Couldn’t find his UC salary but in 2020 as DC at OSU he was making $1.4 mil a year.
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After signing his extension, he was making $5 million.
I’m not sure I’d be sold on a Combs hiring… Actually, I’d be pretty disappointed by it.
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Combs is made to be a DC, not so much a head coach. See: Tim Rose
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Three years at UW until Fickel gets shitcanned.
UC will need a splashy hire with the money they’ve invested in football. Not sure what splashy means at this level though.
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Keep in mind that Fickel doesn’t run up the score, he blew chunks at Ohio State and he was a big fish in a small pond. Doesn’t transition well to the B1G, according to the experience of 1 Scott Frost.
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They will make a strong hire. They’ve funded their athletic programs very well the last decade and football makes the jump to B12 next year so it’s a very attractive job. De-commits are coming through now, will be interesting to see how many follow Fick to Wisco
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Except it’s a crap shoot - remember the hire before Fickel was Tubby Tomerville
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Meat chicken is a nice band name. Just sayin’
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Interesting that the Notre Dame job opening last year didn’t pry him away from Clifton, but UW did. Then again, who would rather live in South Bend over Madison?
Paul Chryst to Clifton.
Kerry Coombs didn’t even make it through 1 season as defensive coordinator for the Suckeyes in 2021. In 2020, he was co-defensive coordinator with Greg Mattison, who is a respected defensive mind. Coombs is a great position coach, not a coordinator or head coach at the FBS level.
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I think this is a good move for Fickell. In a 12-team playoff, unless the power conferences receive automatic bids, it’s hard to see the new look Big 12 getting more than 1 team in. In contrast, it’s easy to see the Big 10 and SEC getting at least 4 teams in each, especially after their new additions start. Until the last couple of years, Wisconsin has been in or around the top 12 so the playoff is a realistic goal for them. The odds of Wisconsin making it vs. UC are much better.
The 1 negative I can think of is that the Big 10 will likely drop decisions once USC and UCLA enter so the Big 10 West as we know it won’t be a thing anymore.
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I agree with your reasoning for Fickell going to Wisconsin, but there are are going to be six automatic bids. If the SEC and Big Ten both get 3 at large bids, they would get every single at large bid. I do think they will get most of them, but every single one?
It’s no longer the P5. It’s the P2
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I still think that might change. If automatic bids are included, I’d have to think that additional conference realignment will occur. Or ESPN/Fox will put out an obscene amount of money to have an NFL type scheduling model occur to create balance, better matchups throughout the season, and a reasonable flow into the playoffs like the NFL has.
And it isn’t unreasonable to think that those 2 conferences would grab all of the at-large spots. The ACC? Notre Dame? The Big 12? The Pac-12 could make an argument for another team.
So with automatic bids, you’d have Georgia, Michigan, TCU, USC. Then Ohio St., Alabama, Tennessee, Clemson. They’d be followed by LSU, Penn St., Washington?, and the Group of 5 rep.
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The unrealistic expectations of Notre Dame’s athletic department and fanbase may also play a role.
UC was paying him $5 million and reportedly Wisconsin is paying $6 million.
Not a huge difference and UC likely could have matched with the move the Big 12 and a pretty big revenue increase coming. So the move has to be more about sustainable winning and making the playoffs.
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UC did well as a big fish in a small pond, and they’ll likely experience some success in a non P5, P5 conference as well. Maybe it was the cross country travel for every single away game, except 1.
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