Luke Fickell came back to the conference in which he spent 20 years as either a collegiate player or coach, but not with the team most assumed he’d return for.
As the new head coach at Wisconsin, Fickell will be tasked with going head-to-head against his alma mater. In fact, the Badgers host the Buckeyes on Oct. 28 in a matchup that will reportedly take place under the lights in a primetime slot on NBC. And even if the two programs don’t play each other on a yearly basis in the regular season, Ohio State could prove to be an obstacle in Wisconsin’s path to conference titles moving forward.
So, why Wisconsin? It’s a question Fickell was ready for prior to his appearance on the podium at Big Ten Media Days Thursday, and one he’d already been asked – whether behind closed doors or in a public forum – plenty of times before. Coaching for the Badgers may not have been a lifelong dream for the Columbus native, but an opportunity to run the show at a top-flight Big Ten program certainly was.
Fickell got a taste during his one-year stint as Ohio State’s interim head coach in 2011, but after a stellar six-year run at Cincinnati, he’s ready for his redo.
“It has a lot to do with being back in the Big Ten. It has to do with the respect I've always had playing against and preparing for Wisconsin. Understanding and recognizing what the culture, what I assumed the culture was like from afar,” Fickell said at Lucas Oil Stadium Thursday. “Felt like something that would be really, really in my wheelhouse. That's why I said it's exceeded my expectations in just the way I believe I fit and we fit and the things we've been able to do. But I think there's quite a uniqueness when you put the family involved as well. That's a big part of it. Timing has a lot to do with that. But the ability for my family, our families, the people that have come with us to do what it is they want to do and be able to do it with their own kids as well.”
Fickell wouldn’t have jumped at any vacant Big Ten job, though. He proved that back in 2020 when he turned down an offer from Michigan State to replace outgoing head coach Mark Dantonio. Shortly thereafter, the Spartans hired Mel Tucker, who enters his fourth season with the program this fall. When asked about the MSU offer on Thursday, Fickell said “It just wasn't the right thing for everybody,” including him, his family and Michigan State itself.
The timing wasn’t exactly perfect on all fronts for the Fickell family this time around, either. Fickell’s son, Landon Fickell, is still on the Bearcat roster back at Cincinnati, having previously been coached by his dad for the duration of his college career. Still, Luke Fickell said the move made more sense for the rest of his family members, and professionally, he’d already achieved all he set out to at Cincinnati. The Bearcats officially left the AAC for the Big 12 this summer in a move that may not have been possible without the success it enjoyed under Fickell, and that’s an accomplishment he said he takes pride in.
Fickell may find more resistance to success in the Big Ten than he did at his last stop, however. That October meeting with his alma mater looms large in determining just how far Wisconsin can go in year one under Fickell, although he’s trying not to build the contest up in his head this far out.
“I know that there'll be storylines and things like that. And all I can say is that I hope that we can be in a position to make it as big a game as it can be."– Luke Fickell on playing OSU on Oct. 28
“I have not allowed myself to try to think about it. I know the first three games. Other than that, I mean literally, I don't know who (we play). Maybe the fourth game now because I keep hearing about the start of the Big Ten (schedule),” Fickell said. “But all summer, all spring, I never looked past what we had those first three games. Other than, some people would always say, 'Hey, Halloween.' And so obviously, I'm aware of who we play on Halloween and will be excited about it. But also trying to say, OK, now I got to make sure that we don't make this about something that it's not. And I think for me and for our program and for our kids, I don't want to do that. I don't want to take away from what it's really about.
“I know that there'll be storylines and things like that. And all I can say is that I hope that we can be in a position to make it as big a game as it can be. And I think that's a driving force for me and for us. … I'm all into everything that we do. And it doesn't mean I downplay anything else. I'm honest with them, I'm not going to make this – it's not about me, no matter who it is or no matter what the situation is.”
The Buckeyes shouldn’t expect to see the same old Wisconsin program it was used to under Paul Chryst. Fickell deliberately intends to shake things up from the Badgers’ traditional formula, and said “there’s no doubt” his offense will look different in 2023 than it has in recent Wisconsin history. Still, Fickell plans on maintaining the physical edge that’s served as the program’s calling card for decades.
“It might look different, but deep down as you dive into it, it's still going to be about the guys up front, it's still going to be about physicality, it's still going to be about controlling and winning the lines of scrimmage, whether it's offensively or defensively,” Fickell said. “The thing I loved about this opportunity, in particular, was they never asked about that. It wasn't like what are you going to change or aren't you going to change; it's no, we believe in you as a person, we believe in you as a coach, and we believe that you'll do what's best to continue to grow our program and move us forward.”
Fickell will be coaching against the Buckeyes for just the second time in his head coaching career in 2023, but he said he’ll be taking lessons from several Ohio State legends with him. Fickell said John Cooper, Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer all shaped his coaching style significantly, although learning to be his own man has been most crucial in his development as a leader.
“I think those opportunities, those situations, they've all shaped me. I was very fortunate to be at one place for a very long time, but really be with three Hall of Fame coaches,” Fickell said. “From Coach Coop, who I played for, to Coach Tressel to Coach Meyer, three Hall of Fame coaches who did it in many different ways. That's probably the greatest thing I learned, that there are many different ways to do this. There are many different ways to lead. There are many different ways to win and to grow a program. But it's got to be you. It's got to be authentic and consistent in all those things.”
As for what Fickell hopes to accomplish in his first year with the Badgers, it doesn’t sound like he’ll settle for anything less than championship hardware, whether the Buckeyes have anything to say about it or not.
“We have one objective and that's to play for a championship. I don't think that will ever change, whether it's year one, year two, three, four or five,” Fickell said. “That's what our objective is.”
