Luke Fickell
Luke Fickell went 84–48 as a head coach, 2011–2026, at Ohio State, Cincinnati and Wisconsin. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 4–1); by them his record is 84–47. Share
- Record
- 84–48 career
- Seasons
- 11
- Schools
- 3
- Final AP top 10
- 2 seasons
- Born
- Aug 18, 1973
- Alma mater
- Ohio State 1997
- Best season
- 2021 13–1, No. 4
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Ohio State | 6–7 | 4th (Leaders) | Gator Bowl L | ||
| 2012–16: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 2017 | Cincinnati | 4–8 | T–4th (East) | |||
| 2018 | Cincinnati | 11–2 | 3rd (East) | Military Bowl W | 23 | |
| 2019 | Cincinnati | 11–3 | 1st (East) | Birmingham Bowl W | 21 | |
| 2020 | Cincinnati | 9–1 | 1st | Peach Bowl L | 8 | |
| 2021 | Cincinnati | 13–1 | 1st | Cotton Bowl, CFP Semifinal L | 4 | |
| 2022 | Cincinnati | 9–3 | 3rd | Fenway (not coached) | ||
| 2022 | Wisconsin interim, bowl game | 1–0 | 5th (West) | Guaranteed Rate Bowl W | ||
| 2023 | Wisconsin | 7–6 | T–2nd (West) | ReliaQuest Bowl L | ||
| 2024 | Wisconsin | 5–7 | T–12th | |||
| 2025 | Wisconsin | 4–8 | T–14th | |||
| 2026 | Wisconsin | 4–2 (Wikipedia: 4–1) | ||||
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
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Ivan Pace Jr.Consensus All‑American, 2022
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 37 | 10–27 | 27% |
| Against top-10 teams | 13 | 1–12 | 8% |
| Against rivals | 25 | 12–13 | 48% |
| Conference games | 84 | 50–34 | 60% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 7 | 3–4 | 43% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 40 | 24–16 | 60% |
| At home | 69 | 52–17 | 75% |
| On the road | 53 | 27–26 | 51% |
| At neutral sites | 10 | 5–5 | 50% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 83 | 67–16 | 81% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 49 | 17–32 | 35% |
His own 132 games on file, 2011–2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chuck Martin 2017–2025 | 6–0 | Miami (OH) | 6 | |
| Mike Houston 2019–2022 | 4–0 | East Carolina | 4 | |
| Philip Montgomery 2019–2022 | 4–0 | Tulsa | 4 | |
| Ken Niumatalolo 2017–2022 | 3–1 | Navy | 4 | |
| Willie Fritz 2017–2022 | 3–1 | Tulane | 4 | |
| Bret Bielema 2011–2025 | 3–0 | Wisconsin, Illinois | 3 | |
| Randy Edsall 2017–2019 | 3–0 | UConn | 3 | |
| Sonny Dykes 2018–2021 | 3–0 | SMU | 3 | |
| Dana Holgorsen 2019–2021 | 3–0 | Houston | 3 | |
| Jeff Scott 2020–2022 | 3–0 | South Florida | 3 |
Luke Fickell’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Miami (OH)series | 6 | 6–0 |
| South Floridaseries | 6 | 5–1 |
| East Carolinaseries | 6 | 5–1 |
| UCFseries | 6 | 3–3 |
| SMUseries | 5 | 4–1 |
| Indianaseries | 5 | 3–2 |
| Templeseries | 5 | 3–2 |
| Tulsaseries | 4 | 4–0 |
National coaching awards
The awards- 2021 Cincinnati: Bear Bryant Award, Bobby Dodd Award, Eddie Robinson and Walter Camp Coach
National title staffs
Every title staff- Won a national title on Ohio State’s 2002 staff (special teams coordinator) · the staff · source
- Won a national title on Ohio State’s 2014 staff (defensive coordinator, linebackers coach) · the staff · source
The champions’ staffs from 1990 on, as the schools listed them that season: Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages. Roles as the source words them.
How he was hired
- Hired by Cincinnati for the 2017 season from Ohio State, where he was defensive coordinator.
- Hired by Wisconsin for the 2022 season from Cincinnati, where he was head coach.
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Ohio State | Graduate assistant | |
| 2000–01 | Akron | Defensive line coach | |
| 2002–03 | Ohio State | Special teams coach | |
| 2004 | Ohio State | Linebackers coach | |
| 2005–10 | Ohio State | Co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2011 | Ohio State | Interim head coach | |
| 2012–16 | Ohio State | Co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2017–22 | Cincinnati | Head coach | |
| 2022–present | Wisconsin | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- John CooperOhio State
- Lee OwensAkron
- Jim TresselOhio State
- Urban MeyerOhio State
Assistants who became head coaches
- Jim HeacockIllinois State
- Paul HaynesKent State
- Stan DraytonTemple
- Joker PhillipsKentucky
- Jon TenutaGeorgia Tech
- Marcus FreemanNotre Dame
- Dan EnosCentral Michigan
- Jim LeonhardWisconsin
- Jack Bicknell Jr.Louisiana Tech
- Phil LongoSam Houston, La Salle
- Scott PowerCentral Washington
Worked under (4)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Cooper | Ohio State | 1999 | Graduate assistant | |
| Lee Owens | Akron | 2000–01 | Defensive line coach | |
| Jim Tressel | Ohio State | 2002–10 | 2002–03: special teams coach; 2004: linebackers coach; 2005–10: co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Urban Meyer | Ohio State | 2012–16 | Co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (11)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Heacock | Ohio State, 2011: defensive coordinator | Illinois State | |
| Paul Haynes | Ohio State, 2011: co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach; Wisconsin, 2023–25: cornerbacks coach | Kent State | |
| Stan Drayton | Ohio State, 2011: wide receivers coach | Temple | |
| Joker Phillips | Cincinnati, 2017–18: wide receivers coach | Kentucky | |
| Jon Tenuta | Cincinnati, 2017–19: safeties coach; 2020: defensive assistant | Georgia Tech | |
| Marcus Freeman | Cincinnati, 2017–20: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | Notre Dame | |
| Dan Enos | Cincinnati, 2020: assistant head coach and running backs coach | Central Michigan | |
| Jim Leonhard | Wisconsin, 2022: defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | Wisconsin | |
| Jack Bicknell Jr. | Wisconsin, 2023–24: offensive line coach | Louisiana Tech | |
| Phil Longo | Wisconsin, 2023–24: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Sam Houston, La Salle | |
| Scott Power | Wisconsin, 2025: assistant defensive backs | Central Washington |
Other assistants under him (17)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Jim Bollman | Ohio State, 2011: offensive coordinator and offensive line coach | |
| Taver Johnson | Ohio State, 2011: defensive backs coach | |
| Gino Guidugli | Cincinnati, 2017: running backs coach; 2018–21: quarterbacks coach; 2022: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Mike Denbrock | Cincinnati, 2017: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2018–21: offensive coordinator and tight ends coach | |
| Willie Martinez | Cincinnati, 2017: secondary coach | |
| Colin Hitschler | Cincinnati, 2018: quality control coach and d; 2019: SDA; 2020–21: safeties coach; 2022: co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach; Wisconsin, 2023: co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| Chad Wilt | Cincinnati, 2019: defensive line coach | |
| Max Bullough | Cincinnati, 2019: graduate assistant | |
| Perry Eliano | Cincinnati, 2020–21: cornerbacks coach | |
| Mike Tressel | Cincinnati, 2021–22: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach; Wisconsin, 2023–25: defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach; 2026: defensive coordinator | |
| Bobby April III | Wisconsin, 2022: co-defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach | |
| Bobby Engram | Wisconsin, 2022: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Mark D’Onofrio | Wisconsin, 2022: inside linebackers coach | |
| Ricky Brown | Cincinnati, 2022: quality control coach | |
| Alex Grinch | Wisconsin, 2024: co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| Kenny Guiton | Wisconsin, 2024: wide receivers coach; 2025–26: quarterbacks coach | |
| Jeff Grimes | Wisconsin, 2025–26: offensive coordinator |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Cincinnati | head coachbonuses up to $625,000; buyout $9,100,000 | $1,900,000 USA Today | |
| 2016 | Ohio State | defensive coordinatorbonuses up to $286,875 | $754,500 USA Today | |
| 2015 | Ohio State | defensive coordinatorbonuses up to $244,800 | $640,000 USA Today | |
| 2014 | Ohio State | co-defensive coordinatorbonuses up to $225,000 | $600,000 USA Today | |
| 2011 | Ohio State | head coachbonuses up to $150,000 | $1,172,000 USA Today via Leeds |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
The same USA Today database for 2006–16, from Michael Leeds’ replication data on Harvard Dataverse (CC0): the season’s contract pay.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Fickell’s teams went for it on 20% of fourth downs and on 37% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 47% of plays and took 26.5 seconds a play, 2011–2026.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 13 g | Ohio State | 12 of 100 12% | 32% | 36% | 28.5 | −0.05 | |
| 2017 12 g | Cincinnati | 15 of 93 16% | 31% | 56% | 23.2 | +0.04 | |
| 2018 13 g | Cincinnati | 24 of 92 26% | 55% | 41% | 26.3 | +0.10 | |
| 2019 14 g | Cincinnati | 17 of 105 16% | 33% | 42% | 26.3 | +0.04 | |
| 2020 10 g | Cincinnati | 14 of 63 22% | 43% | 47% | 28.0 | +0.14 | |
| 2021 14 g | Cincinnati | 19 of 87 22% | 43% | 50% | 25.7 | +0.12 | |
| 2022 12 g | Cincinnati | 20 of 100 20% | 39% | 54% | 25.3 | +0.05 | |
| 2023 13 g | Wisconsin | 20 of 105 19% | 33% | 53% | 24.3 | 0.00 | |
| 2024 12 g | Wisconsin | 20 of 94 21% | 39% | 48% | 25.9 | −0.04 | |
| 2025 12 g | Wisconsin | 23 of 99 23% | 33% | 43% | 31.1 | −0.13 | |
| 2026 6 g | Wisconsin | 9 of 42 21% | 38% | 46% | 27.3 | +0.06 | |
| All 131 g | 193 of 980 20% | 37% | 47% | 26.5 | +0.03 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.