University of Cincinnati Athletics

University of Cincinnati football head coach Luke Fickell has elevated the Bearcats’ football team to the top of college football in less than five years. 
 
Hired as the 42nd football head coach in UC history on Dec. 10, 2016, Fickell, an Ohio native, led Cincinnati to back-to-back 11-win campaigns in 2018 and 2019 and an undefeated regular season that culminated with a Peach Bowl berth in 2020, before leading the Bearcats to the greatest season in school history in 2021. He guided the Bearcats to an appearance in the College Football Playoff Semifinals at the Cotton Bowl and the first-ever 13-0 regular-season record in school history. 
 
It’s no surprise Fickell collected eight national coach of the year honors in 2021, including the The Home Depot National Coach of the Year, Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year, the Stallings Award, the Eddie Robinson Award and the Dodd Trophy as well as accolades from the AFCA, Walter Camp Foundation and Sporting News. 

Fickell has watched 16 Bearcats earn a selection in the NFL Draft, including a school-record nine draft picks in 2022, and captured AAC Coach of the Year honors three times (2018, 2020, 2021). He has firmly established his T.E.A.M. (Together Everyone Achieves More) culture on Cincinnati’s Clifton Hts. campus, graduating players and instilling discipline and consistency on and off the field. 

Fickell holds a 48-15 (.762) record in his five years at the helm of Cincinnati. His 44-7 mark since 2018 ranks among the Top 5 records in the nation during that span. 
 
In 2021, the Bearcats finished as the nation’s only undefeated team in the regular season and as the No. 4 seed in the College Football Playoff, capturing a spot in the CFP Semifinals at the 86th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic in Arlington, Texas. Cincinnati battled No. 1 Alabama tough before ultimately falling to the defending national champions at AT&T Stadium. 

UC also secured a No. 2 ranking early in the fall in the Associated Press Poll – their highest ranking in school history. Cincinnati defeated No. 9 Notre Dame, 24-13, in South Bend, Ind., for its first-ever road victory over a Top 10 team, before rattling off back-to-back 50-point games for the first time in school history in dominant wins over Temple (52-3) and UCF (56-21). The Bearcats’ capped the season by defeating No. 16 Houston, 35-20, for their second consecutive AAC Championship title. 
 
Cincinnati set school records for points (516) and touchdowns (70) in 2021 and extended the nation’s second-longest home winning streak to 27-straight at Nippert Stadium. 
 
UC proved to be one of the nation’s most complete teams, ranking in the nation’s Top 10 in both scoring offense (39.2, 8th) and scoring defense (16.1, 4th) in the regular season. 
 
Fickell’s Bearcats saw 12 players earn All-AAC First Team honors, including two-time conference offensive player of the year senior quarterback Desmond Ridder and unanimous defensive player of the year junior cornerback Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner.
 
Additional honors were given to senior cornerback Coby Bryant, who became the first Bearcat to win the Jim Thorpe Award, given to the nation’s top defensive back, while senior linebacker Darrian Beavers was a finalist for the Butkus Award, given to the nation’s top linebacker. Gardner collected several All-America First Team honors and became the Bearcats' third consensus All-American all-time.

With Fickell at the 2022 NFL Draft in Las Vegas to support him, Gardner became the highest drafted Bearcat when he was selected by the New York Jets with the fourth overall pick of the first round on April 28. Five Bearcats in all were drafted in the Top 100 picks and UC's nine selections were the third-most in the country behind only national champion Georgia (15) and LSU (10). The draft was further proof that no program in the country is on par with Fickell's Cincinnati squad when it comes to development. Only fifth-round pick Jerome Ford, who transferred to UC from Alabama, was rated higher than a three-star by recruiting services entering college. 
 
Additionally, in 2021, four Bearcats collected Academic All-America honors - the most of any team in the country - and seven players were selected for the Senior Bowl, proof that Fickell’s program is developing men who are prepared for life after Cincinnati both on and off the field.  
 
Under Fickell, Cincinnati’s four-year football players have a 100% graduation rate. 
 
Fickell led UC to back-to-back 11-win seasons in 2018 and 2019, the 2019 AAC East Division Championship along with consecutive bowl-game wins in the 2018 Military Bowl and 2019 TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl. 
 
In 2020, the Bearcats finished the regular season undefeated before facing Georgia in the Peach Bowl – UC’s first New Year’s Six Bowl since 2009. Led by AAC Offensive Player of the Year Ridder, eight Bearcats collected First Team all-conference honors, while Gardner was named to several All-America teams. Fickell was named AAC Coach of the Year for a second time, too. 
 
Cincinnati defeated Tulsa, 27-24, to win the 2020 AAC Championship. 
 
Fickell led one of the more remarkable turnarounds in school history in 2018, rebounding from a 4-8 inaugural campaign with the third 11-win season in school history and a win in the Military Bowl. The 2018 American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, Fickell was a semifinalist for the George Munger Award and was tabbed for the watch lists for the Dodd Trophy and Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach the Year awards.
 
Fickell was hired in 2016 and has been a tireless advocate for the UC program, speaking at numerous events and schools to continue to build the Bearcats brand inside the State of Cincinnati, the 50-mile radius surrounding campus.
 
The 23-year veteran of the FBS coaching ranks took the reins of the UC program after spending 16 years at his alma mater, Ohio State. His impressive resume includes being on the staff of two national-championship winning teams (2002 and 2014), seeing more than 40 players selected in the NFL Draft, including 14 first-rounders, and coordinating outstanding defenses over 12 seasons as a co-coordinator or defensive coordinator. 

The former standout football player, college graduate, NFL player, husband and father is most-noticed as a developer of talent.
 
His NFL Draft selections include first-round picks Gardner, A.J. Hawk, Bobby Carpenter, Ryan Shazier and Darron Lee, NFL standout James Laurinaitis, along with Joshua Perry, Anthony Schlegel, Larry Grant, Marcus Freeman, Austin Spitler, Ross Homan and Brian Rolle and most recently UC players Cortez Broughton, Korey Cunningham and Josiah Deguara.
 
Four Bearcats were selected in the 2021 NFL Draft: James Hudson, Darrick Forrest, James Wiggins and Gerrid Doaks. 

Joining Gardner in the 2022 NFL Draft were: Bryan Cook, Alec Pierce, Ridder, Myjai Sanders, Darrian Beavers, Ford and Curtis Brooks. 
 
No stranger to championship-level football, Fickell was a part of nine Big Ten Conference titles (seven as a coach, two as a player), two national championship squads and 15 postseason games at Ohio State, including two College Football Playoff appearances.
 
From 2005-2016, Fickell-coached defenses at Ohio State ranked among the NCAA FBS Top-40 in yards-per-play allowed, averaging a ranking of No. 17 and earning its highest rank of No. 3 in 2016. 
Fickell’s coaching career began at Ohio State. After spending a year on the injured reserve list with the New Orleans Saints, he was hired in 1999 as a graduate assistant at OSU by his college coach, John Cooper.
 
Fickell’s first full-time coaching position came in 2000 under Lee Owens at Akron, spending two years as defensive line coach. Jim Tressel brought him to Ohio State as special teams coordinator in 2002 and he also worked with the defensive front on the BCA National Championship squad. He was named linebackers coach in 2004, and added co-defensive coordinator duties to his resume in 2005.
 
In May of 2011 he was asked to take over an Ohio State program staggered by the loss of its head coach, the unexpected departure of a star quarterback and on the cusp of NCAA penalties, and against stacked odds, he led the Buckeyes to a bowl game. Prior to his appointment to serve as head coach, he had been promoted to assistant head coach in March 2011.
 
He returned to his role as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach in 2012. Over five seasons, coaching under UC alumnus Urban Meyer, Fickell’s defensive units were a big reason the Buckeyes went 61-5 and won the 2014 College Football Playoff National Championship.
 
Fickell was one of the founders of the 2nd & 7 Foundation in 1999 with teammates Ryan Miller and Mike Vrabel. The foundation promotes reading by providing free books and positive role models to kids in need while encouraging young athletes of the community to pay it forward.
 
A native of Columbus, Ohio, Fickell is a graduate of DeSales High School, where he was a three-time, undefeated state wrestling champion.
 
Fickell played for the Buckeyes from 1992-96, redshirting the first year and then starting the next four seasons at nose guard. He started a then school-record 50 consecutive games between 1993 and 1996.
 
He graduated from Ohio State in 1997 with a degree in exercise science. Fickell and his wife Amy have six children: Landon, Luca, twin sons Aydon and Ashton, and twin sons Laykon and Lucian.