Dougherty Elevated to Husky OC, Switzer Promoted to Line Coach

An hour after word got out on Monday that Brennan Carroll was joining the Las Vegas Raiders and his father's coaching staff, University of Washington football coach Jedd Fisch sat down at a previously scheduled news conference, joked that nothing was happening that day and proceeded to reveal that Jimmie Dougherty and Michael Switzer would take over Carroll's duties.

Rather than conduct some protracted effort at this late date to find an offensive coordinator and offensive-line coach, Fisch chose to promote from within.

Dougherty, 46, is the Husky quarterbacks coach who will add offensive coordinator to his title, though Fisch still will handle game-day play-calling. He previously was an OC at San Diego and San Jose State.

Switzer, 36, is a recently promoted assistant offensive-line coach who will step up yet another notch as Carroll's full-time replacement there.

Now in his second stint with the Huskies, Dougherty is a familiar face in the program. However, Switzer is the great unknown.

From first impression, Switzer is a fairly direct person who will get people's attention, a bearded guy who appears to have a little fire in his belly. While previous Husky line coaches Scott Huff and Carroll no doubt could get after it as demanding line coaches, each brings a light-hearted almost laid-back side at times in what they do.

Switzer, an Indianapolis native who played in the MAC for Ball State in 2007-10, seems all business as he's positioned himself to be an FBS coach with all of the trimmings for the first time.

Asked how many much he gets asked if he's connected by family to legendary Oklahoma and Dallas Cowboys coach Barry Switzer, he had a ready answer.

"Every time I'm in front of a camera," he said. "And I'm not related to Barry Switzer."

Asked about himself, Switzer isn't shy about telling you he started all 51 games that were held at Ball State. Or that he was an undrafted free agent who spent time the Buffalo Bills. Further research showed that he was a team captain and a third-team all-conference player for a 12-1 team as a senior in the MAC, playing for Brady Hoke, who would also be a head coach at Michigan and San Diego State.

Switzer came up through the coaching ranks with graduate assistant jobs at Michigan and Eastern Michigan before taking full-time offensive coordinator and line coach roles at John Carroll, a Division III school in Ohio, and at Indiana State, spending three years with the latter.

In 2022, he went back in the coaching mix as an offensive analyst for Fisch at Arizona and he's spent three seasons with him in working his way up the coaching ladder, including the past year at the UW.

"It was a no-brainer to join that staff," Swizter said of Arizona. "I thought it was a great opportunity."

He mentioned how he has 18 scholarship players available for spring practice, more double what came out last April. Specifically, he has four players on the roster with starting experience at offensive tackle, beginning with Kansas State transfer Carver Willis, who primarily played right tackle in the Big 12 For that matter, junior Drew Azzopardi started all 13 games for the Huskies on the right side this past season, which makes for an interesting competition.

"He's got the ability to do both,"Switzer said of Willis. "He played multiple positions at Kansas State, predominantly at right tackle and played really, really at a high level. Drew doing it here for the entire last season, you know we're going to move some pieces around this spring and see what gives us the best option."

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