Wisconsin is looking to Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell to fill its head coaching vacancy, although no deal has been agreed to yet, SI’s Ross Dellenger confirms. ESPN’s Pete Thamel was first to report the news.
Tom Oates of the Wisconsin State Journal, citing sources in the Badgers athletic department, confirms that Fickell will be the program’s next coach and reports that an official announcement is likely to come sometime Sunday.
Fickell was a longtime assistant at Ohio State, spending 15 years on the Buckeyes’ defensive coaching staff. In 2017, he left Columbus to take the Bearcats’ head coach position, where he has been for the past six seasons.
At Cincinnati, Fickell has helped turn the Bearcats into one of the top programs in the country. He has led the team to five consecutive seasons with at least nine wins, including three double-digit win seasons and American Athletic Conference titles in 2020 and ’21. Last year, the Bearcats went 13-0 in the regular season and became the first non-Power Five school to reach the College Football Playoff.
Wisconsin, meanwhile, fired head coach Paul Chryst in October during his eighth season with the team. Under Chryst, the Badgers went 67-26, making a bowl game in each of the previous seven seasons, including three New Year’s bowl games.
Defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard finished the season as interim head coach, leading the team to a 4-3 record to clinch another bowl appearance. However, while it appeared as if the program might give Leonhard a chance at the full-time job, the opportunity to hire Fickell apparently was too good to pass up.
