Badgers leadership broke away from their own comfort zone to break up one of the more happier coach-program marriages in college football.
Luke Fickell and Cincinnati were a great marriage, a feel-good story, a nice change of pace from the unchecked greed and naked striving that flourish in college athletics. Fickell was a coach on the rise who turned down high-profile jobs to stay and keep building around a special nucleus of players. Cincinnati was a school on the wrong side of the Power 5 tracks that worked to meet Fickell’s commitment halfway with increased salaries, facilities and staff.
They mutually achieved the unprecedented last season, Fickell’s fifth on the job. First, Cincinnati broke into the Power 5, effective 2023, with membership within the Big 12. Then the Bearcats backed it up on the field by posting a 13-0 record and becoming the first Power 5 outsider to make the College Football Playoff. They carried a banner for everyone trying to win against odds that were stacked toweringly high against them.
But there was always an expiration date on their wedded bliss. That is no one’s fault—really, it’s a testament to both coach and college that it lasted six years and produced a 57-18 record. Other hot coaches had come and gone more quickly at Cincinnati (Mark Dantonio, Brian Kelly, Butch Jones), whereas Fickell was there long enough to become the school’s all-time leader in victories.
But eventually, even someone as loyal and non-fickle as Fickell was going to be lured to a school with almost all the advantages. (Truth be told, if one would have been willing to wait for him until after the 2021 playoff, he might well have been gone then.) Eventually, Cincinnati wouldn’t be able to offer everything needed for its 49-year-old coach to stay forever.
And so, Fickell is gone, with Wisconsin the somewhat unexpected landing spot. This is a huge development for the Badgers, who many believed were destined to elevate interim coach Jim Leonhard and continue being Old Reliable Wisconsin. Instead, the school’s leadership broke away from its own comfort zone and family tree to make the splashiest hire of the 2022 coaching cycle to date.
Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP
Nebraska getting Matt Rhule on Saturday was a coup. Wisconsin getting Luke Fickell on Sunday is bigger.
Leonhard may well be a star head coach in his own right someday. But his 4-3 interim stint after replacing Paul Chryst in a stunning midseason firing was not enough to make him a sure thing. A two-touchdown loss against offensively impotent Iowa on Nov. 12 might have been a defining moment that spurred Wisconsin to consider outside candidates—and there was Fickell, ready for a change and a chance in the Big Ten. (Per sources, Fickell has been in Wisconsin’s sights for a couple of weeks and Cincinnati was aware of that.)
Like it or not—and I don’t—the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference will continue to outstrip their Power 5 peers in the years to come. Cincinnati put a lot of work into upgrading for the Big 12, which itself has done a lot of work to survive and stabilize, but the Big Ten and SEC are growing a revenue gap from big to cavernous. Coaches assessing the market know that.
If a bedrock Midwestern guy like Fickell wants to chase a national championship without leaving that footprint, his choices are Notre Dame and the Big Ten. The Fighting Irish hired Fickell’s old defensive coordinator last year, Marcus Freeman, taking that job off the table. Fickell already had turned down Michigan State in early 2020. The old Ohio State Buckeye would have a hard time putting on the maize and blue of Michigan, and now that job is Jim Harbaugh’s for as long as he wants it. His alma mater has Ryan Day, who is 45-5 there yet under fire, but his one-year interim stint there might be enough for this lifetime. Penn State seems to be wedded to James Franklin for the foreseeable future.
The best option outside the 100,000-seat monoliths in Ann Arbor, Columbus and State College is Wisconsin.
It’s been the most successful program in the Big Ten West since the conference expanded in 2014. The Badgers have won consistently for decades with multiple head coaches. They have a sound leadership structure. They have a large and passionate fan base. They know who they are, and who they aren’t. They do not throw around silly money (although they’ll be able to when the new media rights revenue cranks up). They do not sit on a gold mine of local talent. They have a proven way of doing things, and that way seems like a good fit with Fickell’s way. He is not of the Barry Alvarez extended family, but by philosophy and outlook he could be a distant relative.
Still, stepping away from Old Reliable Wisconsin shows a willingness to think a little differently where it can help. From 1990 until today, there have been only two seasons in which the Badgers weren’t coached by Alvarez or someone who worked or played for him. Among those was Chryst, who is as Wisconsin and Wisconsin gets—firing him was a break with Old Reliable Wisconsin, and so was eschewing the in-house promotion of Leonhard. Bold steps.
This isn’t directly comparable to what TCU did last year, but there are some similarities. The Horned Frogs swallowed hard and parted ways with their program patriarch, Gary Patterson, opting for a fresh start with Sonny Dykes. The result is a 12-0 dream season and a chance at the Playoff.
Those kinds of instant-impact results aren’t guaranteed or even expected. But in this new era of college sports, flexibility and adaptability are vital. If the Badgers want to go from good to great, they probably needed to shake things up while still maintaining an institutional identity.
As for Cincinnati? One of the benefits of this six-year marriage with Fickell is a football program that is healthier than ever. It’s always been a good place to coach, and that shouldn’t change (although the Bearcats will go from being the top program in the American Athletic Conference to a different status in the Big 12). There should be no shortage of quality candidates at a place where “there is no reason you can’t win a national championship,” athletic director John Cunningham estimated during a Sunday night conference call.
There are assistants on the current staff who likely will get a look, including offensive coordinator Gino Guidugli and interim coach Kerry Coombs. Illinois defensive coordinator Ryan Walters could be attractive, if he’s not ticketed for Colorado. Jackson State coach Deion Sanders, who interviewed with Colorado, is also a big-city guy with a big-city persona, and could be a great fit at the school. Ohio State assistant Brian Hartline is a star on the rise. Tom Herman, out of coaching after stints at Houston and Texas and familiar with the territory after working at Ohio State, could be an option. Matt Campbell, who has Big 12 success at Iowa State, is likely ready for a new challenge.
Cincinnati has the chance to hire well and sustain what has been built. It’s too bad the feel-good partnership with Luke Fickell couldn’t last. But this is the way of college sports—six years of bliss was more than most anyone could have expected.
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