{"id":141128,"date":"2022-11-27T19:02:25","date_gmt":"2022-11-27T19:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wisconsin-to-hire-luke-fickell-badgers-expected-to-finalize-agreement-with-cincinnati-coach-sunday\/"},"modified":"2022-11-27T19:02:25","modified_gmt":"2022-11-27T19:02:25","slug":"wisconsin-to-hire-luke-fickell-badgers-expected-to-finalize-agreement-with-cincinnati-coach-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wisconsin-to-hire-luke-fickell-badgers-expected-to-finalize-agreement-with-cincinnati-coach-sunday\/","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin to hire Luke Fickell: Badgers expected to finalize agreement with Cincinnati coach Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"
Wisconsin is expected to hire Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell as its next head football coach, sources close to the situation tell CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd. The stunning development comes after the Bearcats and Fickell finished the regular season with a loss to Tulane on Friday while the Badgers wrapped up a 6-6 season with a 23-16 home loss to Minnesota on Saturday.<\/p>\n
A Board of Regents meeting is scheduled for 5 pm ET at Wisconsin. On the docket is a discussion of the future football coach’s salary. An announcement is expected to follow. Special teams coordinator Kerry Coombs has been named interim coach, according to The Athletic<\/a>. <\/p>\n Wisconsin fired Paul Chryst in early October, ending a tenure that saw the former Badgers player and assistant go 67-26 across eight seasons. Defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, another former Wisconsin standout, was named the program’s interim coach and long considered a candidate to be elevated to full-time status at the end of the season. Under Leonhard’s leadership, the Badgers went 4-3 to finish the 2022 season. <\/p>\n Fickell has deep Big Ten ties as a former Ohio State player and long-time Buckeyes assistant coach, even serving as the team’s interim coach in the wake of Jim Tressel’s dismissal in 2011. He continued as Urban Meyer’s defensive coordinator from 2012-16 until he was hired by Cincinnati, where he has elevated the Bearcats into one of the top program’s in the AAC ahead of the school’s move to the Big 12 in 2023. <\/p>\n After going 4-8 in his first season, Fickell was named AAC Coach of the Year in 2018 after leading the Bearcats to only their third 11-win season in program history. He followed that with another 11-win season in 2019, adding a division title before rolling off back-to-back AAC championships and top-10 finishes in 2020 and 2021. After finishing that 2021 regular season undefeated, Cincinnati became the first-ever Group of Five school to earn an appearance in the College Football Playoff. He will finish 57-18 in six seasons with the Bearcats.<\/p>\n Long considered a potential candidate for other jobs, Fickell has remained in place instead of jumping at prior Power Five opportunities.<\/p>\nNot the first Big Ten school to come calling<\/h2>\n