So nobody on Huskerboard can answer my question about Luke Fickell that I posted way earlier? I ask bc Im trying to understand that's all.
Luke Fickell is not anywhere close to the SF scenario. IMO, LF would be a homerun hire. LF was on OSU's staff under Jim Tressel for 9 seasons, the last 6 as the Co-DC/LB coach. He then had a stint as the interim HC at Ohio State for a season (2011) after JT left due to the scandal. Urban Meyer retained him on his new staff at OSU as the CO-DC/LB coach for 5 more seasons. LF then took the Cinncinati job in 2017.
LF took over at Cincy after Tommy Tuberville was let go; TT inherited a 9-10 win Cincy program from Butch Jones and turned it into a 4 win program after 4 seasons and only 1 player drafted into the NFL. LF took a season to right the ship, winning only 4 games in his first season. After that, his Cincy teams went 11-2, 11-3, 9-1, and 13-1 last season (including an appearance in the CFB Playoff). His team last year had 9 players drafted into the NFL, including Sauce Gardiner, 5 of which went in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd rounds. This year LF's team is 9-2, despite losing a ton of talent off of last year's team, a tribute to the depth he has built there.
Overall LF has a wealth of experience coaching under 2 national title winning coaches, he has experience what being the HC at a big time program would be like (admittedly just for 1 season, but he also had to deal with all of the interim coach pressures & questions at OSU that MJ has dealt with this year at NU), and he has built Cincy into a powerhouse program that will be moving to a power 5 conference next year.
LF emphasizes O-Line play (
https://www.si.com/college/cincinnati/football/luke-fickell-we-are-an-offensive-line-driven-program), culture, and player development. He also has the ability to properly assess and recruit talent, Cincy isn't quite as tough to recruit to as many non-P5 programs, but it doesn't have the same resources as say Nebraska. Despite the lack of resources, LF has Cincy 25th in the composite team recruiting rankings this year after inheriting a team that was in the 60's and 70's when he took over.