Luke Fickell, Cincinnati Agree to Contract Extension Worth $5M per Year Through 2028

AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter

Helping the Cincinnati Bearcats become the first-ever Group of Five conference team to make the College Football Playoff was quite lucrative for head coach Luke Fickell.

Fickell told Justin Williams of The Athletic he and Cincinnati agreed to a contract extension that sources said will pay him $5 million annually and run through 2028. The deal still needs to be approved by the Board of Trustees, which will meet on Feb. 22.

In addition to the pay raise, Williams reported the contract “includes a significant bump in the staff’s salary pool and comes with further assurances on a new permanent indoor practice facility.”

If nothing else, this further signals Fickell’s commitment to the Cincinnati program. That is significant because he was connected to the Michigan State job and the Notre Dame job the past two years and seemed like a logical candidate to continue being included in speculation whenever a Power Five conference job opened.

The Bearcats are poised to become a Power Five program soon with a move to the Big 12, and they apparently have their coach for the foreseeable future.

An extension comes as no surprise seeing as how Fickell is 48-15 in five years at the helm for Cincinnati. While last year’s undefeated run to the CFP stands out even with a loss to Alabama in the semifinals, it was a continuation of the progress he has quickly made with the program.

The Bearcats went 4-8 in his first season in 2017 before making a head-turning jump to 11-2 in 2018, 11-3 in 2019 and 9-1 in 2020. That 9-1 effort in 2020 included an undefeated regular season with the only blemish coming in a three-point loss to Georgia in the Peach Bowl.

Fickell only figures to continue building momentum for the Bearcats with more recruiting pitches.

With the extension as further proof of his commitment to the program, he can highlight the improved competition the team will face when it joins the Big 12 and likely be able to show off a path to the NFL when players like cornerback Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner and quarterback Desmond Ridder are drafted in April.

Throw in the improved facilities that will also apparently come with this extension, and Cincinnati is trending upward.