luke fickell

Luke Fickell was born on August 18, 1973, in Columbus, Ohio. He played college football at Ohio State University as a nose guard from 1992 to 1996, redshirting his first year. Fickell started a school record 50 consecutive games between 1993 and 1996. During his freshman year, he played alongside Dan Wilkinson. Despite sustaining a torn pectoral muscle, Fickell played in the 1997 Rose Bowl, contributing with two tackles in Ohio State’s victory. After graduating from Ohio State in 1997 with a B.S. in Exercise Science, he signed with the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent in the NFL. His playing career was cut short by an ACL tear, leading him to spend the season on the injured reserve list before being released.

Fickell began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Ohio State in 1999 under his former college coach, John Cooper. He then spent two seasons as the defensive line coach at the University of Akron from 2000 to 2001. In 2002, he returned to Ohio State as the special teams coordinator, a role he held for two years, contributing to the team’s 2002 BCS National Championship. In 2004, Fickell became the linebackers coach, and in 2005, he was promoted to co-defensive coordinator, a position he held until 2011. During his tenure as co-defensive coordinator, Ohio State’s defenses consistently ranked among the NCAA FBS Top-40 in yards-per-play allowed. In 2010, he received the AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year award.

In 2011, Fickell served as interim head coach at Ohio State for one season, leading the team to a 6-6 regular season record and a Gator Bowl appearance. Following this, he returned to his co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coaching role under Urban Meyer. He was part of the coaching staff that won the 2014 College Football Playoff National Championship. On December 10, 2016, Fickell was appointed head coach at the University of Cincinnati. He then led Cincinnati to significant success, including back-to-back 11-win seasons in 2018 and 2019, an undefeated regular season and Peach Bowl berth in 2020, and an appearance in the College Football Playoff Semifinals in 2021, the first for a Group of Five program. He compiled a 57-18 record at Cincinnati and earned multiple national coaching honors in 2021, including The Home Depot National Coach of the Year. In November 2022, Fickell became the head coach for the University of Wisconsin football program, where he led the team to a Guaranteed Rate Bowl victory in his first game and a 7-6 record in his first full season in 2023.