Washington Huskies to Make Abrupt Change at Offensive Coordinator
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The Washington Huskies football program and offensive coordinator Jimmie Dougherty have parted ways. [/caption]
The Washington Huskies will have a new offensive coordinator for the 2026 season.
The UW football team and Jimmie Dougherty have parted ways, according to reports early on Tuesday, while NFL veteran offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh emerged as a potential replacement. Dougherty confirmed his departure from the Washington football program with a social media post later on Tuesday.
“It was an honor to represent the University of Washington, such a special place,” Dougherty said on X.com. “To the city of Seattle, words can’t express what you mean to me and my family!!! Most of all the players, love you guys forever, thank you. Excited for what God has next!!!!”
Dougherty has worked with Huskies head coach Jedd Fisch dating back to 2016 at Michigan. He served as Fisch’s passing game coordinator at Arizona and at UW before being named the offensive coordinator when Brendan Carroll left to join his father, Pete Carroll, with the Las Vegas Raiders for the 2025 season.
It was not known why the change was made. The timing is unusual, as most college coaching positions are set in January, aside from a few defections to the NFL.
Fisch calls the offensive plays as a head coach, which means the offensive coordinator role at Washington does not come with that responsibility. UW offensive quality control coach J.P. Losman has recently taken on a more active role in recruiting. College programs are permitted to have 10 assistant coaches recruit on the road, meaning that Losman displaced another coach in off-campus recruiting in recent weeks.
He apparently replaced Dougherty in that role, but it would be quite a leap for Losman to jump to offensive coordinator. According to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, Losman will be promoted to quarterbacks coach. Cavanaugh surfaced as a potential candidate for the offensive coordinator position, per a report from CBSsports. Cavanaugh, 69, last worked for the New York Jets in 2021 after several stints as an OC in the NFL.
The wording of Dougherty’s departure indicated that the two sides were “going to part ways.” Dougherty signed a two-year deal prior to last season and would be owed approximately $1.2 million if fired.
Fisch spoke highly of Losman at a recent press conference.
“JP is getting more and more responsibility,” Fisch said. “I thought he did a fantastic job last year. What I’ve told [quarterback Demonds Williams Jr.] — JP was a first-round pick. [Demond] and our other quarterbacks want to be a first-round pick. JP has played in the NFL for multiple head coaches, multiple offensive coordinators. I had the privilege of coaching JP when he was a quarterback for us in Seattle. I think there’s a great value that [Demond] can have someone he can talk to, and say, ‘What was it like preparing to be a first-round pick? What was it like in your preparation to go play certain defenses?’
“So I’ve asked JP to continue on in his role, evolve. We’ve put him on the road recruiting. He did a great job when he was at Oklahoma, in building relationships in the recruiting world. He was at Clemson when they brought in Trevor Lawrence and was around that. So I thought it would be important that he got on the road and started meeting quarterbacks of the future. And then also, now that we’re back, he and Demond are really spending more and more time together to build that relationship up, to help [Demond] achieve his dreams, and in turn help all of us achieve championships.”
Fisch often talks of the “Be a Pro” model as part of his program philosophy, and that tracks with having a former NFL quarterback and a former pro offensive coordinator take more active roles in the offense and recruiting quarterbacks.
One potential internal candidate could be UW receivers coach Kevin Cummings, who is seen as a rising star in the coaching profession. While the job would be a promotion for Cummings and other candidates, it seems unlikely it would include the most coveted role of many OC jobs — calling plays.
Fisch said prior to the 2025 season that he had no intentions of giving up playcalling duties, though it was unknown whether that was still the case in recent months.
"For 13 years I've called plays, so that's like 13,000 plays, plus you start talking about every play you call in practice, it's just hard to say like, I want to give that to somebody else".
When asked if that might change in the near future, he said: "Not really, I don't think so... Maybe, one day. Maybe. I don't know... Right now, no. You never say never, but pretty close to never.”
Until Dougherty’s position is filled and Fisch talks with the media, it will be unknown why the change was made, and at this time in the football calendar.
