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Inside The Huskies

Dougherty Reportedly Has New Job, Won't Have to Go Far

NFL Network reported that the former UW offensive coordinator is turning to the NFL.
Dan Raley|
Jimmie Dougherty had second stints as a UW assistant coach.
Jimmie Dougherty had second stints as a UW assistant coach. | Dan Raley

In the end, it appears Jimmie Dougherty will just move from one side of Lake Washington to the other.

Out of work for a couple of months, the former University of Washington offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach reportedly is on the verge of joining the Seattle Seahawks as an offensive assistant, according to NFL Network.

If it plays out this way, Dougherty, 47, will take his first pro football job in a coaching career spanning 25 seasons.

This winter, Dougherty and the UW surprisingly went in different directions around the same time that Husky starting quarterback Demond Williams Jr. contemplated entering the transfer portal and leaving possibly for LSU.

It's unclear if one situation had any impact on the other, though former NFL quarterback JP Losman filled Dougherty's full-time spot on Jedd Fisch's coaching staff, giving Williams better access to someone with pro football experience at his position.

Fisch only referenced that this was a change he wanted to make without offering any more context.

This was all a little surprising because Dougherty and Fisch had worked together almost exclusively since 2016 at Michigan, UCLA, Arizona and the UW.

Dougherty was in his second stint in Montlake, too, after coming to the UW as a receivers coach and part of Steve Sarkisian's staff in 2009-2012.

The Illinois native, who was a collage quarterback himself for Missouri, very well could have been ready to do something else in coaching after serving as the Husky offensive coordinator pretty much in name only for a season.

Then UW coaches Jimmie Dougherty and Scottie Graham hosted recruit Deshonne Redeaux in 2025.
Then UW coaches Jimmie Dougherty and Scottie Graham hosted recruit Deshonne Redeaux in 2025. | UW

He held the OC title, but Fisch, even as the head coach at Arizona and the UW for the past five years, has hung on to the play-calling responsibilities on game day because he prefers it that way.

That sort of hierarchy was not necessarily something most coaches would welcome, figuring it wasn't a career-advancing situation.

Fisch, for that matter, didn't name a new offensive coordinator with Dougherty out. Instead, he elevated Losman from his support coaching role to the QB coach and hired former NFL quarterback Matt Cavanaugh as a senior offensive analyst to fill the void.

Cavanaugh, 69, previously was an offensive coordinator with the Chicago Bears, Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Redskins.

Dougherty seemed to have an amiable parting of ways with the Huskies, posting positive words directed referencing the team after he left his coaching position.

He now moves to the Seattle Seahawks coming off a Super Bowl victory with quarterback Sam Darnold enjoying a career renaissance, not a bad gig.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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