Report: Cincinnati strength coach Brady Collins to join Luke Fickell at Wisconsin

Cincinnati strength coach Brady Collins will follow Luke Fickell to Wisconsin, according to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Fickell was officially announced as the Badgers coach on Sunday, and Collins appears to be the first assistant to join his new staff.

Collins has worked with Fickell since 2015, when the latter was then the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Ohio State. When Fickell left Columbus to take over as the Bearcats coach in 2017, Collins followed him.

A 2009 graduate of Otterbein College in Westville, Ohio, Brady Collins also brings experience working on the SEC with both Kentucky and Mississippi State prior to joining Luke Fickell at Ohio State in 2015. At Cincinnati, he played a part in helping the Bearcats develop nine NFL Draft picks last year as they finished the regular season undefeated and became the first Group of 5 school to make the College Football Playoff.

Contract details revealed for Luke Fickell at Wisconsin

Wisconsin stole headlines over the weekend as they brought an abrupt and impressive end to their coaching search with the hiring of Luke Fickell. The former Cincinnati head coach won 57 games over his six seasons with the Bearcats and will now take over in Madison.

It was a surprise to see him leave his spot at one of the country’s best mid-majors but, based on the reported contract numbers he got from the Badgers, it’s not hard to see why. Per Pete Thamel at ESPN, Fickell’s new contract will be for seven years for $55.3 million. That averages out to $7.9 million a year for one of the Big Ten’s newest coaches.

If true, the average would be one of the highest per year in the nation. As far as the Big Ten, that average would put him above every head coach in the conference besides Michigan State’s Mel Tucker and Ohio State’s Ryan Day.

On3’s Sam Gillenwater contributed to this report.