The Athletic Names Luke Fickell Smartest Coaching Hire in Past Dozen Years

The Bearcats hit the lottery with its head coach.

Author:
Russ Heltman
Updated:
Oct 21, 2022 10:34 AM EDT

CINCINNATI — The Athletic ranked the 12 smartest coaching hires of the past 12 years this week, and no one placed higher than Luke Fickell.

Cincinnati bringing Fickell into the fold following the 2016 season is the site's No. 1 hire.

"While perplexing to some, it made a lot of sense to hire a coach who’d spent his entire career in the state of Ohio and was integral to Ohio State signing some of the nation’s best-recruiting classes," Stewart Mandel wrote. "But no one could have predicted that Fickell would lead UC to the first Playoff berth for a Group of 5 program. The Bearcats went 4-8 in his first season but are 49-8 since, with Fickell and his staff developing a whole lot of guys that went unrecruited by Power 5 schools into All-America caliber players. Cincinnati had nine players drafted last spring — more than any program besides Georgia and LSU."

Any other choice at the top wouldn't have made much sense, as Fickell has Cincinnati at its highest point in program history. From a home winning streak approaching 30 games, to him being tied with Rick Minter for the all-time UC wins lead, Fickell has shattered all expectations.

Now, he's setting new ones as UC gets the Group of Five shackles lifted next season. The potentially historic SMU game this weekend kicks off at noon on ESPN and is available on fuboTV—start your free trial here.

Make sure you bookmark All Bearcats for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more.

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