Contract details emerge for Luke Fickell, 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.

Sources: Luke Fickell’s contract with Wisconsin is seven-year deal at an average of nearly $7.9 million per year.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 28, 2022

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.

This isn’t Fickell’s first run in the conference, though, as he spent one year at the helm of the Buckeyes in 2011. He received the torch from Jim Tressel, led the program to a 6-7 season, and then immediately passed it the following season to Urban Meyer.

Fickell wouldn’t get another head coaching gig until Cincinnati nailed it by hiring him in 2017. All he did while with the program was lead them to a College Football Playoff spot in 2021 and five straight bowl appearances overall during the Bearcat’s highly successful stretch from 2018 to 2022.

After moving on from Paul Chryst, Wisconsin needed to get this hire right in order to continue competing in the Big Ten. In order to do that, you have to pay top dollar for the right name and it seems the program has done both in order to bring in Fickell. Now it’s on him to show he’s worth that amount on the recruiting trail and on the field for the Badgers next season.