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Pete ThamelESPN
After a year the transformation has been witnessed Cincinnati After collapsing the College Football League and winning an invitation to the Big 12, the school is increasing its investment in coach Luke Fickell and his football staff.
Fickell confirmed to ESPN on Monday that he has agreed to a new contract through 2028 that will pay him $5 million annually, pending approval from Cincinnati’s board. The school is also expected to increase staff salaries by $5.2 million, an increase of more than $1.4 million.
“I appreciate the efforts of [athletic director] John Cunningham and the president [Neville G.] Pinto, who realized that for us to take the next step in growing the program and moving towards the Big 12, we had to invest in the people, not just the head coach,” Fickell told ESPN on Monday night. .
Fickell led Cincinnati to consecutive unbeaten runs in regular seasons. The Bearcats’ only two losses in the past two years have been Georgia in the Peach Bowl and Alabama in the College Football League. In five seasons at Cincinnati, Fickell was 48-15, including a 22-2 record and two general championships in the past two years.
The $5 million annual salary would put Fickell at the top of Group 5 in terms of reported coach salaries.
Cincinnati became the first team from outside of one of the five traditional powerhouses to make it to the College Football Qualifiers in 2021, a historic season. The school also received an invitation to join the Big 12 in September along with UCF, BYU and Houstonwill occur no later than 2024.
The impending renewal for Fickell will pay him nearly $1.6 million a year more than he would have earned under his previous agreement. It will also put Cincinnati in a competitive position financially when the school joins the Big 12.
Of the schools expected to make it into the Big 12 when Cincinnati arrives, Fickell ranks #1 in terms of coach salaries. Among the current Big 12 schools, he is second only Oklahomaby Brent Venables ($7 million) and Texas‘Steve Sarkisian ($5.4 million) among highly publicized contracts.
The spike in staff salaries also marks an important step forward for Cincinnati as the school moves toward becoming a competitive Big 12 member.
The raise of up to $5.2 million for on- and off-site staff, still falling short of top schools in the Big 12, will help prevent some of the staff desertions that have emerged after all of the success of the school. Bearcats. The school that lost Marcus Freeman to be Notre DameDefensive coordinator of post-2020, and post-2021 losing Brian Mason to become Notre Dame specials team coach Perry Eliano Ohio State and Mike Denbrock became LSUattack coordinator’s.
Fickell is entering his sixth season at the school, as he has resisted a series of famous flips to go elsewhere. Fickell, who has never lived outside of Ohio, spoke out about the Cincinnati program’s potential.
