Once a longtime assistant at Ohio State and a star defensive tackle for the Buckyes before that, Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell faces his former team as head coach of the rival Badgers this weekend.
Ahead of the Buckeyes-Badgers game, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day had nothing but nice things to say about his Wisconsin counterpart. Speaking to the media this week, Day highlighted how much he gave to the program both as a player and a coach and that he’s still “very well respected” to this day.
“He left a lot here as a player and as a coach. Very well respected by many,” Day said.
🗣️ 🎥 “He left a lot here as a player and as a coach. Very well respected by many.” – Ryan Day on Luke Fickell pic.twitter.com/ShvzSTt6zU
— Ohio State Buckeyes 🌰 (@OhioStAthletics) October 24, 2023
Luke Fickell served as Ohio State’s interim head coach in 2011 in the fallout of the Jim Tressel scandal. He would serve as the gap between Tressel and Urban Meyer, staying on Meyer’s staff for five more years before becoming head coach at Cincinnati.
As head coach of the Bearcats, Fickell won two conference titles and led them to the College Football Playoff in 2021 – becoming the first coach (and thus far the only one) to lead a Group of Five team to the postseason tournament.
Fickell went 57-18 over six years at Cincinnati and won his debut game for the Badgers in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl last season.
This will be the biggest test of his coaching tenure though.