As Chris Fisk begins his third season at the helm of Central Washington football, he's really starting just his second year on the field. The COVID-19 pandemic essentially wiped out the 2020 campaign, limiting the Wildcats to just one game last spring and creating a temporary new reality for Fisk and other football programs across the country.
 
But the late summer of 2021 arrives with good news. With the pandemic seemingly under control and stringent protocols in place, Fisk and the Wildcats return to relative normalcy as training camp begins on Monday, August 9.
 
WildcatSports.com sat down recently with Fisk to discuss a variety of topics, including the pandemic, the upcoming season, changes within the NCAA, the transfer portal, the future of the GNAC, what he loves about Ellensburg, and more.
 
 
WildcatSports: How challenging have the last 17 months been for you and your program?
 
Chris Fisk: When we were in the middle of the pandemic, it didn't seem that challenging, but as we're on the back end of it now you start to reflect and review. There were several different challenges, the top one being medically. Just making sure everyone was protected, that we weren't spreading COVID amongst our team, which proved to be a challenge within itself. Two, keeping your group together in a world where we couldn't have face-to-face interactions, and trying to navigate this new Zoom world. It presented challenges at every single turn. Like I said from the beginning of it all, it's going to make you better in the end. It's just going to be a long time before we get there, and we've still got a way to go. But I do think that we've shown we can persevere and come out on the other side of things.
 
 
WS: At any point did you think to yourself, 'I need to find a new line of work?'
 
CF: (laughing) I might have had some weaknesses at times. But seriously, at the age of 16 I knew I wanted to be a head football coach. I still, even through all of this, I pinch myself when I wake up because I get to come to this job. It's got its challenges, and this year by far was the most challenging year of my career. But at the same time, you're still coaching college football and it's a blast.
 
 
WS: Central hasn't played a home football game since Nov. 19, 2019 (a 72-17 win over Southwest Baptist). Describe the emotions you'll have when the team returns to Tomlinson Stadium on Sept. 25.
 
CF: I don't think we'll fully know until we get there. Some of the things we talk about, and we really dealt with this leading up to the Montana game knowing that it got to a couple of our players, is having an emotional game plan for that day. I think it's going to overwhelm a lot of guys – players and coaches – in our program. I think the teams that can deal with that the best and take the human element out of what you need to do to go get a job done, whoever can handle that successfully is going to have a leg up. It'll be a challenge for us, and something we'll have to talk about as we get ready to play that game.
 
 
WS: How about for you?
 
CF: Relief. If I had to pick an emotion, I'd say relief just to be back out there. There'll be some excitement as well, doing what we love. But relief will be the biggest emotion that comes through.
 
 
WS: How have the last 17 months impacted you as a coach?
 
CF: There are so many levels to that question because it impacted me as a head coach with my staff, how I coached the players. It really taught me, and I think a lot of other coaches, to be more human. We had kids that opted out and normally that would be taboo, but I think on this year you had to sit back and think about and understand why they were doing that. You tried to really look at your purpose as a coach. There were no games to prepare for. There was no carrot at the end of all this for these kids in that year. So, you really found yourself wondering, 'why are we doing this'? Well, we do this based on our core values and if we can build young men with better character for society then we're still doing our job.
 
 
WS: Were there positives that came out of all of this?
 
CF: I think that's the hard part right, finding the positives. It challenged us in several areas. Academically. We learned a new way to coach academics. Zoom was awesome for that. Zoom is something we'll use long after all of this is over, to be better academic coaches. When you look at being a football coach it really taught you to try and master the art of communication because when you don't have that face-to-face interaction, and reading a room, even knowing whether or not they were paying attention to you, you had to become a great communicator to check for understanding and make sure that the kids grasped what you were putting out to them.

It taught us a new way to recruit. There are some things we got out of recruiting that we're still using now. So, going through it, and reflecting as a staff, it's important to find the positives. Because it hasn't been all negative.
 
 
WS: What are you looking forward to the most about the 2021 season?
 
CF: We've got over 700 days of work invested into this season. We didn't take a day off. We didn't go home. We've been here every day. We were exiled at home like everyone else, but after they said you can come back to work, we've been here every day. Our kids have been here every day. We've got so much in our savings account in terms of what we've put in, it's going to be really exciting to see that hard work hopefully pay off in the right way.
 
 
WS: Lots of change is happening in college athletics right now, between the Alford vs. NCAA case, which was ruled on by the Supreme Court in June, to Name-Image-Likeness, the transfer portal, the facilities arms race, and other topics. How have these issues impacted how you operate as a head coach?
 
CF: Let's start with facilities. We're in the middle of that right now, too. We've got the brand new health and PE building being built and it's an exciting time to be a Wildcat, for sure. We're looking so forward to having that building and all of the perks that will come with that, especially a new weight room which I think is a dire need for every program here, not just football. So, we're excited for that. I think to get ourselves up there with the stadium renovation with the top 25 percent of Division II facility-wise is going to be excited for us.
 
The transfer portal is a nightmare. We've been affected by it. Almost every single program in the Pacific Northwest at every level has been affected by it. I don't think it's good for football, I don't think it's good for sports in general. I don't think it teaches young people the lessons that we can learn through sports. It gives them an opt-out. I'm not in favor of it, but it's the world we live in now. You'll either adapt and grow and learn and change, or you'll die on the vine. So, we're going through every day trying to decide how do we have to grow and change our program and change the way we operate to fit the transfer portal world.
 
The NIL? That'll be an interesting one, because I don't know how much it will impact us. I'm sure it will at some point. In different communities, it will be different for every market. If you're a D2 school in a bigger market it may impact you differently than a D2 in smaller market like Ellensburg.
 
 
WS: Do you feel like the transfer portal forces you to re-recruit your own players every year?
 
CF: I learned this in the first month of being a head coach: It isn't about me or the head coach. It's about your staff. We have the type of staff that kids want to play for. And that's how you re-recruit them. The guys want to be here, and they want to play for these coaches and this university and this campus. It's not just me or a recruiting pitch from our staff, it's Ellensburg. It's the campus, the majors that we have, the interactions that these kids have in the community. It's all those things combined that keep kids here.
 
But what you're starting see is everybody is on a one-year deal. That may not be how I like it, but it's definitely something we talk about. I don't think, however, it's really changed a whole lot. You're always re-recruiting your roster and selling your systems and your program every year, because belief doesn't just happen one day and stays for eternity. You've got to keep your guys believing all the time.
 
We work hard at selling us as a staff and selling this university and our way of playing football daily.
 
 
WS: What else is next?
 
CF: How will the new potential student-athlete compensation models impact us here at Division II? I hope it's not the death of amateur athletics. I do think it's interesting that we in society in America have devalued the value of an education, and room & board packages at the Division I level to the point where we act like it's nothing. I think it's insane. If a Division I student-athlete could walk a mile in the shoes of a Division II athlete, they would appreciate what they have a heckuva lot more in terms of the compensation they already get. Kids at this level would give up a lot to be able to have that type of scholarship and pampering that those athletes at the DI level get.
 
 
WS: GNAC Football. Where do you see this going from a football standpoint?
 
CF: We feel really good at Central Washington that we control what we can control. We have an administration, president and athletic director who value football. They know what it brings to our campus. I think we keep our fingers crossed that our current members keep football. I think there are some potential members who will come forward. The rest of it rides on hope. We hope some schools reinstate their programs. We hope, maybe a little bit, that some FCS schools decide to drop down and ease their financial burdens. We hope that some NAIA schools take a hard look at moving up to Division II. There's a lot of hope, but that can be a scary prospect right now. We'll see what happens. I'm thankful that we have a scheduling alliance with the Lone Star Conference. Teams want to play us because we help their strength of schedule and that benefits us. We're riding on a lot of hope in terms of what Division II football in general will be in the future.
 
 
WS: What's your favorite thing about living in Ellensburg?
 
CF: My favorite thing is that Ellensburg is my kind of people. It's a small town, rooted in agriculture. It's got a little bit of cowboy to it, and I like that. That's who I am. What I like about the region is that I'm 90 minutes from a Mariners game, 45 minutes from the Columbia River and an hour from some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. The activities that are available to you because you live in Washington are pretty incredible when you get a chance to slow down.
 
 
WS: What's more nerve-wracking for you: standing on the sidelines during a two-minute drill, or sitting in the stands and watching your daughters compete? (Fisk's daughters Shaunessy (volleyball) and Avery (track &field) are student-athletes at Central Washington)
 
CF: That's a tough question. I think they're on the same level. I have a lot invested into this program, but not any more than I have invested into my own kids. I think it's a different kind of nerves, because with this football team I have a direct hand in that success. When I go watch my kids play, that's (volleyball head coach) Mario's (Andaya) hand, that's (track & field head coach) Kevin's (Adkisson) hand. I don't necessarily know what's going to happen with those young women.

With football, I know what we did all week. I know how we've prepared. I know what we look like. I know where our strengths and weaknesses are. I feel a little bit more confident when I'm in control of that with football. So I guess I get a bit more nervous when I watch my children compete.
 
 
WS: What should people expect out of the Wildcats in 2021?
 
CF: We always talk about our core values. Ours are rooted in character, strength and honor. What I hope people see is that final core value of honoring the Central alumni base, the fans and the people who have played and coached here before us in the way that we play. I hope they see a physical brand of football. I hope they see a disciplined football team that plays the game the right way. And then competitors. If we can compete as hard as anybody in the country, I think we can overcome some of our deficiencies to compete with the teams at the highest level of Division II football.