Arizona OC Seth Doege: Noah Fifita is priority No. 1 in new offense
Dec 13, 2024, 6:13 PM
Arizona Wildcats offensive coordinator Seth Doege laid out what he expects from the offense during his introductory press conference on Friday, and it all starts with Noah Fifita at quarterback.
Doege said he’s already communicated with Fifita, whom he called his top priority.
“Noah is a real dude, so I’m excited about being able to have an opportunity to coach him,” Doege told reporters in Tucson. “He’s priority number one for me. Obviously, this offense is a lot better if Noah is behind center. … I’m excited about the personnel we have. Obviously you want to add stuff in the portal, but I’m really excited about that quarterback and I think he makes this thing go.”
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Arizona hired Doege to replace Dino Babers this week, and Doege joins the program having spent time learning from coaches with different schemes and philosophies.
The former Texas Tech quarterback called his first college head coach, the late Mike Leach, a mentor. Leach is renowned as the mastermind of the Air Raid spread offense.
Doege spent three years on USC’s coaching staff with Graham Harrell, a former Texas Tech quarterback and Leach disciple, calling the plays.
Doege later coached at Ole Miss, which he credited with implementing a dynamic running game. He rejoined Harrell at Purdue for a year with new tools in his arsenal. When Doege received his chance to be an offensive coordinator for the first time with Marshall, the Thundering Herd finished with the 20th-best rush attack in FBS this season.
He described the offense as fast and flexible, saying he wants to play violently.
“Air Raid has been labeled to me just because of the guys I’ve coached under,” Doege explained. “A major mentor to me was Graham Harrell, and he installed the system that I ran at USC for over three years. We had a lot of success with it. … Going to Ole Miss, learning the tempo mechanics of that system and how to run the ball — very explosive run game — then having some (play-action) shots down the field on top of that put another layer to what I really wanted to do.
“To me, what you can get on this offense is a very efficient offense that’s flexible. It’s flexible to your personnel. So if you’ve got a quarterback like Noah, you can grip it and rip it. If you don’t, you can still win games and score points with a guy that maybe be a runner behind center.”
Arizona head coach Brent Brennan has said he expects Fifita to remain in Tucson and wanted to find an offensive coordinator who would help develop the quarterback. Fifita had a tremendous redshirt freshman year in 2023, winning Pac-12 Freshman Offensive Player of the Year with a program single-season completion percentage record of 72.4%.
The Wildcats stumbled to a 4-8 record in 2024 after Brennan took over for Jedd Fisch, and Fifita’s numbers also took a step in the wrong direction (60% completion percentage).
Brennan on Friday once again highlighted Fifita’s importance to the program moving forward.
When asked what makes for a successful quarterback in Doege’s experience, the new play-caller had a clear answer.
“Is he a winner? Is he competitive? Is he accurate? Can he extend a play? If I can get those things done, I think I have a pretty unique quarterback,” Doege said.
Arizona has work to do filling out the rest of the coaching staff.
Duane Akina is no longer the defensive coordinator and Danny Gonzalez is not the special teams coordinator, but both coaches will remain on staff in different roles.
“We’re working through that right now,” Brennan said. “This was a big one for us getting this done.”
