Inside The Huskies

Effects of Florida Football Firing Felt By Current, Former UW Coaches

Jedd Fisch is an automatic name for the job because he was student, grad assistant in Gainesville.
Dan Raley|
Florida co-defensive coordinator Vinnie Sunseri likely is looking for a new job with the firing of Billy Napier.
Florida co-defensive coordinator Vinnie Sunseri likely is looking for a new job with the firing of Billy Napier. | Matt Pendleton / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The firing of Florida football coach Billy Napier on Sunday created ripple effects going in different directions across the college landscape, with some even washing up on the shores of Lake Washington.

One of the obvious upshots was people were going to make Jedd Fisch a replacement possibility whether he wants it or not, with ESPN one of the first to name-drop the University of Washington leader in picking out five logical candidates to consider.

What also will happen is Gators co-defensive coordinators Vinnie Sunseri and Robert Bala, former Fisch assistants at the UW and hired by Napier, likely won't be in Gainesville any longer than one season.

It's probably not what either one of those coaches envisioned when he gave up his Montlake job security for a promotion and reportedly a higher-paying position.

Sunseri, 33, left the Huskies two days after they played in the Sun Bowl on New Year's Eve and he took the long way to reach Florida.

He first accepted the defensive coordinator job at Jacksonville State in Alabama before pivoting 23 days later and ending up at Florida on Napier's staff.

Sunseri coached the Huskies safeties in 2024 after working for the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick. He came to Seattle with Steve Belichick, who served as the UW defensive coordinator last season before he joined his father's new staff at North Carolina.

Robert Bala was the UW linebackers coach.
Robert Bala was the UW linebackers coach. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Bala, 42, was hired as the Huskies linebackers coach after he wasn't retained at Alabama by Kalen DeBoer, who left the UW for the Crimson Tide, with those two becoming ships passing in the FBS night.

Former Alabama coach Nick Saban next advocated for Bala when Fisch was putting together his staff.

Bala will be remembered in Montlake for attending a UW football news conference in February on a Monday and answering questions, including one about people leaving the program, and he was gone by Wednesday.

"Yeah, I think those relationships, that's what they chose to do on their path and we wish them the best," he said.

While Napier has been let go at Florida, Sunseri and Bala will finish up the season with the interim leader and then most likely have to find their third coaching jobs in the past three seasons.

As for Fisch, 49, his name will come up at Florida because of his long ago connections to the school. He was an undergraduate student there, graduating with a criminology degree, and served as a football graduate assistant for then-Gators coach Steve Spurrier in 1999 and 2000.

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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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