Takedown Report

How Luke Fickell stayed true to himself and nailed his second act: ‘He’s one of the best I’ve been around’

Pete ThamelYahoo SportsAugust 28, 2019 
CINCINNATI – After the final home game of Luke Fickell’s crash-course interim season at Ohio State in 2011, a Buckeye manager pulled Fickell’s black Chevy Suburban a few yards from the training room at Ohio Stadium. As the SUV idled in the stadium tunnel as night fell in Columbus, Fickell stared out at home field one final time as Ohio State’s interim coach. Uncertainty filled the chilly air. The 20-14 home loss to Penn State left the Buckeyes 6-5, as Ohio State struggled in the wake of Jim Tressel’s dismissal. The season fizzled amid suspension and controversy, and Fickell, then 38, found himself pondering coaching at Ohio Stadium for the final time.

“I just kind of took a little time to [reflect],” Fickell said recently in his office at the University of Cincinnati. “Not knowing if you’ll ever have the opportunity to be back.” Less than a decade later, Luke Fickell is preparing for a high-visibility stretch that will crescendo with a return trip to Ohio Stadium as the visiting head coach. He’s the third-year head coach at Cincinnati, which he led to an 11-2 record last year, and he has emerged as one of the profession’s most promising young coaches. Cincinnati hosts UCLA on Thursday night in a marquee game for the program. And in his homecoming at No. 5 Ohio State in Week 2, Fickell has a chance to show precisely how far he and the Bearcats have come, in part because of lessons learned from that interim season. The ties to Ohio State run deeper than Fickell playing five years at the school and spending 16 seasons on staff. He also grew up in Columbus and his wife, Amy, actually lived in the stadium while a student there. (The honors dorm was located there her freshman year.) Rest of the story at
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/luke-fickells-second-act-hes-one-of-the-best-ive-been-around-211113520.html?mc_cid=f321e34b6e&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

September 1, 2019 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized