Happy Tuesday morning, all!
Let’s get right to it.
Good morning to everyone but especially to…
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LUKE FICKELL…
Big results. Big (12) future. Big payday for Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell.
The Bearcats’ leader agreed to a massive extension that will pay him $5 million per year through 2028.
Fickell is fresh off leading the Bearcats to a 13-1 season in which they became the first Group of Five team to make the College Football Playoff. It’s an extremely well-deserved raise, writes college football expert Shehan Jeyarajah:
Jeyarajah: “When Cincinnati hired Fickell, the program had not earned a national ranking since Butch Jones was head coach in 2012. The Bearcats had just one top-10 finish in program history… Fickell has brought unmatched consistency to the program, which has enjoyed four straight ranked finishes in the AP Top 25 and back-to-back AAC titles.“
… AND ALSO A GOOD MORNING TO THE CINCINNATI BEARCATS
Obviously this is a great deal for Fickell, but this is a great deal for Cincinnati, too. It’s no coincidence that it comes ahead of the school’s move to the Big 12, which is expected to take place by 2023. Last year, just three Big 12 coaches made more than $5 million
Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley ($7.8 million)TCU’s Gary Patterson ($6.1 million)Texas’ Steve Sarkisian ($5.4 million)
Fickell is 48-15 in five seasons at Cincinnati and will likely pass Rick Minter‘s school-record 53 career victories this season. Minter needed a decade to reach that; Fickell will get there in just over half that time.
Another key part of this extension is that Fickell’s assistant coach salary pool grows from…
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