Top 25
9-23
- Games
- 32
- Win rate
- 28.1%
Back to Coaches
Longevity CoachDefense-First
Coach Profile
Luke Fickell
2011-2025 • Cincinnati, Ohio State, Wisconsin
3 schools coached, anchored by Cincinnati.
Luke Fickell's coaching record is 80-46, highlighted by seasons at Cincinnati from 2011 to 2025.
Luke Fickell coached 11 seasons, won 63.5%, and posted an average SRS of 4.7. Best season: 2021 Cincinnati. The profile was defense-first with a swing-heavy profile. 3 stints shaped the career arc.
- Career record
- 80-46
- Career win rate
- 63.5%
- Average SRS
- 4.7
- Peak SRS
- 16.9
Career Dossier
One glance at the full arc.
The profile below keeps the headline numbers visible, then moves into tenure shape, school impact, and full season detail.
- Seasons coached
- 11
- Career span
- 15 years
- Best finish
- #4
- Consistency
- 45.7
Primary school anchor
Cincinnati
Defense-First profile with 3 program stops and a peak score of 77.9.
Quick Answers
Records fans search first
Headline records use countable season rows after completed-game fallback. Partial seasons and provisional placeholders are called out separately.
- Overall record
- 80-46
- Cincinnati record
- 57-18
- Full-season record
- 66-35
- Partial-season record
- 10-3
- Vs AP Top 10
- 1-11
- Vs AP Top 5
- 0-8
- Vs Miami (OH)
- 4-0
- Postseason / bowl record
- 2-4
- CFP record
- 0-1
- National titles
- 0
126 countable games, 63.5% win rate.
6 countable seasons at Cincinnati.
8 full season rows; partial and backfilled current rows are separated.
Rows where the coach-season record covers fewer games than the team's completed season.
12 games using AP ranking at game time.
8 games using AP ranking at game time.
Battle for the Bell games in this dataset.
6 scored postseason games in this dataset.
1 College Football Playoff-labeled games since 2014.
Matched by coach team-season against the national championship dataset.
Record definition and data status
Career records use countable coach-season rows. Zero-game placeholders are excluded from aggregates until a completed-game fallback can verify the record.
Completed-game fallback uses scored games joined by coach, team, and season; advanced ratings are left blank when the season summary has not supplied them.
Latest completed coached game in this dataset: Nov 29, 2025. At least one season record was backfilled from completed games, so current-season totals may move as more scores are loaded.
Career Arc
Track how the coach's season-to-season performance changed over time, where the peak landed, and where each school stint appears.
Focus on where peaks separate, where floors hold, and how the shape of each career changed over time.
Luke Fickell
EliteStrongAverageLean
Luke Fickell: 2017 CincinnatiLuke Fickell: 2022 Wisconsin
2011Actual season year • SRS range -12.6 to 16.92025
Active comparison point
Luke Fickell • 2021
2021 Cincinnati
Best season13-1 • SRS 16.9 • SP Overall 21.2
Win %
92.9%
YoY SRS
—
SP Off / Def
37.5 / 15.9
Finish
#4
Comparison context
Focus a point to inspect how it stacks up against the rest of the field.
Ranked opponent record
Track career record against ranked opponents with switchable poll source and ranking timing.
Using AP Top 25 rankings at the time of each game; week-one games use the week-one ranking release when available.
Top 10
1-11
- Games
- 12
- Win rate
- 8.3%
Top 5
0-8
- Games
- 8
- Win rate
- 0.0%
View ranked game results32
Tenure map
Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.
Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint
Wisconsin
2022-2025 • 4 seasons
Avg SRS 3.9 • Win % 44.7%
Cincinnati
2017-2022 • 6 seasons
Avg SRS 5.2 • Win % 76.0%
Ohio State
2011-2011 • 1 seasons
Avg SRS 4.9 • Win % 46.2%
- Longest tenure
- Cincinnati • 6 seasons
- Best tenure
- Cincinnati • 5.2 SRS
- Best tenure win rate
- Cincinnati • 76.0%
Style and Strength Profile
Compare strength, identity, steadiness, and ceiling through normalized bars with raw SP and SRS context underneath.
These bars are normalized against the full coach dataset. Raw SP and SRS values stay visible so the profile reads as evidence, not decoration.
Overall Strength
Start with total quality before splitting style and variance.
Luke Fickell sets the reference point in overall strength.
Overall Strength
Decisive edgeLuke Fickell sets the reference point in overall strength.
Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.
Luke Fickell
Strong
- Raw avg SP Overall
- 7.2
- Percentile
- 78th pct
Strong
Normalized against the full tracked coach pool.
Impact by school
See how each stint compared with what that program usually looked like outside that same span.
Wisconsin
2022-2025 • 17-21
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS 3.9Win % 44.7%
Avg wins
Higher is better
5.3 during vs 8.8 baseline
-3.5
Avg SRS
Higher is better
3.4 during vs 15.4 baseline
-11.9
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
2.7 during vs 21.8 baseline
-19.2
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 40.0% baseline
-40.0%
Cincinnati
2017-2022 • 57-18
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS 5.2Win % 76.0%
Avg wins
Higher is better
9.6 during vs 7.6 baseline
+2.0
Avg SRS
Higher is better
5.1 during vs 0.2 baseline
+4.9
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
7.3 during vs 5.5 baseline
+1.8
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
60.0% during vs 0.0% baseline
+60.0%
Ohio State
2011-2011 • 6-7
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS 4.9Win % 46.2%
Avg wins
Higher is better
6.0 during vs 11.2 baseline
-5.2
Avg SRS
Higher is better
4.9 during vs 18.7 baseline
-13.8
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
13.2 during vs 26.0 baseline
-12.8
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 100.0% baseline
-100.0%
Career highs and lows
High Points
Best Season
Cincinnati 2021
13-1 • SRS 16.9
Biggest Improvement
Cincinnati 2018
11-2 • 19.9 SRS
Best Offensive Season
Cincinnati 2021
13-1 • SP Off 37.5
Best Defensive Season
Wisconsin 2023
7-6 • SP Def 14.1
Setbacks
Lowest SRS Season
Cincinnati 2017
4-8 • SRS -12.6
Biggest Drop
Cincinnati 2017
4-8 • -17.5 SRS
Season-by-season results
Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.
| Wisconsin | 2025 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 33.3% | — | — | 2.3 | -4.4 | 17.4 | 20.9 | -1.7 | -8.3% | Completed-game fallback |
| Wisconsin | 2024 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 41.7% | — | — | 4.0 | 3.0 | 23.0 | 19.8 | 0.0 | -12.2% | Season summary |
| Wisconsin | 2023 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 53.8% | #19 | — | 4.0 | 9.4 | 22.2 | 14.1 | -1.4 | -46.2% | Season summary |
| Cincinnati | 2022 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 75.0% | #23 | — | 5.7 | 13.1 | 27.6 | 16.1 | -11.2 | -17.9% | Partial season |
| Wisconsin | 2022 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% | #18 | — | 5.4 | 8.3 | 25.7 | 17.1 | -0.3 | +25.0% | Partial season |
| Cincinnati | 2021 | 14 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 92.9% | #8 | #4 | 16.9 | 21.2 | 37.5 | 15.9 | — | +2.9% | Season summary |
| Cincinnati | 2020 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 90.0% | #20 | #8 | — | — | — | — | — | +11.4% | Season summary |
| Cincinnati | 2019 | 14 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 78.6% | — | #21 | 8.9 | 9.1 | 29.1 | 21.1 | +1.6 | -6.0% | Season summary |
| Cincinnati | 2018 | 13 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 84.6% | — | — | 7.3 | 5.4 | 28.3 | 22.6 | +19.9 | +51.3% | Season summary |
| Cincinnati | 2017 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 33.3% | — | — | -12.6 | -6.4 | 23.3 | 28.2 | -17.5 | -12.8% | Season summary |
| Ohio State | 2011 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 46.2% | #18 | — | 4.9 | 13.2 | 28.5 | 17.0 | — | — | Season summary |
Similar coaches
Popular comparisons are fan-facing matchups. Statistical comps are matched by style, strength band, volatility band, peak range, and career length.
Statistical comps
Randy Shannon
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.7
Avg SRS 5.4 • Peak SRS 15.3 • 5 seasons
Best finish #19 • Volatility 6.8
Open profile →Don Fambrough
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.9
Avg SRS 3.8 • Peak SRS 17.2 • 8 seasons
Best finish #18 • Volatility 7.5
Open profile →Matt Rhule
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.9
Avg SRS 2.8 • Peak SRS 14.7 • 10 seasons
Best finish #13 • Volatility 6.7
Open profile →Mark Dantonio
same defense-first identity • volatility within 0.2
Avg SRS 7.2 • Peak SRS 20.0 • 16 seasons
Best finish #3 • Volatility 6.8
Open profile →Earle Edwards
same defense-first identity • volatility within 0.1
Avg SRS 2.5 • Peak SRS 15.9 • 17 seasons
Best finish #15 • Volatility 7.0
Open profile →Alex Agase
same defense-first identity • volatility within 0.1
Avg SRS 2.3 • Peak SRS 17.7 • 13 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 7.0
Open profile →