Tim Kish (born July 1, 1954) is a retired
American football
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
coach. Kish previously served as the
defensive coordinator
A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...
and linebackers coach at the
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
before being promoted to interim head coach upon the firing of head coach
Mike Stoops
Michael Joseph Stoops (born December 13, 1961) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the inside linebackers coach for the University of Kentucky, a position he has held since 2022. Stoops also served as the head football ...
on October 10, 2011. He was succeeded as Arizona's head coach by
Rich Rodriguez
Richard Alan Rodriguez (; born May 24, 1963), also known as Rich Rod, is an American college football coach and former player. He is the current head football coach at West Virginia Mountaineers football, West Virginia University, his second sti ...
. Prior to his retirement at the end of the 2018 season, Kish served as
linebacker
Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...
s coach for seven seasons at the
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...
.
Coaching career
Kish was hired as Arizona's linebackers coach when Stoops was made head coach. He served in that capacity for three seasons until being promoted to assistant coach. In 2010, he was made co-defensive coordinator with
Greg Brown and was made the sole defensive coordinator in 2011 when Brown left to take the same position at
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
. After a 1–5 start to the season which extended Arizona's losing streak against FBS programs to ten games (the one win came against
FCS Northern Arizona
Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. Generally consisting of Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Yavapai counties, the region is geographically dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the ...
) Stoops was fired and Kish was promoted to interim head coach. In his first game as interim head coach, the Wildcats defeated UCLA, 48–12, 355 days after their last win over an FBS opponent, which also came against UCLA. Kish would lose the next three games on the schedule but closed out the conference slate by defeating the rival
Arizona State Sun Devils
The Arizona State Sun Devils are the sport, athletic teams that represent Arizona State University. ASU has nine men's and eleven women's Varsity team, varsity teams competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Divisi ...
in
Tempe, reclaiming the
Territorial Cup
A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal.
In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...
in the 85th
Duel in the Desert. Two days later,
Rich Rodriguez
Richard Alan Rodriguez (; born May 24, 1963), also known as Rich Rod, is an American college football coach and former player. He is the current head football coach at West Virginia Mountaineers football, West Virginia University, his second sti ...
was named Arizona's new full-time head coach. Kish would finish the season with a 45-37 victory over
Louisiana-Lafayette in his final game as head coach.
Kish was not retained on Rodriguez' new staff and was succeeded as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach by
Jeff Casteel.
Head coaching record
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kish, Tim
1954 births
Living people
American football defensive backs
Arizona Wildcats football coaches
Army Black Knights football coaches
Ball State Cardinals football coaches
Bowling Green Falcons football coaches
Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches
Indiana Hoosiers football coaches
Northwestern Wildcats football coaches
Ohio Bobcats football coaches
Oklahoma Sooners football coaches
Otterbein Cardinals football players
Purdue Boilermakers football coaches
High school football coaches in Ohio
Sportspeople from Westerville, Ohio
Coaches of American football from Ohio
Players of American football from Ohio