Meet New Wisconsin FB Coach Luke Fickell

What you see is what you get with Luke Fickell.
That’s how Pickerington Central football coach Jay Sharrett, who has known Fickell for more than 20 years during his various stops in the college football world, describes the new University of Wisconsin football coach. High school recruits recognize the coach when he enters the building, but even more noteworthy to Sharrett is that Fickell acknowledges those players as well.
The new leader of the UW football program speaks to Division III-bound student-athletes like he does with those being recruited by Cincinnati and other Division I programs.

“He's very favorable when he comes into your class and when he comes into the school,” Sharrett said. “Some coaches just come in, they want to do business. They don't worry about stepping on toes, and coach Fickell’s just the opposite.
“Like I said, he'll talk to a kid. That’s three, four or five minutes even though they might not be a big-time, Power Five kid. That'll be a kid that's on his mind.”
Fickell took the reins at UW late last month, and he hit the ground running on the recruiting trail with the early signing period approaching Dec. 21. The coach met some in-state high school coaches and recruits Dec. 2, and he made some in-home visits since the recruiting dead period ended last week.

The Badgers hosted 11 recruits on official visits to the UW campus this past weekend, and two former Bearcats commits — cornerback Jonas Duclona and safety Braedyn Moore — announced their decisions to play for the Big Ten program Monday.

The State Journal recently spoke with several Ohio high school football coaches about a variety of topics involving Fickell, including his recruiting approach and how he builds relationships with players.
Gerry Beauchamp worked for the Cincinnati football program from 2008-12 before Fickell’s arrival, including holding some roles within recruiting. He described Fickell and his staff as “first class.”
“I would just say everything they do is they're trying to be top five in the country,” Beauchamp said. “And it doesn't matter if it's recruiting. It doesn't matter if it's academics. It doesn't matter if it's facilities. Whatever it was, they were going to have that champion mindset going into it.”
Beauchamp has held offensive coordinator duties at two schools in the Cincinnati metropolitan area, La Salle High School and Lakota West High School. He first met Fickell as football coach at Walnut Hills High School and recalled sitting down with him for a couple half-hour meetings to build relationships, not just to talk recruiting.
Beauchamp said the Cincinnati staff under Fickell came into his schools well organized and communicated well, which has come in handy when working to have some of his players graduate early from high school. The staff would invite him to practices and sometimes sit in on a meeting or film study, leaving an open door for him.
“The social media stuff was great,” Beauchamp said. “The kids that I had going on visits always had great experiences. They would do all kinds of fun stuff with them on the visits, taking pictures and letting them dress up and all that stuff that they do now.

“They were always respectful because it wasn't just coach Fick, obviously. The assistant coaches would come in as well. … I had several D-I kids at Walnut (Hills), so I had coaches coming in from all over, but their coaches — the personality, the way they approached recruiting, the way they talked to kids when they came here in the building and in the hallways — it was just first class.”
Ryan Wiggins, the football coach at Fickell’s high school alma mater, St. Francis DeSales in Columbus, saw linebackers Ty Van Fossen and Jonathan Thompson choose to play for Cincinnati. He said the new Badgers coach builds relationships with a consistent message.
“I go back to the credibility of it all, and he will stand behind what he says,” Wiggins said about Fickell’s approach. “That's where I just think he's as good as it gets out there. Obviously he's a great evaluator of talent as well. Maybe he sees things in some guys that others don't. His track record in recruiting has been incredible.”
Fickell and his staff extensively recruited in Ohio and found great success within its borders to bolster their roster at Cincinnati. The Bearcats received verbal commitments from Ohio high school players far beyond any other state from its classes between 2017 and 2023.
“There's no smoke and mirrors,” said Sharrett, who coached current Bearcats defensive linemen Tyler Gillison and C.J. Doggette at Pickerington Central. “There's no ‘Slick Willy’ or anything like that with coach Fickell. He is gonna be very honest. At least with our school, he has been very loyal. We've sent players to every school that he's been at, and all of them had great experiences.”
Beauchamp sent multiple former players on to play for Fickell at Cincinnati. La Salle tight end Josh Whyle will play in the Senior Bowl and has reeled in 88 catches for 1,062 yards as a Bearcat from 2018-22. Walnut Hills products Mao Glynn II and Jowon Briggs also play for the AAC program. Briggs, a defensive lineman, transferred back to his hometown program from Virginia.
Beauchamp appreciated Fickell’s straightforward approach with one of his player’s families who went on to play at Cincinnati. The former Bearcats coach did not sugarcoat answers when asked questions.
“When he talks, it's always ambitious,” Beauchamp said. “It's always positive. It's always with a championship mindset. When he says something, he means it and he's going to talk it into existence if it's not already there.
"So for instance, I just saw a clip of something where he was saying Wisconsin was a destination job or something, and some people were questioning that … I said if Luke Fickell’s saying it, it's gonna be one. But I think he can just be trusted. He's trustworthy. He's just very himself, and you can tell that from interacting with him, talking with him. Doesn't have to be something he's not, and what he says is the real deal.”
Six players on the Bearcats’ roster this season played for Colerain High School, including linebacker Ivan Pace Jr., who transferred to Cincinnati from Miami (Ohio) and recently claimed first-team all-America honors from Pro Football Focus and Walter Camp. Defensive lineman Dontay Corleone registered 5.5 tackles for loss as a redshirt freshman this season.
Former Colerain football coach Shawn Cutright credits Fickell with doing a great job of not just getting to know players and recruits but also sharing information with them about himself.
“And I think that recruiting nowadays, the more that you are able to reach out to those students and make them feel like you're going to be part of a family and have that atmosphere, I think the better it is for that program and that team,” Cutright said, “And he does a great job of having that family atmosphere.”
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