Out of Left Field: Wisconsin to Hire Luke Fickell
November 27th, 2022 at 11:35 AM ^
Didn't they already hire Leonhard? Or was that just premature speculation? Or am I way out of the loop?
November 27th, 2022 at 11:43 AM ^
side note: we need to get you up to 45023 points stat!
November 27th, 2022 at 11:56 AM ^
I'm not gonna say that all the work to keep my point total at 42027 made a difference yesterday, but I'm not gonna say it didn't either. 😊 It was a hell of a team effort.
When I reach 45023, I'm gonna have to go radio silent until next year's game.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:43 AM ^
Yeah, I thought the push to get Chryst out was to hang on to Leonhard.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:56 AM ^
Auerbach confirms there are discussions.
November 27th, 2022 at 12:13 PM ^
Should I know who Nicole Auerbach is???
November 27th, 2022 at 12:16 PM ^
She’s an alum and works at the Athletic. I think she graduated the class behind me in Ann Arbor.
November 27th, 2022 at 12:19 PM ^
Also on BTN a lot.
November 27th, 2022 at 12:19 PM ^
She also a regular on BTN with Dave, Howard, and Josh Perry
November 27th, 2022 at 11:59 AM ^
He was interim.
November 27th, 2022 at 12:04 PM ^
It was heading in that direction but given their performance down the stretch I wouldn't blame them for going in another direction.
November 27th, 2022 at 12:23 PM ^
I thought they made this official a week or so ago?
November 27th, 2022 at 11:35 AM ^
Not gonna lie, it will be a little harder for me to root for them now.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:38 AM ^
Just move to Chicago, or watch any basketball game they've ever played. And it will also be harder to root for them (Wisco fans are loud here).
November 27th, 2022 at 11:43 AM ^
I'm sure it doesn't help that many of them are Packers fans.
November 27th, 2022 at 12:14 PM ^
Packers fans are just the worst
November 27th, 2022 at 1:57 PM ^
peter, i have to disagree and i have a very large sample size. in the U.P. most of my buddies and the populace in general is about 95% packer fans and they are great. but beyond that, when i've been at lambeau they have been very cool. i remember the 1997 (?) NFC championship game against carolina and the panther and packer fans were all tailgating together, walking in together, no fights, no problems. you want to see the worst fans, go to a raiders game.
November 27th, 2022 at 6:53 PM ^
Eagles fans are pretty awful as well.
November 28th, 2022 at 12:42 AM ^
Western UP folks are indeed mostly Packer backers, but once you get further east, it tilts in favor of the Lions.
I've stayed frequently at the Superior Hotel in Grand Marais; the hotel owner Enrico 'Rick' Capogrossa has a bunch of Lions memorabilia in the office/breakfast room. He and his wife are amazing hosts, I highly recommend an overnight or weekend stay.
And then if ever in Goetzville (not far from DeTour Village and Drummond) there's Yooperman's Bar and Grill. It's a Lions fan's slice of Heaven.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:36 AM ^
Wow. If true, good hire for them. Knows the league, recruits pretty well, and could be there a long while. Buckeyes will have to look back to Urban!
November 27th, 2022 at 12:04 PM ^
Interesting timing given the rumors about elimination of divisions and Cincinnati's pending move to a "power" conference.
However, IIRC Wisconsin has OSU cycled on to their schedule for a few years.
Fickell must be thinking, fuck this Ryan Day guy, I'll beat him myself
November 27th, 2022 at 12:06 PM ^
Why does everyone think he's such a great hire? He had one good year at Cincy with a great QB and a whole lot of talent on D. Without that great QB they did crap this year. I think a more proven coach like Campbell would be a much safer hire, but to each their own.
November 27th, 2022 at 12:10 PM ^
So with this logic Harbaugh wasnt a good hire because he had had one good year with a generational QB at Stanford.
Also he's gone 11-2, 11-3, 9-1, 13-1, and 9-3 at Cincy which is more than "one good year".
November 27th, 2022 at 12:17 PM ^
My daughter goes to UC so I watch all of their games. Fickell is a very good coach. They had an EMU transfer playing QB this year (he started at UC, transferred to EMU to get some playing time and then transferred back when Ritter graduated) and still managed to go 9-3.
November 27th, 2022 at 12:35 PM ^
I think Fickell is likely a pretty good coach. But the first part of your statement does NOT follow from what he said.
The second does help to suggest that Fickell is pretty damned good. Maybe we'd rather have him at Wisconsin than at OSU?
November 27th, 2022 at 12:25 PM ^
Even with the changing landscape of the Big 12, Iowa State seems to be on the fast track back to irrelevancy.
November 27th, 2022 at 1:08 PM ^
Has Campbell really done much more than Fickell? He had one good year going 9-3 at Iowa State in 2020 (Covid year), but otherwise has never done better than 7-6. This year they are 10th in the Big 12 and 4-8 overall.
Fickell at least has had multiple double digit win seasons (11, 11, 13) and never won less than 9 games at Cincinnati after his first year.
November 27th, 2022 at 2:36 PM ^
Thank you! The Matt Campbell love fest needs to stop. The people pining for him were the same that wanted Harbaugh gone, they were very wrong about both things.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:38 AM ^
That is surprising. I thought they were going to remove the interim tag for their excellent DC.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:38 AM ^
Fickell better strike while the iron is still Luke warm. I'd bet that Matt Campbell is having second thoughts about not making a jump while his star was brightest.
November 27th, 2022 at 12:09 PM ^
That Campbell thought popped into my head yesterday when I saw how badly TCU was handing them their own entrails.
November 27th, 2022 at 12:37 PM ^
Campbell, Fleck, Clawson, Even Dino babers out of Syracuse who had a 10 win season a few ago. The guy at App state who went 9-3 in 2020 then 10-4 in 2021 just went 6-6
November 27th, 2022 at 11:39 AM ^
Shocker there.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:39 AM ^
I just didn’t think he was gonna end up at OSU in the near future (next 10yrs)……think he was a little hurt that Day got the job and also felt a little run out of town after that season he took over and things didn’t go well in tough situation.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:39 AM ^
Ah, the coaching carousel continues, programs nationwide doing their black Friday shopping. All really good bargains we've seen so far.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:40 AM ^
That would be a home run hire.
The West could get very interesting if this holds true.
Keeping him from OSU and MSU is not a bad thing either.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:44 AM ^
Or it could get very uninteresting. Though divisions are going away very soon.
November 27th, 2022 at 12:12 PM ^
I always get a chuckle out of "homerun hire" comments. Frost at Nebraska was a homerun, and so was Schiano back to Rutgers. It always feels, to me, like people jumping the gun.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:40 AM ^
Is the interest mutual?
November 27th, 2022 at 12:39 PM ^
I’m confused by this as well, everything I see online is saying that Wisc is targeting Fickell but is anyone reporting that Fickell is interested? It would be weird timing since Day could be run out of town next year. Fickell is buckeye to the core but I don’t think he would jump from Wisconsin after one year.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:41 AM ^
Seems like a good match,
November 27th, 2022 at 11:42 AM ^
If true, can we take their RB, Allen?
November 27th, 2022 at 11:50 AM ^
Only if he can throw.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:54 AM ^
He said yesterday when specifically asked about the transfer to Michigan rumors that he'll be there as long as Leonard was. Sooooooo
November 27th, 2022 at 12:11 PM ^
By the way if you haven't watched Wisconsin much:
6'2" 235, surprising speed for a big dude (has a 96 yarder). Last two seasons (with Graham Mertz as his QB and a not exactly vintage Wisconsin line):
393 carries, 2389 yards, 6.1 ypc, 22 TDs, 19 catches for 143.
Struggled against good run defenses like Illinois this year or us last year. But as mentioned he did not have a lot of help. Would be a strong addition to split time with Edwards and let Edwards play WR a little more.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:44 AM ^
Seems uh somewhat premature to announce as a hiring.
But it's definitely interesting to see that Wisconsin isn't apparently ready to hand the keys to Leonhard.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:54 AM ^
Yeah this is the tweet. This title was a little misleading IMO
November 27th, 2022 at 11:45 AM ^
If true, likely Luke won’t give OSU time off Day. Fate is Fickell.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:45 AM ^
The timing of Wisconsin firing their coach so early in the season after relative success makes me wonder if this was already agreed to in October.