Luke Fickell

[NDFAN2008]

Freeman is night and day better

 

[stlnd01]

I’ve started to wonder the same thing: whether Fickell got propped up at Cincy because of excellent assistant hires, and not because he’s a good coach.

Freeman. Denbrock. Mickens. I’m probably missing a few, too.

Gino. Mike Brown (too soon?)

I also wonder about his recruiting. At Cincy you could fairly easily pull good players from really good Ohio high school programs who for whatever reason didn't quite catch the eye of the elite teams, and coach them up into a team that can a lot of games in the AAC.

In Wisconsin you don't have the same level of high school talent to draw from, and you need to recruit at a higher level to win in the Big 10.

 

[FU BK]

Got destroyed by Iowa last night 42-10. Game was on the road, but fans are livid. In two years, he legitimately has no good wins. Fans are calling for him to be fired.

Many here (including myself) wanted him for ND. I think we dodged a bullet. Crazy because he did a great job at Cincinnati. We do have the majority of his assistants on our staff, so maybe that was his secret.

We absolutely got the better end of the deal with Freeman instead of Fickell

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Wouldn't touch the Wisconsin job with a ten foot pole at this point.

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

Freeman raided his entire staff.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Gino. Mike Brown (too soon?)

I also wonder about his recruiting. At Cincy you could fairly easily pull good players from really good Ohio high school programs who for whatever reason didn't quite catch the eye of the elite teams, and coach them up into a team that can a lot of games in the AAC.

In Wisconsin you don't have the same level of high school talent to draw from, and you need to recruit at a higher level to win in the Big 10.

You bring up a good point about UC being able to pull from Ohio. When Zook was at Illinois, he went after Ohio kids that didn't get the benefit of the doubt from tOSU or scUM. Stoops is doing this at Kentucky as well. Even with that being said, Fickell's predecessors in Madison have all enjoyed pretty good success.

Alvarez had four 10+ win seasons.
Bielema had four.
Andersen had one in the two years he was there.
Chryst had four.

I think what Fickell needs is time, something nobody is really afforded anymore, and the Curt Cignetti's of the world are making it harder along with The Portal and NIL. The previous guys have had success at Wisconsin. If people up there are already getting antsy after two years, they'd better be careful what they wish for. You start revolving door of coaches and you're going to be in purgatory.