The unofficial online home for fans of the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(11-27-2018 03:01 PM)OKIcat Wrote:  

(11-27-2018 02:39 PM)robertfoshizzle Wrote:  

(11-27-2018 12:59 PM)vabearcat Wrote:  Louisville pays a lot of money, but Fickell going there seems like a very bad fit. That place is scandal-ridden and sleazy. If you like getting up in the morning and feel like you've been sleeping in horse manure, maybe UofL might be attractive. I think a bigger risk for UC is Brohm takes the UofL slot and Purdue comes after Luke.

Folks can say I'm crazy if they want, but I truly believe Fickell is a different animal than most G5 head coaches. I don't anticipate him uprooting his family of 8 twice in the span of two years to go to a lower-tier Big Ten school that has a history of chewing up and spitting out coaches every 3-4 years. I think he'll be here at least 5 years total unless a big fish like OSU or Notre Dame comes calling. Maybe Michigan State could be appealing too, but I don't think he's chasing money.

Bolded, my feeling as well. I think he came to stay. Not forever, but this job and this metro @ $2 million + per year affords a pretty nice lifestyle, 90 minutes or so from his home area and extended family. I believe the "Ohio Connection" may have been part of UC's search criteria.

One could speculate that he may re-evaluate after the AAC gets the new TV deal. If it's decidedly G5, he may realize he's hit a ceiling and move on after 2019. Alternately, If the TV money is considerably better, he may feel he can renegotiate and improve pay for himself and his assistants. Or the real wild card would be a move to the ACC or B12. In that scenario, he could prosper here long term, much like Frank Beamer did in building a great program at Virginia Tech. Unfortunately, UC faces a lot of uncertainty with regard to the conference and financial implications that make it impossible to reliably predict the near future.

Agree with all of the above. As a true homer, I'll add another (maybe unimportant) wrinkle: what does his public pension look like as a state employee all these years (Akron, OSU and now UC)? He's probably got 18 years in the system so far, right? What's the minimum time served to draw a public pension?

At 2 mill/year, I'm guessing he can retire comfortably regardless, but still...