MADISON, Wis. — In a season full of surprises, the Badgers gave fans another one Sunday.
Luke Fickell, who guided Cincinnati to the College Football Playoff last season, will be hired as Wisconsin’s new head coach, according to multiple media outlets including ESPN and the Wisconsin State Journal.
Source close to #Wisconsin football program confirmed that #Badgers will name Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell as head coach and plan to announce it later today.
— Tom Oates (@TomOatesWSJ) November 27, 2022
Sources: Wisconsin has targeted Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell to be the school’s next head coach. https://t.co/FNAKRcu5Vb
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 27, 2022
The UW Board of Regents is set to meet Sunday at 4 p.m. to discuss “employment and additional compensation agreements for the UW-Madison head football coach.” A formal announcement is expected later Sunday.
An Ohio State Buckeye during his playing days, Fickell’s coaching career began in earnest when he was hired as the Buckeye’s special teams coordinator in 2002. He spent over a decade in Columbus and was co-defensive coordinator under Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer, winning a National Championship with both coaches.
Fickell took over at Cincinnati in December 2016, following the resignation of Tommy Tuberville. After a 4-8 start in his first year, he led the Bearcats to 11 wins in back-to-back seasons, earning American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2018.
Prior to Fickell’s tenure, the Bearcats had only posted two 11-win seasons in team history.
During the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Fickell’s Bearcats finished 9-1, won the AAC Championship, and narrowly lost the Peach Bowl to No. 9 Georgia. Cincinnati followed up that successful season by going 13-0 in 2021, winning the AAC again, and being selected for the College Football Playoff.
The Bearcats became the first “Group of Five” school in history to make it to the CFP. Cincinnati would ultimately lose in the Cotton Bowl to No. 1 Alabama, but Fickell picked up a plethora of honors including the Paul “Bear” Bryant Award, AFCA Coach of the Year Award and Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award.
The 2022 season was not as prolific for Cincinnati as the year before but the Bearcats still posted 9 wins, including a 45-24 triumph over Indiana, on their way to finishing third in the AAC.
The Badgers opted for Fickell over interim head coach Jim Leonhard, who had been the Badgers’ defensive coordinator since 2017 and took over head coaching duties after Paul Chryst was fired.
Leonhard coached Wisconsin to wins in four of the last seven games, extending Wisconsin’s streak of bowl game appearances to 21 seasons.
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