REPORT: Wisconsin football finalizing deal to make Luke Fickell the next HC
WOW. Luke Fickell, not Jim Leonhard, will become Wisconsin football's next head coach.
Madison, Wis. - In a shocking turn of events, the Wisconsin Badgers have reportedly spurned interim head coach Jim Leonhard, who was widely expected to get the full-time gig and hired Cincinnati's Luke Fickell as the next head coach at UW.
The news of Wisconsin's pursuit was first reported by ESPN's senior college football writer Pete Thamel and later confirmed by Tom Oates.
For those unfamiliar with Fickell's resume, he played for Ohio State from 1993-96 and later coached there from 2002-16 before accepting a head coaching position with the University of Cincinnati in 2017.
In six seasons with the Bearcats, he compiled a 57-18 overall record, winning two AAC Championships (2020, 2021), taking the program to an NY6 bowl in 2020, and even led Cincinnati to the College Football Playoffs in 2021, becoming the first Group of Five football program to claim a CFP berth.
Fickell, an Ohio native, won the AAC Coach of the Year three times (2018, 2020, 2021) in six seasons and essentially won every single National Coach of the Year award in 2021 for his impressive campaign with the Bearcats - vaulting him to the top of most Power 5 program wishlists.