and I will do that," he said. "I won't hold back if there's something I want to ask, criticize or compliment."

Matt Cavanaugh is shown in 1988 as an Eagles quarterback playing against Tampa Bay. | RVR Photos-Imagn Images

Cavanaugh was an offensive coordinator for three NFL franchises -- Chicago, Baltimore and Washington -- and one college team, for Pitt n 2005-08.

Fisch got the wheels turning again in the old coach by calling him up and asking if he would be interested in joining a Husky program on the cusp of becoming a serious player on the college scene again.

This Robert Duvall figure eagerly got back in the saddle and began crossing the river to Montlake.

In a year in which the real Duvall died, actually just a month and a half ago at age 95, Cavanaugh has been reborn.

"I love football," he said. "It's all I know, really. So don't ask me about anything but football."