Williams: Luke Fickell may be gone, but hes still the Cincinnati coach who stayed

June 06, 2024

CINCINNATI — But if he ultimately does go at some point in the future, it’s clear that Luke Fickell has not used the Bearcats as a stepping stone to bigger and better things, but rather hoisted the program on his shoulders back to relevancy and success.

I wrote that in February 2020, after Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell turned down Michigan State to stay with the Bearcats following a very public search process. It came on the heels of consecutive 11-win seasons, but was before Fickell had led Cincinnati to an American Athletic Conference championship, let alone the Peach Bowl or a College Football Playoff semifinal, collecting Coach of the Year honors like loose change along the way. Even then, three full seasons ago, Fickell’s continued presence in Clifton felt like a pleasant, celebratory surprise.

Fickell finally did leave Sunday, trading the Bearcats for the Badgers. He departed as Cincinnati’s most decorated and winningest coach after six seasons and was introduced at Wisconsin on Monday.

It became clear in the immediate aftermath of Fickell’s decision that he was ready to go, to try something new. The Athletic reported that Fickell’s wife, Amy, visited Madison, Wisc., earlier in November to explore the Badgers’ interest in Luke and that administrators in Cincinnati’s athletic department were aware of mutual outside interest for the past couple weeks. The Wisconsin State Journal reported that Fickell interviewed with Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh on the morning of Saturday, Nov. 12, after the Bearcats defeated East Carolina the day before.

We may never know exactly when Fickell determined in his mind he was taking the Wisconsin job, but it was clearly a very real possibility before Friday’s regular-season finale loss to Tulane. He abandoned his previous, self-imposed stance on not interviewing or entertaining offers during the season, an impact of missing a legitimate chance to pursue the Notre Dame or Oklahoma jobs in the midst of last year’s College Football Playoff run. Fickell is a principled man and self-described creature of habit, but even that rock he so often professes to live under wasn’t enough to withstand the shifting landscape of college athletics. Things change. So do people. It’s a thin line between steadfast and stubborn.

The result was a somewhat messy departure: a Friday-night loss, Sunday-morning media reports and an official Sunday-evening announcement and private jet to Madison. But just as I wrote in February 2020, to suggest that Fickell used the Bearcats as a stepping stone would be unfair and misrepresent all that he did to get himself and the program to this point. No one leaves well in college football anymore. The nature of the business is that coaches either succeed long enough to move on or stay long enough to get fired.

Luke Fickell, right, was introduced as Wisconsin’s head coach Monday. (Morry Gash / AP)

Cincinnati fans have talked earnestly about building a Luke Fickell statue outside Nippert Stadium, something TCU actually did for Gary Patterson, who then got pushed out last fall after 22 seasons. Riding off into the sunset somewhere is largely a fantasy.

GO DEEPER

Why Luke Fickell decided to leave Cincinnati now

Fickell left for a “destination job” and better situation at Wisconsin, as he sees it, one that suits his timing and ambitions. He also leaves behind a new destination job in Cincinnati, one far more enticing than the position he inherited in Dec. 2016. Fickell had to renovate and reinvent the position of Cincinnati football head coach when he arrived, starting with resuscitating the local recruiting scene. He gave a vagrant, mishandled program a culture and identity and won games with it, putting the right staff and players in place and developing NFL-caliber talent in the process.

He took a school where it felt as if big-time football may have passed it by and helped muscle it into the four-team Playoff and power-conference promised land. Perhaps Cincinnati would have gotten a call from the Big 12, paid a head coach $5 million per year and commissioned a $100-million indoor practice facility and nutrition center without Fickell’s on-field influence. Fortunately for the Bearcats, they’ll never have to find out.

Now there’s a blueprint for success in place for the next coach — and, in fairness to Cincinnati, some past variations of the same blueprint that also worked just fine. Recruit local and regional. Embrace the blue-collar, underdog spirit of the community. Play with style and edge, the same way Trent Cole, Mardy Gilyard, Jason Kelce and Sauce Gardner all did. Whoever gets hired will have his own system and philosophy to implement, but he could do much worse than a blatant attempt at Fickell karaoke.

It’s still a difficult task and one made markedly tougher and more aspirational by Fickell, who in some ways became a prisoner of his own forthcoming $100-million practice facility. It’s part of the reason he felt now was right for a new uphill climb. Cincinnati’s next coach will assume a Playoff pedigree and conference-championship expectations while also entering a considerably tougher league. But with that come better facilities, resources and elevated alignment with donors and stakeholders. The things that make a job challenging run parallel to the things that make it attractive.

GO DEEPER

Who could be the candidates to replace Luke Fickell at Cincinnati?

Those challenges are likely to keep mounting for the Bearcats in the short term, via the inevitable staffing and roster turnover, shortened timelines and general uncertainty that comes with any coaching change. The upcoming weeks will be restless ones in Clifton, but summer always seems unimaginable in winter. History has shown that with a good hire, Cincinnati will win football games again, sooner rather than later.

Fickell is a product of and a significant reason for that track record, which is what he should and will be remembered for, as opposed to the circumstances of his departure. Fans have the right to feel and respond however they want, whether that’s anger, disappointment or betrayal. Many of those same fans probably were sizing plots around Varsity Village for that Fickell statue at this time last year. Both can be true. And maybe the university will actually build the statue someday. Or maybe Fickell will be commemorated by the practice facility, the championship and Playoff banners, a name in the Nippert Stadium Ring of Honor or any of the countless players, games and moments from his tenure that will live on.

Fickell didn’t do any of it alone, but he orchestrated it, and he should be celebrated for what he meant to UC and the legacy he leaves behind, however long and large it looms. Cincinnati football is and always will be bigger than Fickell. And Fickell is a big reason for that.

(Top photo: Ian Johnson / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57knJrcWtnZ3xzfJFrZmppX2eGcLjUpJxmnpmYuKa4y2ajnpmmmsBur8inmqKmnpbBqns%3D