Dan Mullen predicts Luke Fickell will have most success of first-year coaches

Former Mississippi State and Florida head coach Dan Mullen knows that it’s difficult to find immediate success at a new job. Still, Someone is always able to do it. In 2023, Mullen expects the head coach who will find the most first-year success to be Luke Fickell at Wisconsin.

As Mullen explained on the Matt Barrie Show, Fickell is going into a good situation at Wisconsin.

“I think Luke Fickell has the most success early because I think he’s walking into the best setup program,” Dan Mullen said. “Off the bat, I think their fans are going to be accepting. He’s going to bring a little bit more of an open offense than they’ve done in the past, but they’re going to have talent, they’re going to compete, and I think they’re going to have the opportunity to win right away. I think he’s going to be very accepted because of that.”

Luke Fickell is in his first season at Wisconsin, but not his first as a head coach. He was at Cincinnati since 2017 and also was the interim head coach at Ohio State. While with the Bearcats, Fickell found tons of success, turning the program around after the disastrous Tommy Tuberville era and even making the College Football Playoff as a Group of Five team.

“And I’ll get to the fanbase part of it in a second of why he’s going to have the best success early. I don’t know long run, but definitely early.

Among the other head coaches who are looking to make an early impact are Matt Rhule at Nebraska and Hugh Freeze at Auburn. Still, Dan Mullen expects Luke Fickell to have the most immediate success.

Greg McElroy parallels Luke Fickell at Wisconsin to 2022 TCU

Last season, TCU caught a lot of people by surprise in Sonny Dyke‘s first season after replacing the legendary Gary Patterson by going to the College Football Playoff and beating Michigan. According to analyst Greg McElroy, there are parallels to that team and Wisconsin under Luke Fickell in 2023.

“I’m so excited about this marriage right now,” McElroy said on SportsCenter. “When you look at what Luke Fickell is bringing to Wisconsin, I think about TCU last year. And there are some parallels where you have a program that’s proud and historic and has won a lot of games. But it got a little stale down the stretch. That’s what I think Luke Fickell is bringing to Wisconsin. A lot of energy. A new offensive identity.”