Big Interview: Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell
Until Saturday: A show about college football
The Athletic
4.6 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 9 March 2022
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Andy welcomes the head coach of the Cincinnati Bearcats Luke Fickell to the show! Coach Fickell discusses the growing use of the transfer portal and if it's needed to keep up with the rest of the nation. Is it possible to construct a winning program with developmental players who have been in a school's system for multiple years? What qualities is Coach Fickell looking for in his next starting quarterback, and what is his approach to a QB competition? The two also chat about Cincinnati's historic CFP berth, and how the subsequent success has changed the program, including recruiting. Plus, Coach Fickell shares his thoughts on his recent contract extension, and who would win in a Coaching Royal Rumble: Fickell and Mike Vrabel or Marcus Freeman and Mario Cristobal?
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Follow Luke Fickell on Twitter: @CoachFick
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Andy Staples Show special big interview edition. |
| 0:13.1 | We got a good one today. |
| 0:14.7 | Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickle. |
| 0:16.9 | And we had him on the show last two years ago. |
| 0:20.4 | And it was my last trip before the pandemic. |
| 0:22.8 | We talked about some really interesting stuff, how his time as the interim head coach at Ohio State informed his decision to do not really pursue a head coaching job until the Cincinnati job came open. |
| 0:35.3 | Mark D'Antonio had to kind of talk him into it. |
| 0:37.9 | And a whole lot has gone down since then. He's been offered other jobs. He's taking a team |
| 0:45.0 | to a conference championship and a playoff berth. He's played in a New Year's Sixth Bowl before that. |
| 0:51.8 | They have had a really great run the last couple of years at |
| 0:55.8 | Cincinnati. And it feels like this is kind of a transitional moment for them because they're |
| 1:01.3 | headed to the Big 12 eventually. They've got Luke Fickle, re-signed through 2008. Desmond |
| 1:08.2 | Ritter has moved on at quarterback after an incredible career there. |
| 1:12.1 | They're going to have a quarterback competition this spring and probably going to bleed into |
| 1:16.1 | the summer. |
| 1:17.4 | And can they keep this rolling? |
| 1:20.6 | And, you know, if you go back to that interview with Lou Fickle two years ago, you could |
| 1:25.0 | tell this was a guy who understood what he was building. And he spent |
| 1:28.4 | most of his career at Ohio State where, as you heard me say a million times, they don't really |
| 1:34.1 | have downturns at Ohio State. They just stay good the entire time. And I think that is what |
| 1:41.9 | Luke Fickle's been able to build at Cincinnati. And you think about what that first group of guys, the ones that he brought in and helped develop what they did. |
| 1:52.7 | Because they were signing on either before they coached the game or after they'd gone four and eight. |
... |
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